In addition to typically offering better pricing on appliances than the retail stores, they also have access to tons of other materials we use in the multifamily industry.

Check out his educational (and entertaining) material.

P.S: I'm taking my time in going through the beginner material and it's a good launch pad!

My specialization is historic materials/buildings and the tax credit application. 

My question is do you feel that I would save a good deal of money acting as the gc or do you feel that a qualified gc gets enough of the material and labor at a discount to where it would not be a huge savings? 

Also it may pay to have an architect draw out prints to spell out exactly how the repair will be made and with what materials.

They typically have the best deals on standard building materials. 

I'm sick of replacing carpet so I started using laminate wood flooring in my condos. A tenant got some water in or on the floor and a whole section of it buckled up and had to be replaced. Is the vinyl wood-look floor...

Feel free to point me to some relevant material or any material you think new entrants should investigate. 

The length of time will impact whether it makes more sense to ROFR, to worry about factoring in potential material shifts in appreciation, etc.