Property tax % can be quite high in the Austin area and will affect cash flow materially.

I always hired contractors, and did material runs for them several times a week after work and cleaned up jobs on the weekend, which was also time I spent at the properties, discovering issues, thinking about the rehabs and what needed to be done next.

Account Closed - You can fight the appraisal and indicate that the appraisal has a material error and should be revised.

It does also say that you can use the number of rooms as an alternative way to divide it up, but only if the rooms are approximately the same size. 

What I have done in the past is that we (myself and the contractor) discuss the project with as much detail as possible, what materials will be needed, how many people will work on the project, how long it will take, when they plan to start and finish, work schedule, and what the budget/price will be. 

Though, like one of the Ford Mustangs Steve Mcqueen drove in Bullitt, in my opinion, every piece of real property is unique, and therefore monetary damages would not suffice, unless the plaintiff requests monetary damages in the alternative. 

Alternatively you could try to wholetail it.

All mid level materials for a flip.

When you run a business however, you can write off a lot of materials, equipment, software, etc.. that can help reduce your tax bill.If there is a cheat code to this, I am all ears!! 

Alternatively, you could look outside of city limits - approx 30 min drive or so.