The full picture, before any decision.
Research first. Facts, not advice.
We've done the research so you don't have to make the mistakes we did. That is not a humble-brag. It is the precise reason Researched exists.
The methodology behind every desktop assessment, every case study, and every feasibility report was not developed in a classroom. It was developed over decades in the field — across every type of project, every type of client, and every type of outcome. Including the ones that didn't go as planned.
Meet the Team
PHIL HARTOG
— FOUNDER
Phil's first apprenticeship made him an A Grade Electrician. His second, fifteen years later, was academic — a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in Psychology, after eight years in sales and several properties bought, renovated, and developed on the side.
The psychology degree changed everything. His top assignment that year, on communication and decision-making, became the actual founding moment of Researched: numbers are the one genuinely universal language, reading the same no matter what else is spoken in the room.
Twenty years as Managing Director and 100% owner of his own businesses (2006–2024) proved it out, before founding Researched in 2025. First apprenticeship: A Grade Electrician. Second apprenticeship: Translator.
ROB HARWOOD
— PRODUCT & PLANNING
A registered architect with close to four decades in the field, spanning London and Australia — Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Melbourne, postgraduate diploma from Kingston University.
Rob cut his teeth in inner London before returning to found Robert Harwood Architects + Interiors in 2011. He currently runs projects from Melbourne and Sydney to Kiama and the Snowy Mountains, budgets from $7.5M to $100M — private homes, apartments, tourism subdivisions.
His edge is what happens before a line is drawn: planning feasibility, floor space ratio strategy, and the judgement to turn planning constraints into genuine advantage. In 2009 he founded My Architect, a platform connecting independent architects with a shared client base — proof he's built this kind of network business before.
RUWAN WELLALAGE
— MARKETING
A qualified accountant (CPA, Master of Professional Accounting) who spent the next seventeen years building marketing engines instead — a rare combination in either profession.
Ruwan led marketing across enterprise technology and SME businesses, running the full mix — strategy, content, digital channels, and the numbers behind all of it — before founding Skalably. He tracks a campaign's return with the same discipline Phil and Rob apply to a construction forecast.
He's also a genuinely active networker, with a wide and well-used business network — the kind of connector whose introductions actually work, because he knows the people involved, not just their names.
Why This Team