This includes both the 8% pref tier and the 70% surplus tier.

Become energy independent and start selling our surplus to Europe?

There used to be a surplus of funds and now there is a shortage.

For this reason, many investors choose to work with companies that are more investor-focused which often use surplus lines carriers....think Lloyd's of London, Allianz, etc. vs State Farm, Allstate, etc.

@Denise Evans  is there still such thing as Tax Surplus being that the bidding is interst only or am I missing something?

I've been involved in surplus funds for quite some time.

Erie Insurance will do what you want, so I am assuming that you are getting the "surplus lines" from somebody else. 

Lets say the interior walls are another 80 linear feet on each level than I'm at 400 linear feet total for walls(this doesn't exclude doors and windows so that should give me enough surplus for the job)  Since they are standard 8 foot walls that means I'm looking at 3200 square feet to cover the walls (400 x 8 =3200)Then the ceiling on both levels is another 900 square feet each (each being 30x30 in this simplified example) which means that's another 1800 square feet for the ceilingTotaling 5000 square feet for drywall and insulation.

In which case my capex budget number has a significant surplus.

But that's a WHOLE BIG THING and if you are working full time and making money, in my opinion you should do that and put surplus earnings into passive real estate.