Likewise, if there is every anything I can help with, please do not hesitate to reach out, especially with things like financial models and communications materials; as you can imagine, my day job has made me fairly proficient at those!

I ran the numbers with my carpenters who do my renovations and with me being the General Contractor, pulling permits, buying all materials, subbing out concrete and electrical, the cost would be about $12,000 or $27/sq ft instead of approx. $40 -45 sq ft.  

.- On top of all this, the city kept adding things to the TO-DO list: changing out the panels on the covered patio to a type of fire-resistant material, having to build a retaining wall separating our property from the neighbors lot, re-grading the front and back yards, clearing weeds and shrubs from the adjacent lot (not our property btw but we did it because it made our property look bad).

So, I knew the terminology and had a pretty thorough understanding of the material.

If you are diligent and have a love for the industry you will start tearing through that material and feel more and more comfortable as you do.Best of luck,-James

Paul, Thank you for the educational materials.

I generally use contractors or labor to do the work and I provide the materials.  

I know I can put the contractor/material costs into the cost basis of the property but is there any way to include my work i.e. the material for a bath and kitchen is relatively cheap as compared to the labor you pay.  

I do own a little Microsoft stock and I truly wish that was material (ha!)

Should I include a time and materials with a guaranteed maximum?