Best Fix-and-Flip Companies Top Picks

You just drove past the perfect house to flip. You could buy the place, fix it up, and make bank by re-selling the home in a few short months.

Then reality sets in: You don’t know how to fix a house. You’re not quite sure what needs to be done.

You could keep driving and find a different way to invest your money. Or you could hire a fix-and-flip company — a company that could fix the flip for you.

What are fix and flip companies?

Fix and flip companies work with investors who have the impulse to flip a house but can’t — or don’t want to — manage the day-to-day details of rehabbing the property.

Different fix and flip companies do different things. Some companies advise investors, helping them decide which repairs to make or whether to take on a project at all. Other companies simply do the work required to fix up the house, as requested by the investor. Other companies offer people a way to invest in other people’s flips.

Most fix and flip companies focus on their local markets, but a few work in larger regions or even in multiple states.

A sampling of fix and flip companies

The following is not a list of recommendations; it’s simply a list of companies around the nation that stand out. This list can give you a better idea what kind of company to look for in your area.

Smike Wallen

Smike Wallen helps Los Angeles-area investors complete flips — from targeting investment properties to re-selling the homes after the flip. Smike Wallen employs Realtors to manage transactions, designers to help plan renovations, and contractors to supervise the renovations.

What’s left for investors to provide? The cash and the vision.

Smike Wallen operates only in Southern California.

Flip Split

This Southern California-based company specializes in fixing dated or dilapidated houses for homeowners who plan to sell them. Flip Split markets itself to homeowners who live in their homes and want to fix them up — not necessarily to investors who buy a home specifically for flipping.

Still, Flip Split has the skill and knowledge to oversee a rehab project. Investors in San Diego, Los Angeles, and other Southern California cities can consider this company. 

Gatsby Investment

Here’s one more Southern California company, but this one works differently than Flip Split and Smike Wallen.

Instead of helping investors rehab a specific home they want to flip, Gatsby Investment invites investors to finance other people’s flips — and then earn a profit on their investment when the home sells.

Investors who want to remain passive like this approach. Gatsby is registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission.   

Rittenhouse Brothers

The brothers who own this company work together to help investors in the Upper Midwest — especially Michigan, Wisconsin, and Indiana — flip houses. The four brothers grew up helping their father renovate homes before regrouping as adults to form Rittenhouse Brothers.

AE Talley

AE Talley manages house flips for investors in Philadelphia and the surrounding areas, including the Jersey Shore. This company staffs contractors, and it can connect investors with its network of subcontractors, to manage the hands-on aspect of a project.

AE Talley also helps investors strategize about which houses to buy and which renovations to focus on to get the most return on their flip.  

The KCI Companies

The KCI Companies in Chicago includes a variety of firms that focus on real estate development, including KCI Rehab and Remodeling, LLC, which helps investors flip homes.

KCI’s other companies can also support a flip. For example, the firm includes a group of Realtors to help investors buy and sell their properties and consultants for investors who need guidance.

CityLight Homes

CityLight Homes runs an interesting program in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Florida, Utah, and Arizona. Investors who have bought a home to fix can hand the entire process over to CityLight’s staff. CityLight will even pay upfront for the repairs.

The company rehabs and re-sells the home on behalf of the owner, then it takes the cost of repairs out of proceeds from the re-sale. This is about as hands-off as it gets for the flipper.

Heaton Dainard Real Estate

Seattle-area investors can partner with Heaton Dainard Real Estate to source and evaluate potential homes to flip. This firm can also help investors plan repairs that will generate the biggest profit when it’s time to re-sell the home.

Heaton Dainard is not a contractor, so it doesn’t perform the actual repairs. Its guidance can help investors plan a successful flip, though.

Figur Construction

Figur Construction is a contracting company serving metropolitan Atlanta. Figur can help manage a flip on behalf of an investor. This firm can also advise new investors who want to talk through their plans.

Fix Hold Flip Construction, LLC

Central Texas investors who need help with a flip might like Fix Hold Flip Construction, LLC. This contractor works on commercial and residential projects in Dallas and the surrounding areas.   

Spartacus Construction Inc.

Spartacus Construction of Rochester, N.Y., manages flips for investors in Upstate New York. As its name suggests, Spartacus focuses on the rehab work itself, but its experience flipping houses can help guide investors as they plan a project.

Spartacus has experience finishing basements and adding outdoor space, and this can be an efficient way to add to a home’s value.

Should you hire a fix and flip company?

When you couldn’t succeed without help from a fix and flip company, it’s probably a good idea to hire the company — that is, if the company’s services match your needs.

Naturally, there’s a catch when you work with a company: You have to pay the company, which can take a big bite out of your earnings.

You could also lose some control over the project, depending on the agreement you make with the company.

Alternatives to hiring fix and flip companies

If you can’t find the right company for you — or if you don’t want to pay a company — you’ll need another way to break into the fix and flip business. Instead of hiring a company you could:

• Become your own contractor: Contractors supervise and organize renovation projects. They hire skilled tradespeople such as plumbers and electricians (as subcontractors). If you learn this organizational role, you could save a lot of money. However, keep in mind you may need some time to develop connections with tradespeople
• Learn a skilled trade yourself: Could you learn plumbing, electrical, or HVAC? Community colleges teach these skills. Learning them could save you thousands of dollars. You’d need to earn a license to complete larger, permitted jobs, but in many cities, you could update a home’s existing systems without a license
• Shadow another expert: Could you get hired by another house flipper or real estate developer for a couple years? That way you could learn the basics before applying them to your own property

Some new investors like in-between strategy: Hiring a fix and flip company for their first project or two and then transitioning into flipping solo after that.

About fix and flip Loans

To succeed with house flipping, new investors might need help from a company. Many new flippers also need help financing their first flip.

A variety of online lenders can provide short-term financing for your first flip.