Pricing for materials for a rehab at the scale Clayton talks about would costs 2x-3x that price -- add labor on top of that!

If you do allow it, you should have a written agreement that spells out specifically what they are allowed to do, materials used, who pays for it, compensation for labor, what happens if they do a poor job, what happens when they leave, a deadline for completion, etc. 

Most brick houses are made of wood but instead of vinyl, wood or other siding materials, brick is chosen.

So, I'd like to re-plat the houses, retain them, then sell off the land since I am not a developer and don't want to deal with that part.  

Do you know of any good training material to help me gain the basic knowledge that would be need to succeed in this category?

@Simon Obas - we have local building supply companies that sell roofing materials, siding, windows and doors mostly directly to contractors but they have a small show room for retail customers as well.

This worries me a bit, granted they are not in the same playing field in terms of layout and build materials as the RTR build, but it does concern me that from a numbers perspective, there are several homes in the area for sale at substantially less than the estimated $380k valuations.

My question is; should I save all receipts of purchases for the house (vanity, toilet, dishwasher, flooring , materials for adding value to the house, etc) or is that overkill?

If yes, then you're going to need at least 1,001 hours in a real estate trade or business in which you materially participate.1,001 hours might be a stretch for two units and would raise some eyebrows. 

Figuring out a job and material/labor is a no brainer now.It's usually what's behind the wall or finding unseen problems that has me now always adding 20%.