@Susan, congratulations on your new venture.You indicated that you are new at REI and never done a new construction from ground up... then here are my honest suggestions.  

It could be a good opportunity for someone that wants to learn, but has some construction background as well.

I don't think I should do a re-fi and take out the money because there will be phases of this construction project, so I wanted to take out the money when the construction payment is due.  

I'm a commercial leasing agent, one of my friends is an architect, and the other owns his own construction management company.  

Hello All, Looking for a Construction Project Manager  or General Contractor that will manage residential single family home renovation project schedules, contractor bids and work progress in greater Sacramento area.If you have any referrals for either Project Manager or GC, can you please let me know ?

Once we have acquired a property and are ready to move forward with construction I'll probably reach out to him for an estimate.  

Is it possible to get a residential construction loan for this project?

The 1st part of the loan is to purchase the house, but then the 2nd portion of the loan allows you to do the construction.

I have  some construction experience from helping my father whose a handyman.

I own the property management company, and also have a 8 employees on my construction company.