Getting a mentor should also be a priority, but make sure you can be of value to them in any way possible.

I want to try and offset as much cost as possible without compromising quality so I’m looking for a GC mentor who could help me eat, breathe, sleep and wake GC lol.

ACTIVE real estate investing is an ENTREPRENEURAL activity, which means RISK - REWARD.IF - you’re happy with passive type lower risk investments, your spouse doesn’t have to “be your partner” - as long as they’re comfortable and cognizant of the risks.If you dream of an ACTIVE real estate investing career - it may work only if your spouse is SUPPORTIVE, and willing to accept the risks, which may include the possibility of being wiped out in a 2009 style depression. 

I've seen estimates of $200 to $400 per square foot for SoCal with $700 sq ft for something higher end and building up a hill and but possibly higher for San Francisco Bay Area (lhigher labor costs, etc.).  

Not really possible today. at least in my market I just took a DSCR loan in Nov 24 at 5.7% and pulled out $157K cash, have $73K equity and it cash flows $200/month and I was all in at $135K. $70K tax sale, $65K rehab, appraised at $230K.

@Michael Lam For advice, network as much as possible in the area.

That could possibly be preventing traffic.

Since my RE financing investor does the incentive of paying for the property, I want to make sure that my business partner is getting a great ROI in profits, so I want to make sure that money is working for the first investor making a deal with me in the smoothest way possible! 

At that time I'll attempt to structure a 10 year term unless I consider a shorter hold period in which I'll negotiate the lowest rate possible to fit a shorter term more closely matching my remaing hold timeline.

Hiring someone to do the work will likely cost too much (I would charge a small fortune, it's an incredible amount of work) and doing things as cheaply as possible will bite you in the *** later when you start having issues with your own shoddy work and/or materials.