A NOTE FROM THE WORK
Wholetail gets its own scope, and every job gets a debrief
A flat wholetail percentage was off by about 20 points either way, so each estimate now carries its own wholetail number. Finished jobs get a short debrief on what ran over.
I made two changes to how I price rehab this month.
The deal math used to price a wholetail as a flat cut of the full rehab. I checked that against a few dozen of my real estimates, and it was off by about 20 points in both directions. Cosmetic houses came in cheaper. Anything with a roof or foundation came in higher.
So I went through every item in my repair catalog and marked what a wholetail keeps, drops or swaps for a cheaper fix. Service the HVAC instead of replacing it. Paint and reface the cabinets. Each finished estimate now carries its own wholetail number, and the deal side uses it.
The other change comes at the end of a job. Every line that ran over gets a short note on why. Then the AI writes a debrief the way an old rehabber would talk to a peer. The first version was long and told me things I already knew, so I cut it to a short read and a few lessons.
The rehab number is still mine. This just makes it harder to fool myself.
Do you go back over the budget after a job closes?