They can offer tailored strategies to help manage your rentals and carpentry business effectively.

Perhaps it is hard for people from the states to understand - but the rule of law, and clarity in regulations etc really makes it so much more attractive than other places where you never know what new policies might come into effect forcing you to take massive loses etc.

A colleague of mine has bought two properties owner-occupied back to back in Arlington (with a 5% rate and a 7% rate) doing basement conversions and renting rooms, lowering his effective monthly payment on each property to sub 2K each time.

Open to suggestion, obviously. 

In addition to those I would also suggest making a commitment to going to local meet ups and networking events in your area.

Now my main issue is I need a fire detection system in a enclosed back porch that leads up to all three floors, but I don't know what's the minimum I would need to be compliant or that the fire marshall is suggesting what he wants or recommends.

Being out of state, I would suggest vetting your "team", meaning find an investor realtor, lender/s (hard $ / long term), property manager, contractors, etc.

Just starting out and testing waters for BRRR in Chicagoland area.Any advice or suggestions regarding this?

I highly suggest getting to some local meetup groups...here is BPs list:  https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/521-real-estate-events-...I also have a full list of the chicago meetups that I can share with you too if that'd be helpful.

They might have suggestions or updates that could help with this specific issue.