If you are going to self manage you will need to build business systems and get a list of reliable vendors.  

I can see why they price their projects accordingly because their system is designed to help relieve the construction management from the investor.

Your first hire is unlikely to work out though, was you won't have a good hiring system in place. - So, recommend having that first hire document the crap out of what you want them to do.

With proper tenant screening and systems in place you can absolutely be a successful landlord.

.- When I called the brokerage admin to let them know I had quit the team and to change my status to solo agent, they said their system shows me as a solo agent and that the TL never submitted paperwork to add me as being part of their team.

I spent a decade in advertising, before founding and running a custom wood shop for another decade, so 'm pretty good at the self-promotion.I agree with you that the more gorilla approach would be most effective and that's actually what i've been doing – calling RE agents in my service area with active listings, introducing myself to property managers and leasing agents...To answer your question, I will have to handle the work myself for 6-12 months to build out the SOPs and field service management systems, but I have a lot of relationships for those looking to "do the work".I'll check out the meet up and would love to grab a cup of coffee, I'll shoot you an email.

All that cost's $ in labor time and systems.     

Once you feel you've built a strong team with your first property and have solid systems in place, I would then start buying more aggressively and taking on bigger projects.I suggest reading this BP article on the core 4.https://www.biggerpockets.com/blog/core-four-real-estate-team

We use an Enterprise CRM System, and are very organized with our files. 

A third party company that integrates with our system.