Senior living operators struggle with budgeting for CapEx projects and common area renovations. So here's the Bridge Group Construction Budgeting Blueprint. I can give you any tips or tricks along the way. For the past 15 years, I have met with operators, owners, and investors and helped them with their budgeting process for upcoming projects. So if you're an investor out there and you're looking to buy a portfolio, maybe it's value add or a legacy building that just needs some love and some refresh and some powder, then this may be helpful for you.

I have seen different operators and investors run with challenges around budgeting and if you get the wrong budget in place before you make that offer on that beautiful building that you want to take over and reposition, it can mess up the deal and it can hurt you in the long run on your return on investment. So here's the budgeting blueprint.

The Budgeting Blueprint

You want to get your team together. If you listen to anything that I've said in previous videos, you know that I'm big on building the team. For the past 15 years, I have been a part of helping operators build their CapEx programs and also their common area renovations. The thing you want to do is you want to get a great general contractor who understands the industry, has been through this before, and understands the nuances of and the constraints of renovating in an existing open operating community. It makes a difference. You don't want to just go out to the commercial construction world and try to get numbers of people who don't understand how to work around residents. It makes a difference. You also need an interior designer. That's going to be your most important piece of this puzzle. If you're doing an existing building renovation, that interior designer is going to help build the narrative around your goals of where you want to start, where you want to finish, and how you want it to look. going to help you select and build the products that you're going to put inside that community. The types of flooring, the types of lighting, the colors, the millwork, the trim, and all the great things that you want to put in your building to help transform it.

That is then going to communicate to the contractor exactly how I want to price it and build that budget. If you don't want to take it that far, even just having a basic narrative around your goals can help you do that. We like to start with what I call a ROM, a Rough Order Magnitude. This is a great step in your initial budgeting phase, and this is great to even start if you're under an LOI for a property or a portfolio of properties that you're trying to acquire and that you plan to renovate or reposition.

Now, if you have an existing portfolio, I like to call it Legacy Buildings. This is a kind of vintage 1990s vintage 2000s. These are prime communities for renovations. The great thing there is the opportunity to repurpose and potentially even reimagine some of these areas. A great interior designer matched even potentially with an architect, if you're going to do some structural changes and then match with a great general contractor can help you reach those goals. So we start with the Rough Order Magnitude, and then we get a little bit more granular from there. As more information as you pick those products and specs that you want to put in that community. And then we can sharpen the pencil and give you that great budget number that you can then take to the C-suite to get approved.

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Precise renovation budgets can make or break the deal. Use my budgetary blueprint method to make sure that you're on the right track. To get that return that you're seeking. Budgeting for CapEx projects can be a challenge, but it doesn't have to be. We'd love to help you go to thebridgegc.com and connect with us today.