Hi Angry Sci.
First thing is, it is not your
property yet, so you have no right of entry. Therefore you are relying solely on the goodwill of the vendor, AND/OR their tenants.
Tenants have a right to
Quiet Enjoyment, and this includes not being inconvenienced and interrupted by strangers to them, like yourself. So they also are within their rights to suggest you ‘go and swing your hook’ elsewhere. So: Be warned and prepare accordingly.
The landlord can say what they like, but I think you need agreement with the tenant on access, after all it is their home. Maybe you just say something like ‘Is it ok if I come over tomorrow at 6pm with two contractors, I’d like to get some quotes prepared ahead of time. I appreciate it interrupts your time too and I understand that, so how about I give you x/z/y to compensate that [$100 to a couple?, maybe a couple of cases of beer to some students]. Plan to make it win-win.
Then if you have one contractor you trust, fine, one quote is enough. Most newbie renovators/developers however I’d say get three (reinforced by the fact that the contractors will sense you’re a newbie if you are and cost the job accordingly).
You having access is really nothing to do with the agent. In simple terms because the default baseline is that you have no right to it! She’s likely ‘freaking out’ because she does not want you and your actions p’ing off the vendor and threatening her commission. In property sales, as in divorce, people can get hugely irrational ‘He wants $65 off the price of the $2mm unit because he says the tap in bathroom 4 needs a new washer. That’s it!!!, he’s trying to get one over on me, there’s nothing wrong with that tap!!! - I REFUSE to sell at all!!!!’.... oh yes, I’ve heard crazier stuff than that.
It’s not a transaction, it’s personal. You have to treat it like that, divine the direction of the wind, and tack your best course into it. If you can make every party on their respective side ‘feel like it was painless’ (westerners), or, ‘they won’ (easterners) then you have succeeded