As for the draino, I didn't want another episode of "ripping me a new one."  

Nobody in LA can build that cheap, or the finish needs to be ripped and changed by the new owner. 110/sf is for town houses that everyone  wants to rip out the cabinets to put their home depot stock on. 70-90/sf on soft costs, and 150/sf on land (say a 1200 sf is 180k). 

Jay offered to rip up the floors and fix it right there and then, inconveniencing the tenant to make me happy, but in the end he actually wired me a sizeable chunk of cash so that I could cover the cost of replacing and repairing the floor after the tenant departed. 

The Ant problem was not obvious until we ripped down the drywall from a small roof leak that we did see.

I find that there are way more horrible stories about Contractor Rip-offs than there are, "Home Inspector missed a critical piece that cost me a fortune" or on the flip-side, "How do I sue my contractor" comes up way more often than, "How do I sue my home inspector?"  

So now instead of ripping all apart and replace with new, I "just" have to restore it.Now does anyone have experience with restoration?

Not ripping off the roof to do it and even my wirey 17 year doesn't fit so it is what it is.

They have numerous complaints online from people they ripped off, just like me.

There are people who are just evil, without any consideration for others, if they are going to rip someone off there is no law that can be made that will stop those people.

in my experience, Realty Trac is a complete RIP OFF.