I thought I would post here and show what my hubs and I were able to DIY.

We are just two 50-year-old doughy "normal" people who are not professional contractors. He programs CMM's and I sell insurance.

Don't be afraid to try and do things yourself.

Sadly, we didn't get to finish things the way we wanted to because the hubs got a job in New England and we had to leave sunny FL. We wanted to build built-in cabinets in the master bedroom, wanted to tear down the fireplace wall and re-do it, wanted to turn the fireplace room into a bedroom. We did nothing to the outside and we didn't get to re-do the lanai.

Because we DIY'd it we sold our house just shy of $100,000 over what we purchased it for and after expenses we cleared around $80,000 in our pockets.