-As for repairs, new siding, roof, gutters, light landscaping, chimney repair + sleeve added, boards on deck / stained, re-sided shed, sheetrock, moldings + paint, interior doors, 1 kitchen, 1 1/2 bath, some hardwood floors added and stained, dressed up fireplace, water heater, oil tank removal.

Home has a wood burning fireplace that I plan to use heavily in winter/fall. 

It's a two bedroom with one bath, utility room, kitchen, living room with working fire place.  

The squaters had been taking the front porch apart and using it for firewood in the fireplace.

Rock does come in 3/8", 1/2", 5/8", and I think you can still find 1/4". 1/4" and 3/8" is used mostly for custom work like circular rooms. 5/8 is called fire rock and is used around fire places and in commercial.As jciu already pointed out, calculating how many sheets you need will have to be done room by room and not by square feet.

We hire outside contractors to do roof maintenance, gutter/drainage maintenance, furnace maintenance, chimney/fireplace maintenance, plumbing maintenance, tree/shrub pruning at least once a year.

Comparable to any fireplace.

Some guidelines we follow, many borrowed from some of the more experienced rehabbers on BP:1) We attempt to leave old charm when possible and refresh when needed, to include: chandeliers, fireplaces, hardwood floors, etc.2) Kitchens!

It is an all brick ranch, beautiful fireplace, perfect groomed yard, totally taking care of.It is a one bedroom house, very shocked, no changing walls or anything.

Is that a smoke stack for a fireplace?