Can I pay myself a salary throughout the project so that I don't have to go 3 - 6 months without receiving any income? 

Just finished a couple more podcasts on rental property analysis and glad I did.

Lastly, I am looking for some good analysis software or prewritten Excel calculator.

However based on the photos I have seen, there are minimal repairs necessary for the property, and as result I do not know if my end buyer will be able to use hard money financing for the project.

I do agree that for all parties a fixed price estimate is best (you need to know how to estimate properly).To be successful as a GC, things like getting a large deposit, making sure you are always staying ahead on billing and are spending clients money and not your own, marking up all costs at least 20% to cover OH&P, billing appropriately for change orders, not to mention staying up to date on latest building methods and continuing education, are the minimum requirements to last in this business.Of course you have to keep construction costs as low as possible when you are rehabbing a real estate project.  

We are projected to have 18,000 people move here from the Bay Area next year.

For example, water heater install and there is no shut-off valve before the heater it cost $150 for a $20 part with 15 min of install.The challenge with doing a project (one that involves more than one trade-like kitchen or bathroom update) is there are usually holes in between what each contractor does and filling those holes is challenging.

Alright, I gotta get through college debt free.I'm well on my way, but I need to come up with another $10,000 or so over the next year in addition to what I already project making.

Thank you for that analysis.

Do not cut any corners on a prospective deal to make it look better.Always do the math analysis and try to look at the prospective property before you submit an offer or at least have a clause in the sales contract that allows you some time (about 10 days) to make a detailed inspection without having a penalty that will hurt you too much.