I was not getting any solid signal about rental occupancy rate either and from a property appreciation point of view, I felt there was hardly any skin left in the game for me. 

I will be the first to share I understand the value in being able to recycle capital through refinances to grow a portfolio but this should not be done at the expense of other fundamentals that are more telling of the properties current and future economic performance.

So I'm new to this, bear with me here.I'm trying to understand how to think about equity in a new construction.

then you're on the right track in understanding how hard it is.The second thing is that you can skip all the headaches of becoming a landlord and still get the cash flow, appreciation, and tax benefits by investing in passive real estate syndications.

Those fee should be standard across the board and be the same or very close to the same for whatever you build.Next you need to understand that usually the larger the property the cheaper it gets per SQFT.  

From what I understand you can't pay let's say extra taxes or extra insurance or operating deficits from separate money outside the 401k. 

Your challenges:1) Finding deals2) Understanding what makes it a deal and how you can profit3) Learning how to properly wholesale, so you don't get screwed by a seller or another investor-buyer.

The overall goal is to do the traditional 'stack' over the next 5 years (duplex this year, double the number doors each year for 5 years, a la Multifamily Millionaire).Implementing the above strategy isn’t quite as simple as his understanding.

Do any of you have recommendations for solid:-contractors-insurance agents-attorneys-property management company-mortgage brokers?

Make sure you get a "Release Fee" on each property; this is an amount that is to be paid to release a property as collateral in the event you need to sell, or if you have an insurance loss that insurance proceeds will be applied to the subject property and not to the whole loan keeping you stuck with an encumbered damaged property, remember they don't make construction loans as a second and the blanket loan won't subordinate (usually) to another lender, it could get messy, so have a release fee stated and understand how payments will be applied.A line of credit is not a blanket mortgage but a line of credit can use other collateral, different animal and it may or may not fit you needs.