Over-promised & under-delivered, provided us with an unachievable timeline for repairs, cut corners along the way, knew nothing about bringing a rental property up to Saint Paul code, damaged our property beyond his scope of work, charged us a premium to have teenagers assist him with the majority of his work....I'll stop here.

He overpromised, under-delivered, cut corners, knew nothing about building codes in our city, employed teenagers, stole from us, caused thousands of dollars of damages to our property, and vanished.What we are doing differently as we recover from this debacle that we hope will help you in finding and selecting a great GC to work with:Ask for contractor referrals from trusted, community established organizations.

Hello @Marquez RobinsonAlthough your time with the Army was cut short, myself and many Americans are grateful for your service.Your level of awareness (especially at a young age) is a huge plus in your situation.

Also look at easements (especially on the vacant land) and factor in parking driveways, will the city let you curb cut for additional access if needed or are you stick with what you have.Also look at the number of parking spaces needed for new builds vs what you have (will a new build trigger anything there), and consider if enough electrical is available at the site for new buildings.Is there a Town Approval Board or some other such PITA process you must go through to get building/remodeling permits, and how much control do they have over your actions (plus how long do they take to approve, and is it "The Old Boy Network" to get approved (???).

In answer to the next obvious question, it's also against the rules for that person to actually take a pay cut to make things right with you and what they quoted, that person actually has to convince a non-consumer-facing person in management to take a pay cut, if that's the goal.

I work as a CAD Draftsperson (3D modeling of our fixtures to create blueprints, programs and cut lists) as well as a Carpenter when some extra help is needed on the floor.I bought a little ranch 2BD/1BR house in Milwaukee (Bay View), Wisconsin six years ago and have done a lot of work to it over the years - new custom kitchen, appliances, refinishing of original oak flooring, A/C, bathroom and 6' fenced in yard.

Too many details to try to set straight here. 

They may look for straight pay off--stranger things have happened. 

If cutting your profits is going to result in LESS business, why do it? 

That's awesome, they say if you can skip residential investments and go straight to commercial property to do it.