I just don't know where to start or who to ask/retain for help. 

To start look on home dept and you can price out counters sinks flooring etc to get an idea of materials. 

Buy your Own MaterialsThe hot tip for the week is: Buy your materials / supplies, especially for high-priced /large / single items.

Lastly return and additional material you bought for a refund.

You might try wholesaling, but even that is not going to be fast - find a wholesaler, go work for him for free for a couple months, soak all the knowledge you can meanwhile and read all the material you can get from internet, BP, Amazon books on the subject.

Look at new construction triplex/duplex condo sales in the heights areas, subtract carrying cost over build timeline, materials, labor and construction costs, what their desired profit in heights deals would be and that would leave you with approximate acquisition cost of the lot. 

Then I realized the 100 hours material participation rule could be construed as active income and jeopardize my green card chance.

Take a hard look at your presentation and materials.

Cooper) said that the mortgage is assumable (there is path that would allow me to remove spouse from mortgage and retain the current rate), but the process can take a while, is subject to fees, and they need to reevaluate my ability to qualify for the mortgage without my spouse.

Have the materials failed (leaks)?