I am a union electrician and due to how jobs are getting a loan is a bit of an issue.

On the bigger commercial deals and larger MF  one would have to be well you know what not to get title insurance and an Alta along with insuring for boundaries etc. 

I've worked with clients remotely several times without issue. 

But even a private contract does have certain issues if it runs afoul of other rules/laws, such as privacy issues surrounding credit ect.

Its more so they can communicate concerns or issues with me if there are any as well as not be held responsible for potential damage that was not caused by them.Is this common practice? 

However, I would highly suggest that you look at larger homes whichever community you look at.

Finding a REAL DEAL is #1 biggest issue.

That's correct, most lenders do calculate income based on the entire property as a long term rental...is it possible that you could find a property where this isn't an issue?

If you are wanting to consolidate: 1031 and exchange into a larger asset. 

Initially, we began by working with builders as a small crew of hands-on guys doing the work ourselves, but as we grew, we realized that builders faced various problems such as poor workmanship, communication issues due to language barriers, laziness of workers, and high turnover of “skilled” labor.