Photographs in outfits that could be construed as provocative (i.e. trying to capitalize on the idea that “sex sells”) can attract more trouble than actual clients.

Barring that, the amount involved could be enough to take him to small claims court.Failing either of those, it’s several important lessons learned (Albeit at an expensive price tag). 1) Get multiple bids. 2) don’t always trust your realtors contractor recommendations (had a guy once bid pre-close and then double the same bid post-close, clearly in cahoots with the realtor) and 3) don’t pay small contractors/handymen before any work is done (more comfortable doing this on large/sophisticated outfits).

Also, the majority of them appear to be operated by mom and pop outfits.

I'd love to know your favorite places to outfit your STRs.

There's big box like Lowe's and Home Depot and they have builder discounts but you need to buy in bulk, there' smaller outfits for lumber and sheetrock and of course paint too.But there are lenders who will deal with you if you have good credit and liquidity,

The houses are usually controlled by the wholesale outfits who have become very greedy and anything found on the MLS will not work numbers wise. 

In my experience, the only people who make money over the long haul in rentals like this are overwhelmingly criminals themselves, with a small leavening of police and other law enforcement officers, and an even smaller group of DIY mom-and-pop outfits like ours.

If you can find an electrician, a plumber, an HVAC outfit, and a roofing crew that's willing to work with you in your target area, bless your luck and treat them like the vital business associates that they are.I would tell any head of household that's already making upwards of $100K a year to stay out of this niche.

$120k seems cheap to fully build and outfit 5 "brand new" apartments.  

most folks do not have an outfit so big that they have everything done by someone else.