I estimate that we have well over 1200, maybe 1500 active investors in the Milwaukee area, some of them are part of the different organizations like Brew City Group (join on FB), Milwaukee REIA and the Appartment Association, many are very private and you will never see. 

Check out the Georgia Real Estate Investors Association for local education and networking. 

He said there wouldn't be any one-time bank fees associated with a HELOC and I could use the credit as needed to either scale or take advantage of short-term opportunities (flips I guess...) 

Local REIA- (Real estate investing association) Every State has a variety of REIAs- pick one and start going regularly.

I've been using Ashley Land Surveying in Summerville.

Remember, as long as you are straight with people about the costs and risks associated with your business, you're not using deceptive techniques, and you treat sellers with respect, then you shouldn't feel guilty about making your offers low, and earning a solid profit. 

It should help investors understand the risk model associated with the decision they are about to make.

In the past we surveyed interest in the idea and found very little.

before you can even make attic living space, there must be a survey showing how deep the foundation is on the structure. 

If the roads are public, they would have to go through the city/county and a traffic survey (among other things) would likely have to be done.