Instead of physically to your property to help troubleshoot, you could have had a quick video conference (cellphones) where you could ask your assistant to operate the door entry, while you see it on your cell phone.

Cell: 9106121646. 

My house Is paid off and the rent covers all expenses you mentioned plus electric, our cell phones, internet and auto insurance.  

Typically a contractor provides their own tools, which in the case of a property manager means their own vehicle, cell phone and computer.

My gf & I have both had our current cell phone numbers for over five years each & have been at our current address for over two years...

Keep in mind that a "eye for design" is good but not as critical as other qualities such as "smelling blood" (recognize a deal when it appears) - and even more important, to think on how to make it happen at the right cost (construction costs can differ dramatically, when you take non-local labor and know how to get the materials on cheap etc).

sell your car, watch, cell phone and blood. 

It’s not worth your time and energy to try to get blood out of a turnip.

It took about 1 year from start to finish, but the rewarding feeling I got after all of the literal blood, sweat, and tears of 1 year of very hard work, was worth it all. 

So you get both the service from having the local person (my cell where you can call me anytime), but the ease of transferring documents in several markets (so you don't have to keep re-sending) by being under the umbrella of the larger company.