I was going to continue living with my parents until the renovations were completed.I hired contractor 4, put a lock box on the property and starting purchasing materials and placing them in the garage for the contractor to get started.

This included labor and material.

Ask your rehabber where he gets materials, try to find some lumber yards and suppliers, not lowes of HD as they have credit departments.Set up a line of credit with suppliers and by the paper at the time of sale.

It may take a person average $0.5 material cost (card or paper and envelope, ink and postage) and plus whatever cost they view their labor cost is to send one mail out.

Based on my experience even with hiring contractors you may also need to do some minor project management to keep the project on track.I definitely see what youre saying about the General Contractor saving me money in the long run due to him knowing local regulations better and getting better price on materials!

Does anyone have a sense of what materials + labor would cost here?

This is an alternative."

I have heard about a company whose website is www.sayrhino.com that offers an interesting  product.  It  allows tenants who don't have enough cash for a security deposit to get an insurance policy for $10-$20 per mont...

What is your alternative during non-school seasons when units are vacant? 

Another way to look at it is that material costs are similar everywhere.