If your contract states that a certain outcome is expected,  such as house trim painted (rather than house trim will be painted with a horse hair brush with two  coats of paint with brush strokes in both horizontal and vertical direction)  and a general time schedule, such as completed by a certain date (rather than will work 8 am to 3 pm Mon through Fri) then you have a better chance of saying the person is a contractor or independent business rather than an employee.Think of how you deal with a plumber--The toilet is clogged. 

I'll first give them a chance to make it right and then reassess.

A good guy to get to know if you get a chance, just from a networking perspective.

Chances are, you don't have soundproofing between the basement and upstairs so you can hear every sound.

When you have a chance, add your photo to your profile.

I've been holding onto my W-2 income simply for the allowance of getting a home loan and realize once I convert full time 1099 my chances of getting the loan decrease significantly.

We have made some major improvements to the unit we live in and plan to move out in a year or 2 and BRRRR it.

Mostly cosmetic with cost effective touches to the bathrooms and kitchen to improve aesthetics What was the outcome?

Perfect chance to see if anyone is smoking in there, and I step into the entrance of the apt, and I smell nothing.

@Steve SwensonYou could start out with owner financing, improve the value of the properties, and then look into refinancing with a longer term conventional mortgage.