I found that if you could consistently pass those every single time, you should be good on the test.

The one-two guy crews they recommend will get you into the right price points to start... eventually, when you get more consistent business for flooring vendors, retails stores (whom are more reliable) will want the business and get nearer to reality in pricing.--- Sidenote: we transitioned from hiring of LVP/vinyl/ceramic/hardwood to handling in-house which has shaved our costs substantially from the above budget averages.  

Our company also manages a very large portfolio of land for an individual, consisting of over 1000 acres of land in Southern California, some very prime commercial/industrial along the freeway.

If you want to meet in person, I would be happy to share my approach with you. 6) the name of the direct mail game is volume, consistency and quality of list.

Should I keep shopping around or are these rates consistent with what others are seeing?

Is anyone actually buying and rehabbing consistently and profiting here?

My long term goal is to reach financial freedom by building a buy and hold portfolio that consist of single/multi family houses.       

This will allow you to grow your retirement savings - hopefully more consistently than in conventional assets if you know what you are doing with real estate.  

It seems that less and less people are going in to or even considering trades, and the plight and challenge of finding consistently good contractors will continue to increase.  

If you are consistent and continually mail you will eventually get calls, it takes time though.