Fixer-upper & flip renovations
A flip renovation is a resale-driven remodel: scoped backward from the after-repair value, finished to what buyers in that neighborhood pay for, and built on a calendar measured in carrying costs. Grandview Contractors builds flips across Utah County and Salt Lake County under a Utah DOPL B100 license (#14282236-5501), one contract from demolition to listing-ready punch.
When a flip scope is the right call
A flip has one customer you haven’t met yet: the buyer. If you plan to sell within months of closing, the scope should be resale finishes, the items a buyer’s inspector will flag, and nothing the appraisal won’t credit. That’s a different project from the rest of our whole-home renovation work, even when the house looks the same on day one.
If you’re keeping the house as a rental, durability and refinance appraisal matter more than listing photos; start with investment property and BRRRR rehab. If the house needs its systems replaced, it may be a gut renovation wearing a flip’s price tag, and we’ll say so before you close. If you’ll live there, a whole-home modernization spends on what you’ll use rather than what photographs.
The fixer-upper you’ll live in for a few years and then sell sits between: buyer-grade finishes, with the durable choices made for your years in the house too.
What goes into a flip renovation
We build the scope in two lists. The first is what buyers see: kitchen, bathrooms, flooring, paint, lighting, hardware, and the front of the house. The second is what a buyer’s inspector will negotiate on: roof, electrical panel, water heater, grading, and in older Wasatch Front houses, the sewer lateral. Skipping the second list to fund the first is the classic flip mistake; the deduction is almost always bigger than the repair.
Finish selection is deliberately plain: in-stock cabinet lines, stocked quartz, LVP or refinished hardwood, stocked tile, one paint scheme. Every special-order item is a lead time, and lead time is interest. Our kitchen and flooring work runs the same way on a flip as on any job; the selections change, the standard doesn’t.
Electrical, plumbing, and HVAC are performed by licensed trade contractors. Grandview holds the contract and manages those electricians, plumbers, and HVAC crews — we coordinate, sequence, and quality-check their work within your project.
What Utah buyers’ inspectors find in flipped houses
Utah purchase contracts give buyers a due-diligence window, and a flipped house gets a harder look than most because inspectors know fresh paint hides a lot. In 1950s–1990s houses from Provo to Sandy, we price these in up front:
- Panels and wiring. Federal Pacific and Zinsco panels, 60-amp services, and aluminum branch wiring in some 1960s–’70s homes. Inspectors flag all three by name.
- Galvanized supply lines. Utah’s hard water scales them from the inside; weak pressure upstairs is the giveaway. A re-pipe is a line item we’d rather you see before the offer than after.
- Radon. Buyer inspections here routinely add a radon test because Utah’s geology runs high. If the basement is in scope, we test first and rough in mitigation while the ceiling is open.
- Lead and asbestos. Pre-1978 paint and pre-1980 flooring, mastics, and ceiling texture get tested before demolition; results go in the seller’s disclosure file.
A flip with a thin inspection report and a thick permit file is worth more than one that photographs well and renegotiates twice.
How we sequence a flip
Carrying costs make the calendar the budget. We compress it by front-loading decisions, not by skipping inspections.
- Walk it with your numbers. Ideally before you close: purchase price, resale target, a look above a ceiling, a camera down the sewer line, and a budget range for your offer math.
- Scope to the resale. A written room-by-room scope with allowances tied to the neighborhood’s finish level, plus the inspection list. Anything the comps won’t pay for comes out.
- Permit and order. Permits filed and stock selections ordered on day one. Provo, Orem, and Salt Lake City run predictable reviews; faster-growth cities can queue on some permit types, and the schedule carries the real number for your city.
- Open, rough in, inspect. Selective demolition, a short discovery walk, then plumbing, electrical, and HVAC in order, each signed off before drywall closes.
- Finish to the photos. Paint, floors, cabinets, tile, trim, fixtures, then a punch walk aimed at the listing photographer and the inspector, in that order.
What does a flip renovation cost in Utah?
As ballpark planning numbers, not a quote: cosmetic-level flips along the Wasatch Front — paint, flooring, lighting, refreshed kitchen and baths, and the inspection list — commonly land between $25 and $60 per square foot. With kitchen and bathrooms fully replaced and a major system swapped, $60–$120 per square foot is the honest range. Beyond that you’re pricing a gut renovation, and the comps need to support it.
- The inspection list. A panel, a re-pipe, or a roof can each be a five-figure item that adds nothing to the photos and everything to the closing.
- Layout changes. Opening a kitchen wall sells houses; it also adds engineering, a beam, and weeks. We price it against the comps, not the trend.
- Selection discipline. Stock versus special-order is the difference between a six-week and a twelve-week finish phase.
A walkthrough gets you a budget range, a defined scope an estimate, a locked selection list a proposal — and where scope is fully defined, a fixed price.
Questions we actually get
Can you look at a house before I make an offer?
Yes, and it’s the most useful hour in the project. A pre-offer walkthrough with your purchase price and resale target produces a budget range for your offer math. On older houses we’ll recommend a sewer camera and a look above the ceiling before the due-diligence deadline.
Do flips need permits in Utah?
Anything touching wiring, plumbing, HVAC, structure, or egress needs a permit and inspection, which covers most flips beyond paint and flooring. Unpermitted work surfaces in buyer inspections, appraisals, and seller disclosures. We pull the permits and confirm city-specific rules with your building department during planning.
How long does a flip renovation take?
Cosmetic-level flips typically run six to ten weeks of construction; flips with full kitchen and bath replacements and a system upgrade more often run three to five months. Permit review time and special-order items are what stretch it, which is why we order from stock and file permits on day one.
Will you tell me what not to do?
Yes. The most common thing we talk investors out of is finishes the comps won’t credit; the second is skipping an inspection item to fund them. We’d rather trim scope than watch you lose it twice at the negotiating table. Everything else we remodel is mapped on the renovation hub.
Tell us what you’re working on
We reply within a couple of hours during business hours — a day at most. You’ll get a straight read on scope, sequence, and budget before anyone commits to anything.