Dang, Mike....another good one!

You can do a side agreement between you and the person who is referring it, and they can submit an invoice to escrow.

Quote from @Dave Skow: @Samuel Metcalf- sorry ...getting  heloc on the rental duplex  will be hard / impossible to obtain ....if you can  get one - it would be a great option to use for the  remodel / landscape ....if you have  50K equity in your primary -you likely dont have  ample equity position to get a HELOC  on it as the max  comboned loan to value for helc lenders is  85%  ( maybe  90% ) ...I would try getting helocs on both to see whats possible ...if no heloc is possible - use the cash on hand for the purchase down payment / closing costs / loan fee/ prepaids and then use future accumulated savings for landscaping Oh dang!

Asking about how they handle invoicing and maintenance is important as well!

They target people who want to pay rent on a card and small businesses paying invoices.

Organize standard line item for invoices for project expenses, but have him break down all the administrative/overhead line items that are being reimbursed, likely in a prorated fashion ie weekly or monthly percentages.

They just keep sending the same original invoice.

Do I complete work out of pocket and send invoices for reimbursement?

God forbid we actually elect people who know how to run the dang thing, no, we want to put a chimp right at the tippy-top of decision making power, what can go wrong....... 

Most PMC's charge either an hourly rate with built-in markup or they only send invoice from their company - hiding markup on actual cost.