I learned the basics of drywall hanging and finishing, framing in rooms, prepping for and laying ceramic tile, texturing ceilings, got better at painting, learned a little about plumbing, and learned the basics of electrical (installed all my own lighting and installed a breaker into the breaker box).

Maybe this should be 1 but...air seal, using low expanding and/or full expanding foam, all plumbing & electrical penetrations before blowing in the loose fill insulation.

I will be doing all work except HVAC and Plumbing.

I do my own repairs and management and I can tell you that if I had to hire a plumber to fix little plumbing problems or electricians or painters or whatever then I would be lucky to break even.

Often these will be the same tenants who will ask if I am going to give a rent adjustment when I come over to do a repair or improvement and use "their" electricity or run the water to do a plumbing repair.

If each unit is plumbed as a seperate zone controlled by their own thermostat , you may be able to measure their usage by a flow meter .

@adamcraig Definitely do mechanical, plumbing, and electrical before anything else. you dont want to have to tear out drywall after you have already painted.Plus this gets the major expenses out of the way.

I know how to do wiring and plumbing correctly, but most of the time on those tasks is just grunt work.

You could do the same for plumbing, etc by checking with the plumbing supply places in the area.

We recently found a HUD home listed for 30k (I plan to offer 28.5k 5% off asking) that I estimate needs 4k in updates unless plumbing or HVAC is bad (No electric or water) so be super conservative (10k). 38.5k total.