Granted, the coverage was not sufficient to cover the actual cost of the rebuild (mainly due to the increased lumber cost at that time), but the Landlord did not have to file a claim on her insurance, which likely would cause increased premiums.

That's because the caps on annual depreciation and expensing deductions for passenger automobiles don't apply to trucks or vans (and that includes SUVs) that are rated at more than 6,000 pounds gross (loaded) vehicle weight.SUV’s with an UNLOADED gross vehicle weight greater than 6,000 pounds but less than 14,000 pounds are allowed to claim a Section 179 expense of up to $26,200.Trucks with an interior bed-length of six feet or more are NOT subject to this $26,200 limit.Trucks over 6,000 pounds UNLOADED gross vehicle weight with beds shorter than six feet are considered SUVs and subject to the $26,200 limit.Trucks, vans, and SUVs with a LOADED gross vehicle weight of over 6,000 pounds are NOT subject to the Section 280F limits.

My last flip was incredibly over budget due to rising electrical(3x) and lumber prices (2X), luckily appreciation during the hold time bailed me out and we made a very nice profit.

I'll keep you in the loop once he shares the name of the Lumber Company. 

From what I can see, the multi's on the market right now are landlords unloading on their property that they've never cared for/renovated.

Try Lumber Liquidators or local flooring places.

He's not getting paid by the day and I already purchased the needed lumber so everything else is on him.

But my older partners were worried about liability and we got an offer from Stimson lumber that was 3X what we paid for it so it went by by.. but during the 10 plus years I owned that..

The exterior porch stairs cost a small fortune due to the price of lumber these days. 

Granted you could probably find multiple houses out of state to buy in a 1031 but that seems more difficult to find enough to be greater than the like-for-like requirement however, maybe it is possible if it's a seller unloading multiple properties in bundle?