If you are getting paid based as a percentage of the sale / purchase price, that sounds an awful lot like a commission to me.However, I am not your attorney, so if you want a definitive answer to your question, I would recommend you hire an experience Texas real estate attorney OR get a real estate license (and then you don't have to worry about the issue).

And it appears that the amount of work is not high enough to hire a full time person.Does anyone have some good best-practice or ideas to show how you manage the work load and staffing for similar scenarios?

Some homeowners hire a property manager to manage the other 1-3 units for the owner.

Hi Fergus,If you can handle the workload thats going to come with building the two duplex's, I say go for it.If your going to be biting off more than you can chew, liquidate.It really depends on your risk tolerance at this point.The construction loan is a doable deal as long as you have solid credit, have experience /hire a builder.

But I feel when booking all sorts of things that unanswered bad reviews feel like confessions from the seller/owner/etc. that the review is correct.Some landlords and sellers hire companies to threaten to sue people who leave bad reviews if they can't back up their assertions.

on a BRRRR appraisal in particular... the lender will hire it out to an appraisal company. 

As @Pat Aboukhaled said, hire a public adjuster.

So I hired a company to pressure wash my apartments (8 units) in New York State and the guy fell off the roof.   

We had to hire a new contractor and pay them just as much money as we did with the first contractors.

Hire a local reputable public Adjuster.