203K mortgage and renovations

[Zaid Badabwan]

Hello

I have made an offer to a property using 203K loan to buy and renovate the property. I have come to know that the contractor should be approved, and I have some questions:

1. Can I take only the purchase part of the loan, and use other funding for renovation? and in this case can I do the renovations myself?

2. If the answer to question 1 is NO, and I had to stick to the approved contractor, then can I do parts of the renovations, or buy the material and deliver them to the contractor to reduce cost?

3. Any advise to reduce renovation cost?