By that time, hopefully the renters will have paid for much or all of your investment.  

In my leases, there is a standard statement that reads     "There are no oral agreements between Landlord and Tenant."

If so, when they move out, discuss keeping some or all of it to clean the unit. 

Sounds like you were desperate to get work.You never pay "your" crew before they work.You could have avoided much or all of this with a good construction contract, including fees for delays and stop  work gaps. 

I STRONGLY suggest you get a partner, consultant, mentor (or all of the above) to see this project through. 

,I see a lot of listed properties that have one or more utilities in common.There was one in Caldwell that had Electricity shared between 2 units, and a lot of them have either water or gas shared between one or all units.Anyone have any experience in separating out utilities(Electricity OR Water OR Gas)?

I'm less familiar with all the details to this, but if you structure this properly you can continue to defer some or all of the capital gains tax, and just collect interest payments from the buyer.

If it's one back piece that is not as important than the developer can cut that part off and build around them if they want too much for the land.You need to make sure that the earnest money with some or all of it goes HARD meaning it is non-refundable for any reason.

They fund some or all of the financial aspects and you do all the work.

Then, once the repairs are made, if you spend more than your initial settlement amount plus your deductible, you can recoup some or all of the depreciation that was initially withheld.Your deductible is always your out-of-pocket expense, so that does come into play, but again, once the repairs are made, gather your receipts to submit to your insurer.