That's not really a full story so it's hard to say, but generally, if you don't feel secure or confident in the person you hired, you shouldn't have hired them.

There have been a couple of decent things, but it's not a company I would  hire again.

Should I just hire a tree service to clear a path and cut the dead tree?

If they aren't taking good care of something small like this in the first week imagine how they will treat you down the road, I'd fire them and hire someone else. 

You can do it yourself or hire an attorney.

@Ife Bamikole I'd recommend hiring a design company to furnish it.

Basically I'm wondering if we should start our own LLC (owning it ourselves, "hiring" out the construction to his other LLC to avoid layering), or can I have his company get the loan and I just sign something showing that I'm providing the cash, am on the hook for the loan, etc? 

Digitize physical receipts for easy storage and use a consistent naming convention for easy sorting - 2024.03.25 Home Depot.Maintain proper records, such as contracts, settlement statements, and promissory notes.Additionally, you can track income and expenses consistently using software or spreadsheets.As you scale, if bookkeeping isn't fun, consider hiring a bookkeeper for a couple hundred bucks per month.

The entire reason I hired a company is they are the experts and I expect them to take full accountability of making sure I am in the know and 100% compliant.

The service fees end up being around 20.75% if you hire a "host" or property manager to make the investment as passive as a long term rental.