Material participation in the rental activities still required. 

To qualify for active status on short-term rentals for tax purposes , you need to meet the IRS’s material participation requirements.

Hello BP Team…We have a contractor that left after the 2nd Draw and stole materials.

Does anyone have any good studying material for this exam or have any insight on what I should focus on?

I would definitely go with a utility cap. 

Customer supplies materials ?  

But once I got the bills, I increased the rent with the tenant's approval and signed an addendum to the lease stating the rent increase would be X and the owner would take over utilities.

The PM change the electric utility to the PM's name.

hi all i am a new landlord and got my first rental property. tenants moved in in September and October. the first month was fine but when December hit it got extremely cold and the heating is electric. due to poor insulation in the home that we did not know about the heat has to be turned very high up to keep the home warm, however since everything is electric it is causing the electric bill to be $800. the utilities are the tenants responsibility. however because of this one of the tenants has been extremely non compliant with paying rent.

As others have stated, your fit & finish goals should be guided by whether you plan to:1) Rent: tenants don't always take care of a property, so you want to use lower-grade materials and workmanship.2) Flip: higher quality on workmanship and materials is usually required.Regardless, you always want to "Maintain to the Neighborhood".