I will be getting a contractor.

Use your own contractors and do it on your time frame.

I am looking for good general contractor recommendations in the Chicago area, south suburbs.

Problem is finding a licensed contractor who won't nit pick and/or bad mouth the previous contractor because you didn't use a licensed guy in the first place.

I have agents, title companies and escrow, now I am looking for a General contractor who can assist me in the finer details of the remodel. 

We did all of the work on this property ourselves, but anticipate using more contractors, etc. in the future.

The price seems to be about $200k less than anything you could find in San Diego county.I agree with the other comments that you should always go with the worst-case scenario in analyzing the deal (plus the contractor is a better expert for repair costs than your agent, but I would get multiple bids).It doesn't seem like there is enough meat on the bones for this deal. 

Number 2 the hard money lender is going to require the contractor to do repairs before getting paid.

You'll also need to see invoices paid and talk to contractors on any work done to the community.

I could have the whole tree removed for $500 more than just removing the debris, but I don't know anything about trees to know if that's actually worth it (even the tree contractor I want to use said he didn't think it was 100% necessary).