1. Do Turrets spin 360 and kill whatever isn't sneaking? I know they do when I fight them, but do they also when I build them? Reason being is that I need to know if I should put one turret above my farm land that is getting attacked or 2-3?

2. Is there a way for my villagers to collect materials for me?

3. Can I get rid of or improve the beat up house in Sanctuary somehow? I got rid of the fallen over houses and cleared out the rest, but they still look like garbage.

1: Yes, they do. But they seem a little slow to notice sometimes though.

2: Yep, any unassigned settler will automatically scavenge for materials. You can boost this by building a scavenger bench (Under resources/misc) and assigning someone to it.

3: No, you can do the interiors, but that's it. though (I haven't seen this yet) As the main quest progresses, you should see repairs having an effect.

1. they spin 360 degrees, that said, they can be damaged and stop working until repaired, so more than one is still useful.

2. settlers will collect random junk/scrap for you if they have no other job, and store it in the workshop, you can build a ... can't recall the name atm, but it's under resources, misc. that lets you dedicate them to scrap collection and they collect faster.

3. I wish, there's a lot of stuff I'd like to scrap that I can't, if a building is still partly intact you can't scrap it, so you'll have to use the lots from the scrappable houses and work within those limits.

The turrets only have a certain perception cone but yes they can apparently traverse the full 360 to fire. It is possible to sneak up on one from the rear but if they do spot something they can turn right round to follow.

Unassigned settlers will scavenge but it is helped if you provide a Scavenging Station and assign a dedicated Settler.

As above, you can't clear the shabby houses (yet - there will be mods that do this effectively and I think one is already working that cleans up all settlements) but remember you can extend the plain foundation pads with the use of Shack Foundations (both concrete and wood). Remember to have a small shack step down from your doorway to the ground otherwise the navmesh is not continuous.

If you're on the PC use this mod - http://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/6176/? - (spruces up the interior walls a little with a coat of paint). That mod is perfectly stable.

Don't use the mod that removes leaves off the floor, it's a little unstable.

I have PS4 only

You can improve them by placing new walls around them. You can also place some interior walls. To place new walls right on top of old ones, you can use one of the two foundations or wooden bridge (place near wall, group select, move, discard foundation/bridge).

You can "fix" old houses with new walls, but you can't put new roofs on them, so when it rains the interiors will get "wet".

I planned to have everyone live in the old houses as well but this made me abandon that plan.

It's pretty annoying that you can't scrap the houses that are still standing, TBH.

There are quite a few instances in other settlements: half-broken houses that can't be scrapped. I think Bethesda intends this to be a challenge to us builders. We just have to find creative means to board up the walls, floors, ceilings, etc. As times, you just have to forgo architectural beauty and concentrate on the main things like settlers' happiness. A house may look rickety, but if it has 4 walls, a roof, and proper furnishing, your settlers are happy.

OMG, could you even play this game if settlers were nit-picky about their housing? or Preston constantly telling you that the neighborhood needs new siding and a roof? Marcy "I can't believe you let Mama Murphy die! And this house is disgusting!!!"

1) Yes, although you probably won't see it unless your under direct attack and are at your settlement

2) Yes. By default and if you assign them scavenging stations they do more. It ends up in your Workshop.

3) Not really, although, I have built tight around it using the mat trick to that it is completely refaced and has a new roofline (did this with the workshop house). As I am not on PC was unable to clear debris/leaves (although there aren't many in that building) so I used carpets to camouflage it. Turned out pretty nice, although there were no windows. Used lighting and pictures instead.

I used the suburban house shells and then added the doule-thick shack floors on top to make a solid roof.

Like this work in progress at the Starlight Drive-In:

(oops, I don't think I can post pics yet, the screenshot is at my site here: http://www.designamatic.com/GraphicsFO4/FO4-House-StarlightDriveIn01-Medium.jpg )