Here it's highly regulated as well and requires a lot, a sign, a phone number, insurance, bond and on, and on.

Your HO policy doesn't cover contractors work or damages, that's a performance bond for his short comings.

Do GC's have to post a bond with the licensing board in CO?

I have another investor requesting the surety bond insurance for a $3.7M loan for a hotel/resort acquisition. 

RE is not a graded bond investment, the NPV of estimated income in small RE , such as one to four units is only as good as the accuracy of the data (your proforma) used.

The best thing to do is talk to a contractor (check license, bond, and references)  that works the area and get pricing.

Real estate is harder than stocks and bonds you should be making more money with RE than you do in the stock market.  

So taking the retail value of say $300k for a house, plus closing costs of 7% plus what the buyers can gouge in closing costs (usually $4k), plus whatever the inspection, appraisal or underwriting people dredge up (allowing another 1% for this, home warranty, termite bond, etc.) plus the staging @ $2500, it makes the closing costs look like a full 10% of the retail price to get the deal done!

I need to run some financial models to compare leaving this money in stocks/bonds versus buying something like an apartment complex.  

I did live in an apartment complex once that instead of having the typical deposit had a non-refundable deposit bond.