Just immersing myself into all the material that I can find.

We are interested in saving money by sourcing our own materials and doing some of the more basic work ourselves, so are interested in working with someone who would be open to that.

Now I'm looking for alternatives and wanted to know who you guys use or if anyone can point me in the right direction?

How do you communicate to your contractors what you want in terms of design ,materials, etc. 

Of course not all deals are created equal, so you have to look at them individually, and also consider what alternatives may be available in the market at the time.Yes, the deal sponsor makes a significant amount on the sale, but it's often the best scenario for passive investors as well.

The financial cost to borrow from HML will certainly be more but you should get quotes so you know your alternatives and then you should plan to pay your family a fair price. 

"Alternative documentation" or "non-qm" type loans will rarely go down to $50k.

Alternatively, you could use the funds to fund deals at 10-15% interest on 6 month loan terms.ME PERSONALLY, I would buy all cash properties and go for an 8% return.

I'm new to creative financing so hopefully others can chime in with some alternatives.

A Limited Partnership may be a better alternative.