If you can pick up houses for cash, fix them for cash and hold them mortgage free then you do not need too many to get to 20k/month cash flow.

If you've never built, I would never build anything as it will take 3x as long, cost 3x as much, and violate 3x as many city ordinances.

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If I were renting it out and not refinancing I wouldn't take that cost up front personally.

You mentioned that the brick property would break even or just about cover costs, whereas the vinyl property might give you a bit of cash flow.

It was the most aggravating part and I thought it would cost us our deal.

It's the lowest cost you can get per sq ft as it just needs finishing.

Basically, I'd like to ask the seller to give me a credit for the cost to submeter the gas and water lines during the sale.

With a calculation being on a deal by deal basis you'll need to go in depth with costs VS profit with both scenarios and timelines.