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| Ryan Cole (right) with his wife (left). Courtesy of Ryan Cole |
It started with a phone call and a sinking feeling.
“No, don’t please STOP!” I yelled into the phone. Then the line went dead.
That was the first time I thought, Maybe I’ve made a huge mistake.
I’d been speaking with the first of what would eventually be three project managers tasked with overseeing the complete gut remodel of our old house in Baltimore. Our general contractors a husband-and-wife team had already quit six months in, after filing for both divorce and bankruptcy. I thought this project manager could still get us to the finish line. She couldn’t.
The crisis that day? She had just hired someone to clean our freshly exposed brick wall. Their plan? Use a power washer indoors. In our hilltop townhouse. With 20 more connected townhomes stretching down below us.
By sheer luck, I got her back on the line before the cleaning crew flooded the entire block. But that was only one of many disasters in a remodel that would stretch on for over four years, cost twice as much as planned, and test every ounce of my patience.
1. A Dream Years in the Making
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| Exposed brick in Cole's Baltimore home. Courtesy of Ryan Cole |
As a freelance writer, I have no pension and no 401(k). My retirement plan was to build a small portfolio of rental properties and live off the income. This Baltimore home dated, worn down, and untouched since the 1970s was meant to be the first piece of that puzzle.
The place needed a total overhaul. It had wood paneling, clunky built-in gutter spouts doubling as HVAC vents, and the general charm of a time capsule no renter would want. My wife urged me to just sell it. I wanted to take a shot at my property dream. We went ahead with the remodel.
The budget was supposed to be under $100,000. By the end, it had ballooned to about $200,000. The timeline? We thought less than a year. It took nearly four. And during that time, the mortgage payments didn’t stop.
2. Redoing the Work at Double the Cost
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| Cole's Baltimore home. Courtesy of Ryan Cole |
We kicked off construction in early 2020, right as COVID hit. Our first project manager paid subcontractors in full, but the work was so poor that after nine months and $75,000, we’d accomplished little more than tearing down the old walls.
When our first general contractor quit, the replacement had to fix everything. The HVAC system was installed incorrectly. All the ductwork had to be ripped out and replaced. The framing for the drywall was so uneven that there was hardly a right angle in sight the only option was to start over with new lumber.
Unfortunately, lumber prices had quadrupled. In April 2020, it cost $320 per thousand board-feet. By April 2021 just as we were redoing the work it was $1,500.
Material costs overall were up about 20% year-over-year. Our countertops and cabinets alone ended up costing nearly $25,000 the same as a full kitchen remodel quote from before the pandemic.
Then came the delays. Patterned tiles for the entryway and bathrooms were either stuck on ships, mysteriously missing, or never shipped at all. That added six weeks to the schedule. Our countertops took two months to arrive instead of two weeks. And when they finally did, they were damaged, forcing us to wait another four months for a replacement slab.
3. Keeping Workers Was Nearly Impossible
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| Cole's newly-renovated kitchen in their Baltimore home. Courtesy of Ryan Cole |
Between personal crises and business troubles, two project managers and two general contractors quit before the job was done.
Some weeks, nothing happened at all either because materials hadn’t arrived or because we couldn’t find workers.
The last nine months were the worst. We had enough contractors to get 90% of the work done, but finishing that last 10% proved nearly impossible. Our building permit had expired, and no one wanted to renew it for fear they’d be held responsible for problems caused by earlier crews.
The only way to get someone to take it on was to sign a full liability waiver, agreeing that we not them would be responsible for any hidden defects.
4. The Ending and the Lesson
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| Cole enjoying a day of skiing instead of on the phone with contractors. Courtesy of Ryan Cole |
After more than four years, countless delays, and a budget that doubled, the house is finally finished. It’s now producing steady rental income just as I originally hoped.
But if you ask whether I’d ever do it again, the answer is simple: Never.
I still want to build a rental property portfolio for retirement, but I’ve learned the hard way to avoid houses that need major renovations. The cost, the stress, and the endless uncertainty simply aren’t worth it.
Sometimes, the smartest investment is walking away from the “dream project” before it turns into a nightmare.
