I know which one of us I would call if I wanted a price or best practice for putting in a new walkway or fixing a retaining wall.That being said, I am not sure how it works where you are licensed but where I am, a seller makes an agreement for a commission to the listing agent (Lets say 6% for S&G's). 

The whole point of attending a local REIA meeting was to avoid the sales pitches about courses/materials that over promise and make real estate seem very easy money making deals!

Meaning - in my experience the amoount of CCR required to drive the IRR strictly though cash flow is not likely to materialize due to economic losses.

I should mention I do communication wiring as a day job so I can do this for my time and materials.

It depends a lot on how high between your peaks and valleys if is more than say 1/2", most leveling materials are not design to fill in that much.

Other building materials prices have gone up as well. 

Common fees will include a set-up fee, leasing fee for each turnover or a lease renewal fee, marking up maintenance, retaining late fees, and more.

Yeah, if "luck" means all the money I socked away when I was working, not taking fancy vacations or buying nice stuff, buying dumps, spending all of my nights and weekends hauling trash and fixing stuff, spending all of my available disposable income paying contractors or buying materials, then working like hell to get decent renters.

Unless the landlord is really cheap and willing to sacrifice vacancy time for cheaper labor/materials cost, then a professional PM should be hiring professional crews to do the work...people where that task is their main job....not some side job that they can do when they get a chance...hell, I can do thatSo....you pay for vacancy time....or you pay for a more professional crew to do it faster...your choice.I'd be shopping for a new PM...... it may be even more important to find a new one BEFORE you go out of country since once you aren't around the current one may get even worse and then you will be trying to deal with issues or find a new one while you are gone.

If nothing else, it would be a good faith effort to retain you as a happy client (which in the day of the internet and BP we know how important happy clients and positive referrals are!)