Master Virtual Project Management: 7 Strategies for Real Estate Success

John Harcar (00:01.817)
Alright, hey guys, welcome back to our show. I’m your host John Harcar and I’m here today with Phil Tudor aka coach Phil And we’re gonna talk to him today about you not only his experience in business in a real estate But we’re also gonna talk about his passion, which is virtual project management Remember guys that investor fuel we help real estate investors service providers I mean really all real estate entrepreneurs 2 to 5x their business and we do that by providing tools and resources to grow

that business that they want, which in turn helps them live the lives that they want to live. Coach Phil, welcome to the show.

Coach Phil (00:38.51)
Thanks for having me.

John Harcar (00:40.091)
Yeah, man. Appreciate you coming on. Excited to talk about this virtual project management. mean, that’s something that, you know, having a virtual property, one left, I know kind of some of the ins and outs of, the, I’m sorry, the pains of being able doing that virtually. This is a whole nother ball game. But before we talk about all that, why don’t you tell our audience a little bit about you, kind of your experience in business, real estate, and kind of what got you to today.

Coach Phil (01:05.782)
Yeah, sure, I’d love to. So I started back in 2017 at the time I was a contractor doing renovations for an investor out of Ohio in New Jersey. That’s where I’m home based. And an education program came over the airwaves one day on a radio ad and was like, hey, would you like to become a real estate investor? And something brought to my attention. said, I’d love to learn my client’s needs that I was servicing at the time. This investor out of Ohio. So I said, let me go.

And little did I know that would change the trajectory of my life and I’d become a real estate investor myself. I signed up for that educational program and just went ham with it. Really was just all in, trusted the process, trusted the people that were coaching me and really implemented a lot of systems and efficiencies along the way in the first two years. Me and my partner at the time, we did 80 transactions, 40 flips, 40 rentals within two years. So we just were like, on fire, man, running full steam.

John Harcar (01:59.709)
Nice.

Coach Phil (02:03.625)
That’s really where the beginning seeds of what you see today, virtual project management with me began. And I had no idea that it’s where I would be today, years ago, which was through a lot of the systemization stuff over time. We created a duplicatable process. You know, that’s what we were poached on. It’s a duplicatable process. There’s, there’s a lot of steps to this, but it is duplicatable, you know, for a good, good amount of this task and the steps along the way for flipping a house.

or even just completing a renovation. yeah, so flash forward, I rebranded my company a few years ago. I am now Steadfast United Real Estate as my primary real estate investing company. I currently have three flips active. I have anywhere between five to six at a time. I’m doing all different types of investing strategies, rentals, BRRR, flips, doing a house raise. Today I’ll be meeting with contractors. So that’s gonna be a fun one for me there. Even looking at land development and subdivision. So I…

John Harcar (02:32.061)
Mm-hmm.

Coach Phil (03:00.254)
have a lot of construction background that really complimented me coming into this real estate investor space. And I was raised in construction, raised around construction with my father’s company. And I didn’t realize that I had a secret sauce that a lot of people are looking for. And that’s what the crux and the foundation of virtual project management is, which is I bridge the gap between contractors and real estate investors. You know, I speak their language. I know what their needs and concerns are. And I know what the real estate investor needs and concerns are by being one myself.

John Harcar (03:24.091)
Right.

Coach Phil (03:29.577)
So that has created a very unique skill set for me that for honestly, I’ve taken for granted, you know, and up until, you know, a few years ago, it was brought to my attention, like, hey, you should try and offer this service to people nationwide, you know, and I really gave some good hard thought to it. Ransom test pilots on it was very successful with it. So here we are now today and I’m still actively flipping over 125 transactions completed to date since 2017, still actively doing it, like I said, and then now also helping people

John Harcar (03:42.791)
Mm-hmm.

John Harcar (03:56.465)
Nice.

Coach Phil (03:59.581)
through my limited availability. I don’t have a ton of clients because I have to manage my stuff, my team. So now, like I said today, actively still flipping homes, looking at investment strategies for my personal self and my family’s future, as well as helping other people build their dreams and futures through their investment companies.

John Harcar (04:02.512)
Right.

John Harcar (04:16.733)
I love it. I love the story. You took one of my normal questions I like to ask folks are like, you know, back in the day, you know, what got you into real estate or construction or, you in your case, your dad, your family.

Coach Phil (04:32.681)
Yeah, yeah, it started very young. mean, just I didn’t realize, I mean, I was trying to get out of that construction world, to be quite frank. You know, I wanted to be a pharmaceutical salesman was my first crack at life. And I had it other ways for me. And I found myself back in construction in my early thirties. You know, and I just I had learned so much over the years. And like I said, there are a series of events. know, real estate investing is a lot to do with construction if you’re actually doing the renovations. So.

John Harcar (04:45.276)
Okay.

John Harcar (04:59.675)
Yeah, for sure.

Coach Phil (05:02.066)
You know, just fit very well, you know, and it’s very seamless and, you real estate just a great, powerful tool to achieving your personal goals and dreams. So I just, it aligns very well for me.

John Harcar (05:11.421)
100%. You’ve had a little bit more experience than others that kind of start getting into the business and flipping. I mean, you were in construction pretty much your whole life, it seems like. But what struggles did you have when you first started this business on your own?

Coach Phil (05:28.358)
It’s a question. mean, a lot of people think, you know, when they hear, oh, you grew up in construction, you know, I mean, you were just, it’s just streamlined and seamless transition. And it wasn’t because there’s all different types of construction, you know, and for me and my father, we focused on niche space construction, which was like kitchen and bathroom remodels. And I remember early on getting into this and literally pulling up to a flip house that my partner put in front of me. And I asked my dad, you know, he’s in the vehicle with me. said, dad, what do think it’s going to cost to do this? Do you think 50,000 can get this done?

And we just said, well, we’re going to have to find out, aren’t we? Because it’s a whole other animal pricing these things out. Every element of construction can go into a flip if it needs it from top down. So I really just put my best foot forward and I failed forward. And I learned through my failures and my experiences and adjustments. And I kind of like make a joke when I share about scopes of work. You build a scope of work for your construction project and

John Harcar (06:00.965)
Yeah.

Coach Phil (06:24.133)
You know, I share them to my clientele and I’ll say, this is version like 103.5. You know, it’s just every layer upon layer upon layer builds, you know, but early on the biggest thing. So for me, it was, actually had the laborers, you know, so I was putting the employees on the flip as well. So for me, it was the, management of the quality of work, honestly, I thought that was going to be the easy part, but it wasn’t, you know, so managing the quality control.

was very challenging and it was really a shell shock to me early on. I thought if I paid a guy well, he would perform well, but that just those old days, I guess are over and I had to learn that very quickly. So we, you know, over the time, you know, we’re able to mitigate that issue, which was, you know, by having structured payment schedules and me removing myself from being an owner of the construction company, honestly, and managing general contractors or managing subs through good contracts and schedules, you know.

John Harcar (06:57.65)
Mm-hmm.

John Harcar (07:02.365)
You

Coach Phil (07:21.743)
So that was really early on.

John Harcar (07:30.781)
Got it, okay. And then, as you developed things and as they just kind of grew bigger and bigger, did you ever have any thoughts of like going up to different asset classes and maybe going up to small multifamily or bigger commercial stuff?

John Harcar (07:50.262)
Okay, all right. Well perfect that leads us in

Coach Phil (07:51.791)
Yeah, so today, yeah, so today that’s where I’m getting into like subdivision. You know, I’m looking at a land development deal, building eight single family homes on the lot. We did multifamilies early on too, as we began to stretch our legs with this. You know, and like I said, now too, I’m raising a house on a river and putting a whole nother level on it. So yeah, I’ve always wanted to, it feels like it’s almost like an itch that you can’t satisfy, you know, like

What’s the next level to get to? And even this virtual project management for me is in that way a challenge for myself. And as an entrepreneur deep down inside, I enjoy and invite the challenge because the reward, typically I’ve found that more risk, more reward is really the balance and it’s mitigating that risk is the challenge to be able to set yourself up for success. So even currently right now managing million dollar flips down in Miami, Florida.

John Harcar (08:31.271)
Mm-hmm.

Coach Phil (08:49.562)
you a very high-end market, something that in southern New Jersey, I call it the armpit of New Jersey, like, that’s not what we’re flipping. You we have some pockets like that, but that’s not what I typically flip. You know, I’m flipping starter homes, you know, just really easy, quick cosmetic flips where quality control or quality of work can be definitely lesser than a seven-figure home. You know, so, you know, there’s so many different angles I’ve had different asset classes, as you put it, have brought me up to different levels.

John Harcar (08:54.973)
What?

Coach Phil (09:17.486)
You know, so a hundred percent. Yeah. I’m always interested in like, what’s the next thing, you know, even for me, I’m looking at tapping into the well again. We did some remote investing early on in my career in Northern New Jersey. were Southern New Jersey, went to Northern New Jersey. And now I’m even looking in like Aberlein, Texas, you know, I’m looking where is the job growth going to be happening in the nation due to the new policy that’s going on right now. So yeah, a hundred percent. think that just.

John Harcar (09:37.115)
Yeah.

Coach Phil (09:42.008)
Be willing and ready, you know, is kind of like my motto. So it’s not like I aspire to find the next big challenge, but if it comes across my plate, I’m already in prepared on my team, then I’m going to take it on, you know.

John Harcar (09:51.772)
Well, yeah, being ready to pivot, know, be ready to change and go where it needs to go. So what kind of mistakes are you seeing people make when they’re doing their project management on their own?

Coach Phil (10:04.082)
I think the biggest mistake is not enough diligence. Okay. So when I present virtual project management to potential clients, I like to quickly get to the conversation of pre-hire me before you need me. Because the worst thing that can happen is you come to me and say, Phil, I want to hire you. I like your services. You told me six months ago, here’s a project. And then I get an unrealistic budget and I didn’t have any chance to help save you from that. I think that’s the biggest issue that I see early on, you know, is where.

I don’t want to say inexperienced investors, but some investors that are lacking some skill sets or understanding the brevity or the seriousness of due diligence are not equipping themselves for what that project really needs. And then they’re stuck with it. So it’s this due diligence area where it’s very, very vulnerable. And you have an option if you’re very on your game in your…

active, proactive with it that you can mitigate these risks through good inspections, good terms that you write in your contracts and stuff. So that’s why I say like, know, virtual project managing, yes, the nuts and bolts, the meat of it is, is the actual project needing to be managed. But before that, you would, you’d be very wise to invest me and my team for like 15 minutes to say, put our eyes on your numbers and a few pictures that you have to say, Hey, you may or may not be missing something here or

John Harcar (11:15.781)
Mm-hmm.

Coach Phil (11:26.433)
green light or red light your deal for you to help you out and advise you in advance. So, you know, definitely the consulting side on the front end, but I think that’s the biggest issue that I see is that investors come to me and they think that the project is going to take X amount of dollars to do. And then I ultimately have to school them or educate them through some more due diligence. Like, Hey, you’re actually going to be here and now you’re stuck with the project and you’ve got to see it through. So, you know, that would be number one. Number one B would be like contractor selection. Really?

John Harcar (11:46.183)
Right.

Coach Phil (11:56.215)
You know, interviewing contractors or what I call contractor onboarding, it’s not included in this virtual project management. It’s a prerequisite that the investor needs to bring. So like I will evaluate your contractor bench for you and pick what I feel is the best contractor to do the current project that we teamed up on together with. But beforehand, like interviewing contractors and just checking their work and really vetting them out, you know, is something where I see a lot of investors

John Harcar (12:05.479)
Mm-hmm.

John Harcar (12:15.069)
Okay.

Coach Phil (12:25.558)
lack on not because they don’t necessarily do it, but because also too they don’t maybe know the right questions to ask or things like that. So I think that that’s one A, one B is your budgeting and your contractor selection are the biggest issues that I see going into these projects with clients.

John Harcar (12:32.933)
Right, makes sense.

John Harcar (12:42.363)
What is the best way for someone to vet? A contractor.

Coach Phil (12:48.261)
Interviewing, interview, interview, interviews. Like if you’re familiar at all at the corporate world, they will always do what’s called a three interview process, right? And you know, a lot of times what we do is we’re like, hey, you know, we look at a contractor and we’re one and done. We’re like, yeah, I like it. You know, it feels good. It looks good. We’ll do a project together. Or it’s vice versa too, where it’s like, Hey, I got a project and now I need a contractor. I never pre-hired. So then now you’re desperate to start and you’re just hiring them right away. So.

The vetting process is really like, feels like the cart before the horse, but you should be interviewing contractors to make sure they’re a good fit for your business model, your core values of a company and as a business owner, prior to even having a project. Because I have a six step proven system that I’ve implemented with contractor onboarding that at minimum should take you six weeks. It could take more than that. And this is the funnel that you’re bringing contractors to when you’re running through six steps. It’s really five steps in the sixth.

you beneficial step is the cherry on the top, which is basically asking them to review your pricing, your construction numbers that you’re placing bids on behalf of with as an investor, you know. So it’s accessing that data from the contractor ultimately. But the first five steps, it’s five weeks, you know, five, six week process of going through and interviewing them, checking on their resources, checking previous work, checking your licenses, you know, all that stuff and insurances and going through that process, you know, and

John Harcar (14:10.278)
Right.

Coach Phil (14:13.63)
there’s really a psychology behind it when you’re vetting a contractor of, if you read any good interview books, they all pretty much talk about the same common theme, which is every interviewee knows how to lie through an interview. So you got to figure out the lie, you know? And so like when you ask the contractor for a reference, they’re going to give you the best reference. They’re not going to give you their worst customer experience. So how do you then get to the nitty gritty of the real stuff with the contractor? So

John Harcar (14:27.389)
Right, right, right.

John Harcar (14:33.885)
Sure.

Coach Phil (14:40.4)
One of my biggest tips that I can give you and your audience is that when you’re doing a contract or interview sheet, open it, ask an open ended question. You know, one of my favorite open ended questions is can you recall a challenge you’ve had on a project and how you handled it? It’s not a yes or no question. Now, now I get them talking to sit back and listen, you know, and listen and listen and just let them reveal their character to you. And that’s what your job is when you’re interviewing to find a good contractor is what is their character? Because I can guarantee you one thing in real estate.

you will be challenged and you will most likely be challenged during the construction phase. So when that challenge arise, you know, how are you handling yourself and how is your contractor handling himself or theirself? You know, and that is a character thing. That’s not an interview question. That’s not, know, are you on budget on time question? No, that’s a, there’s something I missed over here when I see, I can give you an example. Like, um, you know, I told you the sewer line was good.

John Harcar (15:12.893)
100%.

John Harcar (15:28.273)
Right.

Coach Phil (15:39.067)
in preliminary bidding process and now it’s bad and I’m trying to put a change order on you. Or trying to make an excuse because my guy damaged it during construction and you didn’t see it happen. So this is where, to me, it’s a moral situation. It’s more of a character thing to find a good contractor than it is an interview question.

John Harcar (15:45.979)
Right, yep.

John Harcar (15:50.723)
Yeah, exactly. Now that I get that.

John Harcar (15:59.996)
Yeah, that’s very true. So let’s talk about your virtual project management company. you started this off because you found a need, right? Okay. What does your business look like now? Like let’s talk about your team first.

Coach Phil (16:08.284)
Mm-hmm. Yep.

Coach Phil (16:15.045)
Yeah, so my team, so I have an assistant out of Minnesota. So he’s virtual. So we have a very systemized approach to this. We love using technology to our advantage. Google Drive for data storage, emails, automation, and anything that can be automated. So for instance, we have forms to onboard clients where they can input all their data. It goes right into a system for us to review that. So if they have a project, we call it a pre-approved project. Let’s say you’re my client. You would hire me for a small retainer fee.

for six month retainer, then you get a deal that’s ever accepted tentatively that comes in. Well, we have a project manager that’s out of Minnesota. He manages those communication and data coming in and we review those deals for you and give you our feedback as quick as possible. I also have a boots on the ground field project manager as well that does my project management for my projects here locally in Southern New Jersey. So we also have him as a consultant too, because it’s a lot of the time the consulting is about

the nitty gritty in construction code or building materials or advising in those areas because I’m always balancing like cost versus reward for clients and things like that. So my team is formed of me and two other project managers, one virtual and one on boots on the ground from here in New Jersey.

John Harcar (17:30.915)
Okay, now when you take on clients, is there like a specific level of rehab that you don’t do a product management for or how does that all work? Like what are your qualifications, I guess, or what are things that people come to you that they need to have when they’re reaching out?

Coach Phil (17:46.36)
So first of all, I mean, it’s free to have a consultation with me because you’re hitting the nail on the head. Like I want to make sure we have a good working relationship. Okay. To be quite frank with you, if an investor is going to come to me like they know everything, it’s not going to work. And that’s not saying that I know everything, but that’s a clash of personality because this is a done for by us business model and there will be teamwork that’s required. For instance, I can’t see the project boots on the ground.

I need somebody physically to go to the project at least once a week and take pictures and do inspections for when contractors are asking for money or whatnot. So there’s a team play there, you know, and I need accountability to be there. So there’s a free consultation call for me to make sure we’re a good fit, you know, and I can tell pretty quickly early on, like if there’s going to be tension or stress in the situation, you know. So, you know, that’s one of the aspects. Now you ask like, there ever like a small, too small project? I haven’t experienced it yet, but like,

John Harcar (18:17.404)
Right.

Coach Phil (18:37.121)
To me, it doesn’t matter because my fees are percentage based upon your construction budget as an investor. So it’s relative. If you come to me with a $5,000 paint job, you need to get managed for your rental and help you select a painting contractor, it’s relative. Even though that may only pay me a small amount of dollars for my percentage fee, it’s just relative because I’m not making as many phone calls or drafting up a million contracts. So I don’t think that there’s…

John Harcar (18:44.903)
Great.

John Harcar (18:59.995)
True. Yeah, makes sense.

Coach Phil (19:02.981)
I would think that yeah, there would be a ridiculous low line. I would just advise you like, you can do this on your own. don’t need to pay their money. But then there’s also for me, there is a limitation to how many clients we take on because I’m managing my own flips. And I take it seriously. I do one-on-one coaching as well. And I say the same thing. And I mean it from my heart that if I’m going to take time away from my business and building my family’s future,

John Harcar (19:07.773)
I have two walls that need to be painted. Can he project manage that?

John Harcar (19:19.975)
Yeah.

Coach Phil (19:29.815)
I’m going to make sure that we’re a good fit and that I can give you the undivided attention that you require because, you know, these are like intense, you know, we, we create, we try to create an atmosphere of like, time blocking per se. So we meet once with our clients, once we get the project up and running. So there’s a, I always say there’s a ton of, in ton of work in the beginning, like 80 % of your success is, is done in the beginning.

pre-construction planning, scopes of work, interviewing contractors, talking to them, hashing out details, payment schedules, contracts. That’s majority of work. Because then the beauty is once you start it, you’re pretty much on autopilot because you’ve agreed upon a plan together with your contractor. So we do an intense amount of work upfront, which is not just like once a week. Like this is like times of the essence. You’re closing in 30, 45 days. We need to be prepared to swing the hammer on the 31st or the 46th day, like the day after closing. That’s the goal. You know, so

John Harcar (20:26.577)
Right, right, right.

Coach Phil (20:27.944)
intense amount of work to done, then it streamlines to once a week. we really try to make a regimented approach to this because that allows me to handle clients to a decent amount where I’m not flossing at the seams and you can’t get a hold of Phil. Like I got to make sure I’m balancing my investments in my team here locally. So there is a limitation to how many clients we can take right now. Currently, I put a cap at 15 at a time.

John Harcar (20:40.125)
True, yeah.

John Harcar (20:44.133)
Yeah. You want to provide the best service.

Coach Phil (20:57.516)
But that also would be depending on the level of the project. For instance, down in Miami, we’re doing one that’s a whole new construction, scrape and build. And itself is easier in a way, because it’s all architectural plans and stuff, but it’s also an intense amount of details that need to be figured out. So depending on the size of the project determines how many clients would take on.

John Harcar (21:01.746)
Yeah.

John Harcar (21:09.373)
Mm-hmm.

John Harcar (21:13.521)
Yeah, 100%. 100%.

John Harcar (21:21.831)
Got it, got it. Well, cool, man. If folks want to get in touch with you, they want to maybe learn about your coaching program a little bit more or just kind of, you know, do that free consultation. How do they, how do they get in touch with you? What’s the best way?

Coach Phil (21:35.231)
Yes, we have for me for virtual project management. It’s vpm.sjrein.com. The SJREIN stands for South Jersey Real Estate Investor Network. So you can always even look me up that way. We have a Facebook group for South Jersey Real Estate Investor Network. But the website for the VPN again is vpm.sjrein.com.

And then from there, you can just get and cut touch me that way. And then we can always branch out to other avenues if you want it to for one-on-one coaching, you know, and things like that. I’m also on Facebook. If you look up coach Phil and Sherry Tudor, that’s my wife, Sherry with an I, we do business together and we build our dreams together. So yeah, so coach Phil and Sherry Tudor, you can look me up on Facebook and get in touch with me that way as well. So yeah.

John Harcar (22:25.595)
How come Sherry didn’t jump on this podcast with us, man?

Coach Phil (22:29.514)
She’s actually working a little right now, she has another job.

John Harcar (22:34.229)
Okay, got it right on. Well cool man. Well, I appreciate you coming on here and sharing all this knowledge man. That’s some great information. I love your business. Guys, I hope you took some good notes and got some good information. We’ll put all his contact information down in the show notes so you guys can get in touch with him. Phil, thank you again, man. Guys, we’ll see you on the next show. Cheers.