Now if you have a contractor who you completely trust by virtue of a successful track record in working with you, great.But... if you're just starting out and don't have much experience in hiring contractors and have no existing relationship with one, the odds are very good that you'll be burned.

My boss is an architect and he signed the drawings I stayed up all night fretting over so that we didn't need to pay an architect or engineer, my parents let us stay with them when the construction schedule flew out the window, and our HUD consultant was always a phone call away when we had a question. 

If yours requires maintenance, you'll want to get that done before the bearings burn up.

As far as the initial question, I'm just a lowly engineer and can only speculate.

I have a relationship with a scientific engineer that has developed a spray on product that can have aggregate added to it to match any texture, it can be tinted with any color, and it is 100% ceramic so it is fire proof and water resistant.

Did you have a place burn or something?

Why give away all of your hard earned blood sweat and tears to someone that wants to burn you?

To do interpreting work for Engineers (Deaf) at the Boeing company, I had to work through a temp agency that Boeing would pay through, as Boeing wanted to keep a clear separation of independent contractor vs. employee.

Its these departments' duty to burn and turn as many of these short sale offers that are coming through the door in a legal and trackable manner.

I'm also a structural engineer and can help you if needed.