Christian OsgoodCEO, Multifamily Strategy · CEO at Multifamily Strategy

What is Your Process for Estimating Cap Ex

2 Sept 2026 · 1 min

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1:07

Christian Osgood drives to properties and uses exterior condition to estimate interior shape, then applies market benchmarks: light renovations run $2,000, medium $5,000, heavy $8-10K, super-heavy over $30K. He allocates $5,000 upfront for well-kept units or $10,000 for rough ones, then narrows estimates with a contractor walkthrough during inspection.

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So what's your process for accurately estimating CapEx and renovation scope on the front end before you get into full-on due diligence?
For estimating, I'm going to have to do my best estimate for what your interior is going to be based on the exterior. So I'll almost always drive a property and go like, hey, I'm going to assume that the interior is identical to the exterior before you know, because there's just no other way to know. And you're going to learn new stuff when you're under contract. You're making the best guess you can based on the information you have. Uh, renovation costs, many markets. So if you're in like Missouri, um, a light turn is gonna be like $2,000, a medium turn is gonna be like $5,000, a heavy turn is probably gonna be $8,000 to $10,000, a super heavy turn can cost you over $30,000. So there's a huge amount of variation in there. But generally, if the outside looks pretty good, I'm like, okay, CapEx, our make-readies are probably gonna cost— I'm probably gonna allocate $5K. If it looks rough, I'm probably gonna allocate $10K on the front end. Uh, it's one of your biggest variables though, is you, you estimate up and then you get through and you're gonna narrow that down a ton by walking it with a contractor. Contractor. I usually schedule to do my walkthrough with the inspection, so I'll get, I'll get quotes and inspection all done the same day.