One option is to work with the family to remove everything from the property and ideally have the family take her stuff.

My primary business is selling land in LA and the Inland Empire to homebuilders and other kinds of developers. 

., if you're not willing to pay for a home inspection then they might assume you're not serious about the home, and therefore they may not invest their time doing a walk through with you).Its definitely harder to get estimates/opinions from contractors without having a relationship with them first, and its hard to develop that relationship without doing business with them.  

If they could get out of their own way of their own regulation or reduce them for developers and charities to be able to build housing from say shipping containers,  or in older commercial buildings without having to do a full upgrade to modern standards.   

Also like Matthew mentions above, each city/state has their own zoning and codes, working with a knowledgeable developer in the areas who would also help you install the container homes would help tremendously imho.

I've purchased many homes, and have had a few rentals, but I've never invested in a developers project.  

Have also developed a good relationship with bank over last few months.

My ideal company to work with would be a syndicator of some sort, I want to see how raising money and putting larger deals together really works.

My ideal company to work with would be a syndicator of some sort, I want to see how raising money and putting larger deals together really works.

The contractor I spoke to stated his company has worked on several developments of this size.