The best lead source for a contractor is go into your local supply house that sells materials, and ask the desk guy.Ask the desk guy who pays the bills and is easy to work with and the guy that works with investors, he will give you a few names and they will be solid.I'm talking about an ABC Supply, or Beacon supply exterior material supplier

I would need at least 4 clips per drywall sheet.In an internet search, the cheapest US suppliers that post prices appear to be charging almost $5 per clip, even in 1000+ quantities.

Many years ago, I managed a natural foods co-op, and Applegate was one of our suppliers.  

If you can pull the toilet and cabinet, I'd go to your local floor supplier and get a bid for just the floor.  

I'm in need of a carpet supplier and installer in the greater Orlando area.

We bought them though a regional building supplier we use called Kent.We installed an L-shaped kitchen with 90" of cabinets on the short (sink) wall and 192" on the long wall.  

Gas and Electric is usually billed directly to the tenant by the supplier such as Con Ed.

Every project uses multiple trades, gives business to title companies, real estate companies, materials suppliers, lenders, and puts money back into local economies.It's not that there aren't solid projects to build that are in demand, but financing is hard to come by for anything over a SFR.

Are there liens from subs, suppliers, designers, engineers, etc.?

We have solid lines of credit with Home Depot, Sherwin Williams & Pro-build who are our largest suppliers as well as unsecure line of credit with our Bank where we only pay 6.75% APR for the money we take out.