Lumber has a specific strength for the size, this lumber even though it is damaged is much stronger than the lumber you can buy today from Home Depot.

Once had a break in and like an idiot left all the siding and windows in the house and 6k of custom sizes windows and siding walked off.

When he added an adjustment to account for the size differences, he only valued the additional square footage at $40/sq ft.

I have a legal sized clipboard so that documents don't blow away.

I'd been doing my own due diligence for years but because of the size of this recent deal I felt it would be best to use experts. 

I’m looking for a (gc) contractors that have experience in all type and size fix and flips, able to get rentals in the best condition and are good at giving great estimates.

My opinion is that there's not a one size fits all answer for this.

He was also promised 2 full size garages under his unit for free.

Depending on deal size, this is real money that goes into the millions, much more in escrows than planned not to mentioned LTV buckets have been reeled in from markets that once traded at 80% are now 75%/70%.

Personally I like Banner Elk because of its size, attractions, ease of getting there and typically attracts quality people.