The contractor attributed to almost 3 months of the delays.

Though they will not come to check the job if they did not issue your electrician the permit before that.Just forget the hard lesson and use only licensed persons for electricity/plumbing- the mistake can be costly!

I'm looking for recommendations for an honest, fairly-priced, and communicative general contractor for handling a few significant repairs.

I'd really appreciate it if someone can refer me to investor-friendly RE agents, property managers, and contractors in the area. 

To piggy back off of  @James Ma, build a network of realtor(s), plumber(s), contractor(s), electrician(s) and a CPA.

These properties are out of state, so I planned on having a Property Mgmt Company manage and handle the full package - manage the rebuild/contractors, market/lease/evict/etc - and I just collect a check. 

Also, keep in mind that the tenant would pick up some of those other bills (water / sewer / trash / electric / heat). 

Flooring, drywall, insulation, electric, and HVAC will be needed.

I would also look into the plumbing and electrical to make sure you don't have any big ticket deferred maintenance items there.

Now that bottom line can potentially include rehab/construction costs if they are escrow-ed as part of the original purchase (with releases to contractor at a established points during construction).