I haven't had to pay demo or tile installers or painters or small electrical jobs up front in years.  

We've also found the opposite- Where a basement was converted w/o permit & tickets were issued to demo the conversion when the owner got caught.  

This usually doesn't happen here any more with banks since there is such competition here at this time (but we found extensive damage that was hidden such as the roof having three layers of roofing, the bottom which was cedar shake with ZERO sheeting at all).Pre-purchase: 2bed/1bath 800 sqft finished living space with an unfinished 720sqft basementAfter Rehab: 3bed/2bath 1520 sqft finished living spaceRehab consisted of: demo, re-wire entire house, move electrical panel and update, roof, siding, hardwoods installed, build new bath in basement, add master bedroom in basement, add washer dryer closet in basement, remove upstairs wall and add beams, remove addition in back and rebuild deck, fencing, landscaping, EVERYTHING, you get the idea.This house did take a full month longer for rehab then anticipated, but it all worked out in the end.The Bad: Budgeted 75k for rehab, ended up 88k, anticipated 60day rehab, took 90days, termites, no HVAC where we thought, Water heater was leased so it got removed after buying it (didn't know that), had to fire a contractor and have others fix his bad work, bath tubs were lain incorrectly and was not discovered until we were ready for tile...The Good: House turned out WAY better than thought, the additional time for rehab gave time for neighborhood market to increase as well, low inventory at time of listing, sold in 4 days.Numbers:  Purchase: $165k (CASH)Rehab: $88kHolding costs: roughly $2500All selling/closing/realtor/staging/misc: $35kSelling Price: $369,000 with no concessionsNet Profit roughly:  $82,556

A developer has purchased my next door neighbors house and plans to demo the house and build a small condo development.

The best order I feel to put the categories for the interior and how I put mine is in the following order Demo, Framing, Rough Electrical, Rough Plumbing, HVAC, insulation, Drywall, Interior Painting, Cabinets/vanities/ counter tops, Flooring (flooring before cabinets if you're not using a floating floor such as true hardwood), Finish plumbing, finish electrical, and finally carpentry (doors, windows, trim).As far as the scope of work for the exterior there is no particular order you need to go in since it will be up to the general contractor to schedule those for you.

Once I'm in the city I am pretty good with the crime demo, school districts, walkability, talking to prop managers etc to find the best regions =). 

These are full addition with permits and demo most of existing.

Not sure what shape this fire place is in but for that price you can demo and build a new one. 

They do real work, lay flooring, demo, build decks, sister framing that needs it, sometimes rebuilding the framing, lots of stuff.My first CPA said, nope, do not file the w-2s for them. 

@Mandi BaxterConsider this land only but also include the costs to demo the existing structure.Most likely there are significant taxes owed on the property as well, so make sure this is worth spending time on