A little about the company:  The name is RED Engineering and Development.  

I think that's called moss rock.

They may even throw off red herrings in a discussion forum like this one...if someone asks about potential in an area they are focused on.

Do the entry doors in a deep red.

I would be curious to see if anyone would recommend just biting the bullet in LA and getting an FHA loan + FTHB incentives despite the red hot RE market.

There is just about no other group that has higher maintenance, unless you rented to homeless crack addicts who would steal all the copper including the wiring in the walls to sell for a rock of crack!

I was just wondering if anyone knew of any good/reputale property managers in the Austin/Round Rock area.

Also maybe some red shutters?

A job of this length should be fixed cost... the only reason to go T&M like this is -1) You're dealing with a -very- unique house or project that is impossible to estimate in advance.2) You're dealing with a job that may take a day or two, tops, and is so small it's hard to estimate in advance and easier to simply pay a daily rate.This sounds more like a shady contractor trying to take advantage of a new investor.Pro tip: The reason better contractors are too busy for you is probably because you're telling them out the gate that you need rock bottom pricing, everything has to be cheap, and you're supplying materials.

@Kevin HoagYou are a rock star man!