i don’t mind buying my own materials if it would save me some cash. having a hard time deciding who to do my home improvements. good help is hard to come by these day, especially being new. the price increases doesn’t help as well. as much as i want to diy, i don’t want to mess anything up & still have to call for help!

I was going to continue living with my parents until the renovations were completed.I hired contractor 4, put a lock box on the property and starting purchasing materials and placing them in the garage for the contractor to get started.

This included labor and material.

Ask your rehabber where he gets materials, try to find some lumber yards and suppliers, not lowes of HD as they have credit departments.Set up a line of credit with suppliers and by the paper at the time of sale.

I do however feel this is perfect for flipping, and paying for the repairs/materials.

It may take a person average $0.5 material cost (card or paper and envelope, ink and postage) and plus whatever cost they view their labor cost is to send one mail out.

Based on my experience even with hiring contractors you may also need to do some minor project management to keep the project on track.I definitely see what youre saying about the General Contractor saving me money in the long run due to him knowing local regulations better and getting better price on materials!

Does anyone have a sense of what materials + labor would cost here?

Another way to look at it is that material costs are similar everywhere. 

I have discussed this with my contractor and he says that to go over it with vinyl is the best thing (the sellers have just painted it but it is crumbling in several areas) and that he has to wear a full respirator setup like he would for lead based paint abatement or other hazardous materials but just screwing into it doesn’t disturb it so much that it is too much of a problem.