Hard Money Lendor Vs Partner

[Andrew Ralston]

Hi everyone, I am at a crossroads and would like some advice. 

I currently am looking to start my first project and have an investor that has done several deals over the last several years and has funds he wants to invest with me and my project in the Seattle area. I work in construction management and have personally remodeled my home and added a fairly substantial garage addition taking the project from the permitting process all the way through final inspection doing ALL of the work myself start to finish (concrete foundation included). The partnership scenario summary is listed below.  

1. He will be the money behind the project and I will be doing all project management and self-performing any work that I can. 
2. Up to $200k for all project costs. 
3. Wants 50/50 split of profits. 
4. His LLC will be the sole name on the title.
5. Wants 11.5% interest rate on all funds invested prior to profit splits (this is primarily due to the high risk of me running the project with little experience). 

What I am trying to determine is should I go with a HML instead so I can keep all of the profits with only a slightly higher interest rate than what he is offering? My concerns with going this route are that I wouldn't have my partners vested expertise in the project success to turn to if I face a situation that I don't know how to address.

Any help or advice would be much appreciated!