Construction Arbitrage Examples: Real Jobs, Real Numbers

Construction arbitrage examples make the model real: I win the work as the main contractor, subcontractors do it, and I keep the spread. These three jobs - a house repaint, a bathroom renovation, and a kitchen remodel - show exactly what that looks like with actual numbers. (Figures in USD - the model and the maths are identical in any currency.)

Construction arbitrage in practice: what these examples actually show#

I have been running this model for years with 1,400-plus subcontractors in my database, running jobs from a laptop across multiple countries. The examples below are the shape of real jobs - not a theoretical business model.

Each example shows:

• What the job was
• What I quoted the client
• What I paid in subcontractor and material costs
• My gross margin (the raw spread before my own running costs)
• What my time actually looked like

Gross margin here means the spread on each job before overhead - insurance, software, the occasional site visit. That is what you then build your running costs on top of. See how much money construction arbitrage actually makes for how that translates to monthly income at different stages.

Example 1 - Interior house repaint, 3-bedroom residential#

The job: A landlord needed a full interior repaint of a 3-bedroom house between tenants. All walls, ceilings, skirting boards, and doors throughout.

What I quoted: $4,800

What I paid:

• Painter (labor and paint supply): $3,300
• Total costs: $3,300

Gross margin: $1,500 (31%)

My time: A 30-minute walkthrough to scope the job. One final check at the end.

This is the simplest version of the model: one trade, one client, low complexity. The painter I used had been on my books for six months. I knew his quality and his pricing. I quoted the client at the going rate for the finished result, got competitive coverage from my sub, and the spread was there.

The margin on a painting job tends to be tighter than on trade work like plumbing or tiling, because painting is easier to price and there is more competition. According to Angi's 2026 data, the national average for interior painting of a 3-bedroom house runs from roughly $3,000 to $6,000. My price of $4,800 was competitive. The 31% gross on this job was good for that market - in more competitive areas you might run 20-25% on the same scope.

The bigger lesson here: the landlord became a repeat client. Painting jobs open doors to renovations.

Example 2 - Full bathroom renovation#

The job: Full gut and refit of a main bathroom. Existing suite out, replumb, new shower enclosure, floor and wall tiling throughout, new vanity and toilet, repaint.

What I quoted: $13,500

What I paid:

Item	Cost
Plumber (rough-in, fit-off, shower connection)	$3,600
Tiler (floor and walls)	$2,100
Painter and finisher	$700
Materials (vanity, toilet, shower enclosure, fixtures, tiles, hardware, adhesive, grout)	$4,100
Total	$10,500

Gross margin: $3,000 (22%)

My time: One scope visit. Three check-ins over a 10-day job. The rest was coordinating three trades by phone and managing the material order.

Three things made this job work.

First, I have a trade account at a local tile and bathroom supplier. I buy at trade prices and bill materials to the client at a margin. The $4,100 in materials cost me less at the counter than a client walking in off the street would have paid - that materials spread is a real income line on top of the labour coordination.

Second, I coordinated the trade sequence: plumber rough-in, then tiler, then painter, then plumber back for fit-off. Getting that sequence wrong - sending the tiler in before the plumbing rough-in is done - creates delays and sometimes rework. Coordination is exactly what the client is paying for.

Third, the $13,500 price was competitive. The national average for a full bathroom remodel in the US runs from roughly $8,000 to $17,600 depending on size and fixtures (Angi, 2026). My price sat in the middle of that range for a job that was upper-middle in complexity. The client had no reason to shop around.

Example 3 - Kitchen remodel, mid-range#

The job: Complete kitchen refit for a homeowner. New cabinets, quartz worktop, tiled splashback, new plumbing for sink and dishwasher, upgraded lighting circuit, full repaint.

What I quoted: $28,000

What I paid:

Item	Cost
Cabinet supply and installation (trade supplier, labor included)	$9,500
Quartz worktop supply and fitting (stonemason)	$2,800
Plumber (sink, dishwasher connection, reroute)	$1,900
Electrician (lighting circuit, appliance connections)	$2,100
Tiler (splashback)	$1,600
Painter	$700
Materials I sourced (sink, mixer tap, cabinet handles, fixings, splashback tiles, paint)	$2,400
Total	$21,000

Gross margin: $7,000 (25%)

My time: Two visits - one to scope, one final walkthrough. Coordination was more involved: six trades sequenced across four weeks, with plumber and electrician first-fix needed before tiling, and the stonemason coming in after cabinets were fitted. I tracked the sequence on a simple shared spreadsheet.

The national average for a mid-range kitchen remodel in the US is around $27,000 (National Kitchen and Bath Association). My price of $28,000 was competitive for a job that included cabinet supply, worktop fabrication, and skilled trade work across four disciplines. The client had turned down two other quotes before mine.

This is the job type where the real money starts. The $7,000 gross on this one job is more than three months of income at the painting stage of the business. That is why the path is almost always: start with simpler jobs, build your trade bench and references, then move into renovations and fit-outs.

The money in this model is not in the margin percentage. It is in the cash figure. A 25% margin on a $28,000 job beats a 30% margin on a $5,000 job every single time.

What all three examples have in common#

Strip out the job type and the numbers, and the same structure sits underneath every one.

One price to the client. They see a total. They decide yes or no based on whether it is competitive. They are not asking for a cost breakdown, and you are not offering one. For why you have no obligation to show the sub's quote, read can a general contractor subcontract all the work.

You carry the accountability. The client has a contract with you - not with the subs. If something goes wrong, they call you. That accountability is exactly what the spread compensates. It is not free money; it is the market rate for the role you play.

You never pick up a tool. Coordination, contract management, material sourcing, quality checks at milestones - that is your job. The trade skills belong to the subs.

Compliance is what makes it possible. In all three examples, I was operating with the correct contractor licence for my jurisdiction and carrying general liability insurance. Without those two things, you cannot legally take the job in most markets. The full picture of what that means is in do you need a contractor licence for construction arbitrage.

The variables that change your margin#

These three examples land between 22% and 31% gross margin. Here is what moves that number:

How well you know market rates. The ceiling is what the market will pay for the finished result. If you know that number accurately, you price right. If you guess low, you leave margin on the table. If you guess high, you do not win the job.

How well you have sourced your trades. A painter quoting $3,300 versus one quoting $4,000 on the same job is a $700 difference in your margin. The longer you run this, the sharper your cost side gets.

Whether you source materials centrally. On the bathroom example, buying at trade prices and billing at a margin is a genuine additional spread. It is not available to someone who has no trade accounts.

Job type and complexity. Small single-trade jobs carry higher percentages. Larger jobs with multiple trades compress the percentage but grow the cash figure. The full breakdown of how this works across job types is in how much do general contractors mark up subcontractors.

The model itself - what it is and why it works - is explained on the what is construction arbitrage page.

If you want to build this with people who are running it for real, Construction Arbitrage Players on Skool is the room where this gets practiced.

And if you want the full inside account of how I built this, I am writing THE FAMILY SECRET - How Construction Arbitrage Really Works. Not out yet, but coming.