Were you a hall monitor in school?

You have every legal right to accept payment in cash from a paying client, that's not money laundering, especially with your actions to do it in a monitored and recorded setting by banking persons. 

Real-time monitoring of a borrower’s bank accounts.

I have been monitoring the MLS, loopnet, craigslist, ect for months and have made a few offers only to be outbid by cash offers.  

There will be local who monitor that forum and should be able to provide firm recommendations....while here you might get some stranger down in Texas commenting ;)  Just an idea.

He is going to manage the construction, monitor the budget, and work with a realtor to sell the house upon completion. 

@Mike P.I've yet to encounter an municipality who would sub-meter.If your meters have the remote monitoring capability?  

The previous owners have these heavy duty security gates on the windows but the company providing them charged 700$ a month, but that includes an on call security guard (not monitoring). 

How do you manage and monitor your projects from afar when things are starting to go left, especially when facing communication and progress issues with contractors?

They need to be monitored and controlled as much as any tenant.