Pick their brains.  

Its an art form in picking out the right partners. most of them fail.

After 21 day review, the permit is ready for pick-up and initial inspection, but things have gone bad with this contractor on another project (he's now breached both contracts timelines by a longshot).

I wouldn't do it unless I desperately needed the short-term cash and felt confident I could pick up the slack at the end of the three month period.

If you aren't set on buying locally (sounds like you're not), then you can just pick what feels better and has the better numbers. - Residential rental properties (1-4 units) are the most tax-benefited asset class available. - Residential vs. commercial in general: This is a a crazy-basic article, but might trigger some pros and cons thoughts for you on which to go- https://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/5-SFRs-or...- Ultimately, what would you most enjoy buying?

This includes picking out paint color.I have a rental that I will include pictures of to get an idea of the room surroundings. 

Depends on the type of GC you're looking for.The guys picking up material early in the morning at HD/Lowes/Menards are unlikely to run a very tight ship or handle large scale jobs.

I guess I like controlling the material cost myself, that way I can pick the quality that goes in depending on whether it's a flip or a rental.I'm also more hands on the projects also, I'm there on a daily basis and usually do some work myself alongside them. 

They talk about this a lot on the podcasts - I think pick some areas you are comfortable driving to and start exploring those.  

Pick up the phone, call realtors, ask them.