Purpose and steps
The House Flipping Rehab Budget Calculator validates every input, normalizes monthly and annual amounts, and calculates rehab contingency, holding costs, selling costs, profit, ROI, and ARV from one consistent scenario.
- Confirm currency and monthly versus annual amounts. U.S. tax and loan models should be used within their stated scope.
- Prepare Purchase price, Base rehab budget, After-repair value (ARV), Holding period, Renovation type, Property area, Rehab contingency, Monthly holding cost, Selling costs. Defaults demonstrate the model rather than your personal circumstances.
- Check the headline result and its components. A key interpretation for this tool is: ARV is a sale-value assumption, not the current purchase value.
- Compare the baseline with a changed scenario: The 70% rule and per-square-foot benchmarks are rough screens; compare contractor bids and recent comparable sales.
Input reference and units
These values reproduce the model’s demonstration. Replace them with your own records or measurements; they are not recommended targets.
On a small screen, swipe the table horizontally to see all columns.
| Parameter | Demonstration value | How to enter it |
|---|---|---|
| Purchase price | 150000 USD | Use dollars and the monthly or annual period stated in the field label; do not enter thousands of dollars. |
| Base rehab budget | 45000 USD | Use dollars and the monthly or annual period stated in the field label; do not enter thousands of dollars. |
| After-repair value (ARV) | 275000 USD | Use dollars and the monthly or annual period stated in the field label; do not enter thousands of dollars. |
| Holding period | 6 months | Use months, not years. Five years means 60 months. |
| Renovation type | Cosmetic + kitchen/bath | Changes the illustrative benchmark, not the contractor quote or entered rehab budget. |
| Property area | 1500 sq ft | Enter square feet of area, not a side length in feet. |
| Rehab contingency | 10 % | Enter a percentage such as 6.5, not 0.065. The equation converts it to a decimal. |
| Monthly holding cost | 1500 USD | Use dollars and the monthly or annual period stated in the field label; do not enter thousands of dollars. |
| Selling costs | 7 % | Enter a percentage such as 6.5, not 0.065. The equation converts it to a decimal. |
Model-specific method
How this calculator produces its result
Rehab = base budget × (1+contingency). Holding = monthly holding cost × months. Selling cost = ARV × selling percentage. Profit = ARV − purchase − rehab − holding − selling. Break-even ARV = (purchase + rehab + holding)/(1−selling fraction).
A cash-flow waterfall and scenario sensitivity
Income and costs form successive layers. Subtracting financing before computing NOI changes the definition and distorts cap-rate comparisons. Principal repayment uses cash but can also build equity, so a tax profit, operating profit and cash-flow result may legitimately differ.
Sensitivity analysis changes one assumption while keeping the others fixed. If yearly potential rent is G, a one-percentage-point vacancy increase directly reduces collected rent by G×0.01, before variable expense offsets. Combined stress scenarios are also important: vacancy, maintenance and borrowing costs can worsen together.
Effective income = potential income × (1 − vacancy) NOI = effective income − operating expenses Cash flow = NOI − debt service DSCR = NOI / debt service
- Potential income: before vacancy or collection loss
- NOI: net operating income before financing
- Debt service: contractual principal and interest payments
- Cash flow: money remaining after the modeled payments
Worked example
Purchase $150,000, rehab $45,000 with 10% contingency, six months at $1,500 and ARV $275,000 with 7% selling costs produce $49,500 rehab, $9,000 holding, $19,250 selling and $47,250 modeled profit.
Reproduce the default scenario
This is a separate example, calculated using the exact engine on the tool page and the defaults in the input reference above. Health examples use metric units. Displayed rounding may differ from intermediate precision.
- Estimated flip profit
- 47,250 USD
- Rehab budget with contingency
- 49,500 USD
- Holding costs
- 9,000 USD
- Estimated selling costs
- 19,250 USD
- Total project cost
- 227,750 USD
- Return on project cost
- 20.75%
- Rehab cost per square foot
- 33 USD
- Renovation-type benchmark
- 82,500 USD
- 70% rule maximum purchase price
- 143,000 USD
- Break-even ARV
- 224,193.55 USD
Reading results without overstating them
- ARV is a sale-value assumption, not the current purchase value.
- The 70% rule and per-square-foot benchmarks are rough screens; compare contractor bids and recent comparable sales.
Assumptions and exclusions
- Acquisition closing costs, financing charges and taxes are only captured if included in your budgets. Renovation benchmarks are fixed illustrative values, not local quotes.
Sources and content notes
Toolify describes the implemented algorithm and its assumptions. Sources below support the topic or applicable rules; they do not endorse this calculator. Examples are illustrative, and published rules take precedence over simplified estimates.
Report a formula, example or translation issue through our contact page. Include the tool name, inputs and expected result so it can be reproduced. Contact Toolify