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Show Summary
In this episode, Harry Moscatiello shares insights from his 25-year career in construction, electrical planning, and real estate. He discusses how his background in craftsmanship evolved into a broader role involving building inspections, electrical plan services, and navigating the complexities of building codes.
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Investor Fuel Show Transcript:
Harry (00:00)
You know levels of craftsmanship doesn’t really matter that much it either it’s really like you’re looking at construction, but you’re alsoIt’s really a legal thing. Does this meet code or not? you know, so, if you have to have a minimum height of a ceiling of like, let’s say six, eight, you’ve to measure it and see if it’s six, eight, you know, and if it’s under six, eight, then it violates the code.
Scott Bursey (01:54)
Hi everybody and welcome to the Real Estate Pros Podcast. I’m your host Scott Bursey and today I’m joined by someone I’ve been really looking forward to chatting with. Harry Moscatiello who’s been making serious moves in the construction and municipal business. Harry, welcome to the show.Harry (02:14)
Hey, how are you? Nice to be here.Scott Bursey (02:16)
Itis fantastic to have you here. And I think our audience is really going to take something away from Harry’s ability to look at a space and see its hidden potential. Combing over 25 years of hands-on craftsmanship with a deep understanding of vision required to turn a house into a dream. Let’s dive in, shall we?
Harry (02:44)
Good.Scott Bursey (02:44)
Sofirst off, for people who may not be familiar with your world, Harry, give us the short version. What’s your main focus these days?
Harry (02:53)
Well, I was a hands-on contractor for like 20 years. But the last 10 to 15 years, I’ve been primarily more involved. Well, the last 10 years, I’ve been involved really working as a building inspector, an electoral inspector, and also zoning officer. And for people that are interested in real estate, they sometimes don’t have a clue what goes on inside these building departments and how to deal with them for compliance, which is very important if you want to grow in this business.So most people like, there’s not anybody that even teaches you anything. They don’t even know what professionals they go to. And a lot of times people go to a lawyer when you really probably be better off going to an architect or an engineer. So there’s a lot to it. Yeah.
Scott Bursey (03:36)
Very good point.It’s complex. There’s no question about that. And what specific markets are you operating in? I know that you have multiple markets here. If you could elaborate on that just a bit for our audience.
Harry (03:52)
Well, primarily I’m in New Jersey, but I’m just starting to launch a company called FastElectricalPlans.com, which is really going to be everywhere but New Jersey. But because since I’m a licensed electoral inspector in New Jersey, there’s a conflict of interest law. So basically I’m starting more of a company that’s national in scope. And I’ve never tried this before. ⁓It’s a little hard with the marketing because I’m so used to meeting people in person, but it’s basically a company where you can submit. If you’re an electrician or an architect, if you needed electrical plans, you could email it to me and I could turn around the next morning and you get your plans. Basically, you would email the plans with, you know, and sell the money for and it’s a pre pre-priced stuff. So if you’re putting in a generator, you know, there’s a pre-paid price that you would have on my company list.
and you would just email me that and zell the money to that email address and the next morning you’d have your plans so it’d be quick turnaround.
Scott Bursey (04:54)
That is awesome. And Harry, what caught my attention about you was the way you’ve been able to maintain such a high standard of craftsmanship over 25 years in a competitive market like New Jersey. You haven’t just stayed in business, you’ve evolved. Impressive improvements into a name that people associate with both reliability and high-end styling. That’s not easy, especially in today’s climate.What’s been the key to keeping that machine running smoothly?
Harry (06:14)
I I’ve always had a real knack for craftsmanship. I started out more as a carpenter and we would do high-end kitchens. We would do decks, a lot of decks and, you know, all kinds of stuff like that. But then later I got involved in electric and then AT &T became my biggest customer and we were doing electrical stuff for the next five, like seven or eight years.you electricity, know, I became an electoral inspector and everything and You know, I don’t know it’s a you know being an inspector you see a lot of people don’t know this but there’s a code when you’re an inspector you inspect to the code you do not have a personal choice in the matter if you don’t like the way it’s done it doesn’t matter it has to go to the code so
You know levels of craftsmanship doesn’t really matter that much it either it’s really like you’re looking at construction, but you’re also
It’s really a legal thing. Does this meet code or not? you know, so, if you have to have a minimum height of a ceiling of like, let’s say six, eight, you’ve to measure it and see if it’s six, eight, you know, and if it’s under six, eight, then it violates the code.
So, you know, being an inspector is like a different world, you know, so, but you learn a lot of stuff and primarily life safety issues. So you start out usually has a craftsman, but then as you
learn the legalities. Construction is really a set of laws with the way the craftsmanship is done. you know, so like there has to be so many size windows, there has to be ways out of the house, there has to be, you know, draft stopping in the walls to stop fires, things like that. construction and carpentry are worlds apart. You know, you can make furniture as a carpenter, but to get a CO, which is what we do,
So when I work as a construction official, I’m one of the only people, I’m the only person in that town that could issue a CO. Every building in America, you cannot use it without a CO, except maybe like a dog house or something, you know? But any building that’s built, it passes all types of inspections, and then a CO is issued, and then it’s allowed to be used for that occupancy. So there’s a lot of things people just don’t understand about this, and it’s really nice to explain it to people. I get people that work in like,
Scott Bursey (08:23)
Certainly a lot of.Harry (08:31)
like city council and they don’t know like what the building department does, what the zoning department does, what the engineering department does. They don’t even know and ⁓ it’s good to know these different things if you want to be in this business.Scott Bursey (08:46)
Very complex, comprehensive, ramifications filled. No question about that. Now, speaking of craftsmanship, it’s impressive that you’ve reached that level of autonomy. Was there one specific moment or a particular deal where you realized, hey, OK, this is actually working?Harry (09:12)
I don’t know, but construction was something that always went right for me, like no matter what, even if we made a mistake, it worked out right. I remember once we poured the footings in the wrong spot and yet it worked anyhow. they were just, it just always was a natural tendency that it went right. So that’s why I stuck with it. So, but I think that’s like that with a lot of people, because when you’re out there, especially as an inspector, you get a lot of people in that trade and it’s kind of like, you know, they call it a brotherhood or something, you know, butYou kind of all speak the same language and think the same way, you know, so it’s pretty interesting. I’m just going to move this camera over for a second.
Scott Bursey (09:46)
It’s a unique world.There’s no question about that. And Harry, interested to know, I got to ask you. Every operator I know has a moment where things got real. Maybe a deal or a code went sideways or a time they didn’t meet the code and you had to pivot fast. Do mind sharing one of those moments with us?
Harry (10:11)
Yeah.Well, I could say that I was also always involved in real estate and in 20 years ago we were doing more mortgages like construction mortgages and we were making a pretty lot of money. But then a company I was dealing with got in trouble with the SEC and the whole thing got thrown into federal court for bankruptcy and we got caught in these massive legal battle over.
our money being tied up in a company that had fraud going on. We didn’t know there was fraud. And it was kind of a challenging thing, but we kind of got through it. You know, when everything was done correctly, I had lawyers. Actually, my lawyer got put in jail in the whole thing because I had gotten him from them and he was it wasn’t because of our his representation with us. We were fine. It was actually kind of cool because there was the FBI was involved and some lady was calling me.
to verify my signatures on some documents. And I told her I was into building and stuff. And she wanted an edition on her house. She wanted to know if I would do her edition, the FBI lady investigating it. you know, was kind of like, it always worked out. Even when it got to be a mess, it eventually worked itself out. That case is still active. It’s 20 years old. I sued the title company that insured our property. And basically,
They gave us something, but because the case wasn’t closed and some of these bankruptcies that go for more than 20 years, and we were never in bankruptcy, we were just a creditor. So we retained the right to sue them again, the title company and everybody involved when it closes. So it’s a possibility we do some, I don’t know what we’ll do, but over the years we got a lot of the money back and it kind of worked itself out. So that was good.
Scott Bursey (12:32)
That is good to hear. now on a bit of a…Harry (12:35)
I’ve always beeninvolved in both like going out and maybe nailing the wood together, cutting boards or something, and also on the whole business side of it. But I’ve also had crews where I had them working and I wasn’t there. But it’s always been one, you know, it’s all over the place. You never know what it’s going to be. Some things are busy. Three years later, it’s going to be something else, you know? So most of the work I did with AT &T weren’t crews. It was just me by myself.
And that was a very profitable thing. So I was always looking for the profit, basically.
Scott Bursey (13:10)
and a new venture on their horizon. What’s the next real goal for you, Harry?Harry (13:16)
I’m trying to launch my new electric… See, I’m trying to do stuff on a big national scale. I’ve never done that before. it’s really, if I could get that to work, it’ll be like a new skill I have with marketing. So I’ve been on Facebook. I started a page called fastelectricalplans.com and I’ve been making friends with electricians all across the country.And nobody’s really needed it yet, but the thing is, you know, we’ve got to let it just sink in a little bit and just let it lay out there and hopefully, and maybe eventually I’ll make some phone calls or something. I don’t know. We’ll have to see how it develops. I know, because I know from being, see, I’m an electric subcode official. We review plans before. So when you go for a building permit, right, you submit your plans, they get reviewed. They’re either approved or turned down. If they’re approved,
Then you go out and build what has been approved and then we go out and inspect it to make sure it’s being done per the plans. So as an electric subcode official, I’ve looked at large numbers of plans and I can tell you that in some I’ve approved, some I’ve failed. Electricians really don’t like drawing plans. Most of the ones I’ve met, they like working in the field and stuff like that. And then architects too, they really are licensed to sign electrical plans, yet at the same time they’re not trained at all for it. So they delegate it out.
So I can’t really sign the plans. An architect can sign the plans. He could review it or whatever, but I could draw the plans for anybody. could draw them for anybody, but like a homeowner or electrician, but the electrician would sign it. But usually I go over with them what we’re doing. We know all the conductor sizes. It’s a whole world to electric. Architects don’t even know that, but they just kind of like, because an architect’s gonna sign it, then it’s gonna go to a licensed.
Electrician, they’re going to know if something’s wrong on the plans anyhow, so it could always be corrected later, but I know how the plan should be from doing the plan review. the electrician can sign it, the architect can sign it, or a homeowner can sign it. But a lot of people don’t want to do the work.
Scott Bursey (16:06)
Very technical world. And the next move that you make, this new venture, that can kind of either compound things or create chaos, depending on how you play it. Now.Harry (16:22)
Well, I hope I get Chaosbecause I hope we get a lot of sales. I’d rather have a lot of Chaos than just it being dead. So we’re getting something, but it’s still not developing as fast as I’d like it to.
Scott Bursey (16:34)
Well, you are in the electrical business, so hopefully it has a lot of electricity. Now, I know a lot of our audience is either earlier in their journey hearing or looking to level up. And I think they benefit from hearing this when it comes to building relationships and growing your network. What’s made the biggest difference for you?Harry (16:55)
for networking.Scott Bursey (16:56)
Yes, if you would elaborate on that a little bit.Harry (17:00)
I guess I’ve learned to like really keep your friends, keep records of everybody, try to stay connected on social media or something like that. The more you stay connected, the more money you make. It’s really that simple. The more people that know you and I would tell people, if you want to make money in this world, trust is everything. You never screw anybody. People have to trust youScott Bursey (17:25)
So if somebody wanted to reach out and perhaps collaborate with you, what’s the best way that they could reach you,Harry (17:35)
Go to fastelectricalplans.com The email is [email protected] Just send an email. do take questions over the electrical code if people have trouble understanding the code or have a question about it. I will help them with that for free and stuff like that. I help electricians with that all the time becauseThey sometimes have a question of what is code or what isn’t code, you know? So, yeah.
Scott Bursey (18:03)
I can imagine. Well, perfect.Well, listen, Harry, I appreciate your time, your story, and your perspective. We need more people in this space who are doing it the right way, keeping things up to code, if you will. Thanks again for being here. And for those of you tuning in, if you got value from this, make sure you subscribed. We’ve got more conversations coming up with operators just like Harry, who out there building real businesses. We’ll see you on the next episode.
