The home owner is a architectural engineer and im hoping he has applied his skills to the up keep of the property. 

> Need to get 3 contractors to bid on the project (however without Plans that may be tough)FWIW You can get financing and/or bids with architectural drawings. 

.#3 Contact Local Contractors for Labor PricingCall local Subcontractors and get budget pricing for common repairs on your typical rehab project.For example, call a roofer and ask what their average cost per Square of Architectural Asphalt Shingle Roofing would be on a 1,500 sf house, with a 6/12 pitch.Note: Some contractors will be reluctant to share pricing without seeing the property, but tell them you are just looking for a rough budget number you can use on future projects.#4 Compile Your Prices into a Spreadsheet or Estimating SoftwareOnce you start to get a better understanding of Labor and Material costs you will want to store this data into a spreadsheet or software that you can use to help you streamline the estimating process.The Book on Estimating Rehab Costs comes with a spreadsheet that you can use to help you populate your own database of labor pricing and material pricing.

[If you want to help the ranch, you can "purchase" feed donations in $20 increments.]Los Angeles Architecture.

In Chicagoland, many of the jurisdictions will require drawings to be submitted which show any Architectural, Electrical, Plumbing, and Mechanical changes.

There are little things that give me more joy than flipping through Architectural Digest and Dwell magazines with a cup of coffee in hand.

We have architectural and  structural renderings in place, completed pro forma and building plans from most experienced and respected builder group in the 30A area, development orders issued by the county, and profit projections with a very wide profit margin cushion even if there is an unexpected market downturn.  

No deep insights, but we use local architectural salvage places and recycle as much as we can.

A lot of these programs have good online tutorials to help you understand how to use the various tools as well.Feel free to connect, I'd be happy to share some more input from an Architectural standpoint.

I am considering purchasing a 12k sq foot building with architectural plans  already in place to convert to 12-14 condos.