This means designing with the size/length of all materials in mind.2 - Don't make design decisions based on what you want, or what you would live in. 

I had a contractor that I had to fire last month for a multitude of reasons (using my materials on his other job, extremely substandard work that has to be redone by someone else now, not paying his subs,  lying about work being completed that was not actually done, etc).

There are plenty of them in the internet marketing community, which he's a proud member of.As others have said, you have to vet people carefully.

Hi Monique,I'm a local rookie investor and had tons of inspiration and knowledge gained from networking with other people, podcasts and reading tons of material.

Once you decide on materials and start construction,,DO NOT work on top of structure, it won’t support the live load of human.

And I agree with that statement. your second comment on Collusion is not cool and is illegal.. that's all I was pointing out.. you never stated you did this personally and you would be foolish to do so on the internet :).And there are TON of beginners here on BP they read your post the next thing you know there down at the sale trying to collude thinking its easy money ..

Use the internet to find properties, set your goals, and educate yourself.

You can qualify for material participation for short term and long term properties.

I had my fare share of financial modeling and asset management and can say I know how to analyze deals and asset manage very well.But, I was not too involved in the closing phases of the deals (lawyers, reports, debt placement, contract negotiations, parts of the DD...) so I lack knowledge in those parts, which I make up for in reading ton of materials and listening to podcasts.• After that I worked for three years as a management consultant at McKinsey where I sharpened my business acumen, problem-solving, storytelling, and presentation skills.

You would be looking at less than 3k in materials to upgrade that kitchen including a new basic stainless appliance set.