What’s the best way to handle the upfront money when the contractor says he needs $$ to buy materials?

I would love to go into details on how to estimate costs of putting work into it (materials, getting to know contractors, etc) to make an informed decision when purchasing a property up front.

Then it produced a materials list of their windows, doors etc etc that they already had & pricing.

I've established a charge account at Lowe's and i'm allowed to add contractors to my account for charging materials. 

(ps- my partner is a GC and his employees would be doing the labor- so the material cost is the major deciding factor here).

whatever you stance on that, it has created a situation where we (americans) look down on factory built homes.Without the artificial input I believe we would have giant , efficient, factories in every city pumping out modular homes, that are green, affordable and accepted as "normal" and probably cost as much as a nice new truck.If you have ever built a new home, the insanity of "site built" becomes apparent as the waste of materials and man hours can be staggering.

We also obtained a tax ID and were wanting to know how we go about get a contractor discount with building materials.

Unused contingency funds, unless they were received directly from the borrower, must be used to reduce the outstanding balance of the renovation mortgage after all of the renovation work has been completed and the certification of completion has been obtained.The loan is not re-amortized.Draw Schedule: The program has a maximum 4 draw process.The initial draw can be up to 25% of the total project and can be for materials for the project.The final draw will be at least 10% of the total project as retainage and funds will be released upon receipt and approval of final inspection, Certificate of Completion from Appraiser, signed All Bills Paid Affidavits and Lien Waivers.Additional Draw Information: Signed Draw Request by borrower and contractorSigned All Bills Paid Affidavit review and approve the draw request and will release funds for disbursementA check will be issued in the name of the borrower and contractor and delivered to borrower via USPSAn inspection of work to date will be performed at 50% completeChange Orders and Cost Overruns: Changes to the initial plan are not permitted unless prior approval.

Hey all,I'm completely new to this, so please feel free to point out any mistakes I make.I've been super excited for the past few months at the possibility of breaking into real estate, specifically rentals, and more ...

I've also met with a developer who said he looks to "double" on every deal  - meaning he is spending 200k for land/permits/materials/labor and targets a 400K sales priceIn my area, 4 units+ is the trigger point for all sorts of additional complicated planning reviews and requirements, curbs/gutters, traffic studies, environmental reviews, etc...