A one story bungalow in Audubon is hard to flip. The layout is old, the bedrooms are small, and a nice kitchen will not fix that. So Tim adds a second floor. He bought this one for under $300,000 and expects the finished house to sell for around $650,000. Here is how he builds it, step by step.
Before anyone swings a hammer
The house came from Fran, Tim's partner on these jobs. Fran finds the houses and negotiates. Tim runs the build. At the end they split it. "You bring the deal. I'll manage the job," is how Tim put it.
Once the house closed, the architect came out. Tim has done enough of these that the layouts are close to identical, and the plans came back in about two weeks. Then a full permit packet went to the township.
Waiting on permits is dead time, so Tim files a separate demo permit and guts the inside while he waits. What he cannot do is tear the house down and start building until the main permit is approved.
Can the house hold a second floor?
That is the first question on any pop top. The foundation has to carry the new weight, so his crew was adding footings and checking the basement.
Usually Tim takes these houses almost all the way down. This one was luckier. The subfloor, the floor joists and the walls were level and solid, so they stayed. He figures keeping them saved $10,000 to $15,000 in framing and material.
The order of the build
Tim walked through the sequence from the day the lumber showed up:
| Step | Tim's timeline |
|---|---|
| Framing | About 3 weeks |
| House sealed up | Within about 30 days |
| Plumbing, then HVAC, then electrical | In that order |
| Fire blocking, then rough inspections | Plumbing, HVAC, electrical, fire blocking |
| Insulation, then its inspection | Last township visit before the final |
| Sheetrock hung | 2 days |
| Kitchen, tile and laminate floors | About 2 weeks after sheetrock |
| Countertops | About a week after the kitchen is templated |
| Doors and trim to a sign in the yard | About 2 weeks |
As Tim described it in the video, posted October 2, 2026.
He knows this is faster than most builders go. His reason is the same one he gives on every job. While a house is unfinished he is paying interest and making payments, and the market can move on him. "The faster we're out of here, the more money we make."
Why Audubon
Tim's case for the town is price. He says the same finished house would sell for $750,000 to $800,000 in Haddon Township or Haddon Heights, and around $650,000 in Audubon. He also likes the people. "It's blue collar, hard working people," he said, and families tend to stay for generations.
He admitted not everyone in town likes these second story additions. His answer is that a lot of the original houses have knob and tube wiring and layouts that do not work for a family today.
What it costs more now
One number in the video is worth knowing if you are pricing any project. Tim said the same lumber package cost him $10,000 more than it did six months earlier, and he expects the trades to follow. Higher costs, higher rates and slightly softer prices all squeeze the same margin.
The finished version
Tim ended the video at another Audubon house on Chestnut Street, about 30 days ahead of this one. The living room is big enough to be two rooms. The dining room sits apart from it. What was an office in his last version is now a first floor primary suite, and upstairs there are two more bedrooms, a hall bath and a real laundry room. He expects it to sell for around $660,000 to $670,000.
Here is an earlier one that already sold. 28 Central Ave started as a small bungalow and was rebuilt as a full two story.
Own a bungalow like this?
If your house is a small one story with an old layout, it may be worth more to a builder than to a retail buyer, because the value is in what it can become. Here is how a sale to Tim works. When you want a number, ask for a cash offer or call Tim at 856.685.6455.
