We have a Chicago general contracting business, and handling the field operations is a ridiculously heavy lift.As far as finding customers I think you'll have some good success with gorillia marking at some of the local investor meetups. 

would love to connect.

Specialist tend to get large volumes of clients as they are seen as the expert in the field.

Retirement accounts are designed to be invested passively so when the IRS sees you running an active business in it, to level the playing field between retirement accounts and other business the retirement account incurs UBIT. 

We ended up having to dig up parts of the front yard to replace the main water line that connected to the city water supply to the home.

Are there other players in this field that I should be aware of and consider talking to before making a final decision?

Ask yourself: do I really have the knowledge of real estate principles, real estate law and real estate finance; the network of contacts; the experience both in business in general and real estate in particular; the time available; and the analytical ability to compete against FULL TIME EXPERIENCED PROFESSIONALS to be successful in a field where the failure rate is so astronomically high?  

Still, if you aren't whittling down the number you are analyzing financially to a small subset you see before deciding what to do, you are missing an essential part of getting to the tipping point of expertise in your field.

Would love to connect more and share some ideas/resources.

Let’s connect!