You go down to the big box store and in the garden department, they will have big rolls of different grades of black plastic ground cover.Buy something with UV protection and lay that on the ground and cover with the rock you want, or with bark chips.Plain rock is pretty ugly, so you might want to add a few small beds of drought tolerant plants or cactus.Rock isn't cheap and it's hard work to get it spread without destroying your plastic ground cover.

Eligibility will be determined by the Renovation Department on a case-by-case basis.

@Patrick Philip For a remodel, I think it would be near impossible to get a full one-piece shower/tub unit into the house, thus you dont see them very much in the big box store.  

The out door water hydrant - go and buy a frost free sill **** at the plumbing store.  

@Deddy W Code Enforcement Officers are not usually with the building department.

I get the feeling that the government here believes that real estate investor are like a tumor that needs to be removed.Ironically, the government department that is supposed protect employees from being bullied is the same department that bullied on a systematic basis.

I didn't know that landlord programs exist with police departments.

The Bigger Pockets book store if full of great books: https://www.biggerpockets.com/store

I had a meeting with my lender at 8 this morning - I have a great relationship with a branch manager of a local, regional bank - and one goal was to get me a face-to-face meeting with the head of their commercial lending department.

You can get by with really cheap PVA primer from the big box stores, the coat does not have to be perfect, but if you don't use it, paint won't look the same on the drywall mud vs paper surface.