Working with a handyman vs hiring subs

[Charles Oglesby]

My team is looking at a rental property in Georgia that is on the market for $50k, with a 70k ARV. The estimated rehab from looking at it was $10,000 (new windows, carpet, holes in the wall) but the bid from the contractor came back at $17,500 with $10,000 of that allocated to replacing the windows. Our goal isn't to flip for quick cash but to acquire as a rental even if it only yields limited equity on the buy (controversial I know).

After calling around I found out that we can get the windows done for a fraction of the cost the GC quoted us, also the holes in the wall and the carpet could all be repaired and replaced much more economically.  

My question is how do you go about confirming your GCs bids, aside from the obvious getting multiple bids, and do some of you just hire out sub contractors yourself to save some money?  

My other question is what is the best way to finance this? We could use a fix and flip loan and then refinance (BRRR) but the margins are so slim that our lender isn't super motivated to do the deal. We also aren't able to get a conventional loan because of the rehab required. Kind of stuck right here. Let us know what you think we can do.

Thanks. 

[Marissa Carroll]

@Michael Lewis - Depends on the windows. 10K is one the higher end but it's not unreasonable for certain brands.