To me, it's worth the extra cost.

It's also worth revisiting the scope of the renovations you're planning—are there areas where you can save without compromising quality or appeal?

Worth area.

It's a good service and worth considering.

This applies to properties used for the production of income, such as rental properties.However, if you initially declared your property as an STR (which typically falls under different tax rules), you might have been using a depreciation period of 39 years, which is common for non-residential property or property used for personal purposes.When you convert your property from STR to LTR, it's considered a change in use for tax purposes, and you would adjust your depreciation schedule accordingly.

Landlord determines the amount they want coverage for, typically the same as a traditional deposit. 

They structurally hold up but are not worth it to finish.

We apply for Grants from the city worth $500 per unit.

Not sure the size of your portfolio and if it is personal or you are managing for others, but if it is the latter (or you have a decent size portfolio) it might be worth while investing in that.  

House is worth around $230-240k currently. $155k left on mortgage bought in 2010 for $200k.