It is the only way to eliminate some costs without flat out giving away money to make things affordable. 

Eliminate debt, establish a budget, and save.

If the decision to purchase materials is trust related than that is a red flag and should likely eliminate the GC from consideration.

It helps you learn as well as cut and or eliminate your living expenses for the time being.

Then eliminate areas you cannot or do not want to invest in and develop your strategy.

I am thinking of using an apartment or condo to eliminate my commute four days per week and making it available on weekends for STR.  

I would say the deal flow I can get by not being anonymous far outweighs any liability risk because I do the things on a day to day basis to eliminate most liability risks.

Eliminate debt, establish a budget, and save.

This option eliminates my capital needs, since I do not own the property.

They cut operations staff down to bare-bones, cancelled over 1,000 listings with no notice, and moved entirely to a revenue-share model (which is why they eliminated those 1,000 listings, as they were non-revenue share).