My brother's girlfriend has an electric sander at her mom's house, so that's available to me if the PITAness outweighs my not wanting to inconvenience her.I got all the stuff I need to prepare my kitchen to be painted- the scary washing stuff (if anyone would give me tips on how to rinse this stuff off my cabinets and paneling, that would be great as my store didn't have the non-rinse type), the spackle, the paint chipper things, painters tape, and spraypaint for the things that go around the electrical outlets, as well as a few other things that I don't remember at the moment (lol)..I'm taking the cabinet doors off, the electrical outlet and switch covers off, spraypainting the switch/electrical covers, chipping paint, washing, more chipping, sanding, then putting up the blue tape.

Tape some tinfoil onto the fixture to approximate the molding/reflector, and hang it up temporarily to see what you think. 

iif the prime contracts boarding/taping at 40c a sq ft and  can get a boarder at 25 sq ft he s pocketing 15 per square why not just cut out the middle man?

I will have the new electrical panel installed by a pro and I will have the drywall professional taped because it would take me a year and a day to do.

Also, another note about the duct taping.

Junk, junk, checked out 100s of library tapes under sun.

My biggest concern is the HVAC systems, the roof will likely need replaced within a few years, and the asphalt parking lot likely needing to be redone.

You'll have time after you figure out if its leaking, and you don't have to replace a slate roof with a slate roof -- you can shed the slate and use cheaper 30-year asphalt.

Plus we decide case by case what we feel like doing.What we do ourselves (in general) - We paint both interior and exterior, hang and tape drywall (but on the last big drywall job we hired a couple of guys to hang the ceiling pieces), we fabricate and install trim, hang interior doors, install some flooring.

is it asphalt shingles?