I would need the investor to put up all the money for the house and pay for materials.

Choose a retaining wall that complements your stairs, try to repeat the color, texture, shape and/or material used so they match.I don't hate the trees but maybe theres a reason they need to go?

Finance to purchase the material for renovation.Contractor is responsible to1.

Thankfully I didn't have to buy a shed out back to keep extra materials, fixtures, replacement tile, etc.  

The break down of the 42% is 7% real estate commission, 20% builder markup, 4% savings on material purchases, 2% cost saving construction, and 9% doing work yourself.

This is an example of why cash reserves are a very important part of your investment plans.Home Depot offers a project loan that will be good for a lot of materials and some installation of things like flooring, doors, blinds, HVAC or other mechanicals.  

I am not sure if that can be done in any of the data driven markets you are considering. 

Stairs that were designed to be covered were built in a different manner and with different materials than those designed to be painted / stained.

He does everything, labor and materials(Sherman Williams quality paint), the job his crew does is excellent.

As a sidenote, in order to insulate with batt insulation from Menards,  and do the blown insulation myself it would've cost $2700 just for materials.