I’d have to keep costs low for it to work.

I'd like to take a look at it.

You need to have specific benchmarks identified in your contract and penalties for being late (as well as bonuses for finishing early).If your contractor is just slow (not dishonest or unethical) I'd see it through.

I’d be happy moving forward if they are willing to take that $10K off, and be back at my original offer price.

Jonathan, I'd be interested in that list of HELOC lenders you mentioned. 

I'd like something that's based on stability (retention) and income.

While hard/soft money lending is outside my area of expertise, I'd like to discuss a potential levered IRR scenario.Consider a $2.1 million property acquisition (10 cap) using a 1031 exchange with a $715,000 down payment.

I’d be happy to share how it works and what we learned!

That's a pretty vague question, and I'd love to help but it depends on what you are searching for! 

Although im not sure those every realy existed in the first place.