Investor Deck · Seed Round
The Operating System
for Builders
One AI-native platform to run the build business — estimating, job costing, real-time financials, and agents that do the work.
Bryan Kaplan
·
May 2026
Market · Why Now
A $1.6B Market —
And the Timing Is Now
200,000 U.S. residential builders, a new generation of owners, and AI that finally works.
$1.6B
Total Addressable Market
200K
Addressable Firms
~$8K
Full-Stack ARPA
AI Finally Works
Inference costs fell ~90% since 2023. Estimating agents that were toys are now client-grade.
A New Generation
Gen-X owners are handing companies to Millennials and Gen-Z — who refuse to run on Excel.
Cost-Plus Went Mainstream
Once a niche, cost-plus contracting became standard residential practice post-2020.
200K U.S. residential builders × ~$8K full-stack ARPA · Source: U.S. Census NAICS 2361 · NAHB 2024 Builder Census
The Problem
Builders Are Duct-Taping
Their Business Together
No single source of truth. No real-time visibility. Five disconnected tools stitched together with spreadsheets and hope.
Problem 01
Estimates in Excel
Manual, disconnected, built from scratch every time. Impossible to reconcile once the job starts.
Problem 02
Costs in QuickBooks
Receipts and time funneled into QBO, coded by a bookkeeper weeks later. Never connected to the project in real time.
Problem 03
Five Disconnected Tools
Estimating here, scheduling there, accounting somewhere else. Nothing talks. Nothing matches.
The Solution
One Platform. Every Workflow.
Buildwise is the operating system for residential builders — software, AI, and the training built around it.
Core
Buildwise
Platform
Platform
AI Agents
Five agents acting on live platform data
Academy
Training that turns builders into customers
Templates
Proven documents and workflows built in
Community
A private network of builders sharing what works
The Platform
Built Like a Spreadsheet.
Powered Like a Platform.
Every screen looks and feels like the tool builders already use — because behavioral familiarity is the fastest path to adoption.
📐
Estimating
Fast, spreadsheet-style takeoffs with live unit costs
💰
Job Costing
Real-time costs flowing from the field to the office
🔄
Change Orders
Captured at source, priced, and invoiced in one flow
📈
Reporting
Cost-plus reports builders actually understand
AI Agents
AI Agents That Do the Work —
So Builders Don't Have To
Not chatbots. Agents trained on construction data and the builder's own business context, acting on live platform data.
1
Estimating Agent
Upload plans — get a complete estimate with quantities, costs, markup, and client-ready docs.
2
Presentation Agent
Turn any estimate into a polished, client-facing deck designed to close — not just inform.
3
Strategy Coach
Recommended next moves based on financials, pipeline, and capacity. A consultant on call 24/7.
4
Estimate Review
Flags margin risks, missing line items, and pricing gaps before the bid goes out.
5
Job Costing Analyst
Identifies money leaks — labor inefficiency, scope creep, material waste — with actionable insight.
🚀
Roadmap
Scheduling, procurement, and client comms next — funded by this raise.
Adoption & First Value
Live in Under 30 Minutes —
Not Days, Not Thousands in Training
Two setup paths. One first-value moment.
⚡
Setup Path 1 · Self-Serve
Set Up in Under 30 Min
Sign up, connect QuickBooks Online, and you're operational. No week-long training. No thousands of dollars for hands-on coaching.
< 30
minutes to set up
★
Setup Path 2 · Done For You
Premium Onboarding
We import your cost codes, estimates, and expenses. Then we meet to walk you through it all — in under 60 minutes.
< 60
minute walkthrough
↓
First Value
Produce your first real estimate with the AI Estimating Agent
Competition
Our Real Competitor Is Excel —
But We Beat Legacy and New SaaS Too
Builders choose between software and the spreadsheet. Legacy SaaS lost this market by fighting how builders actually work.
| Built for Cost-Plus |
Spreadsheet- Familiar UX |
AI Agents Native |
Adoption Friction |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spreadsheets | DIY | Native | ✗ | None |
| Buildertrend | Fixed-price first | Steep curve | Bolted on | High |
| JobTread | Fixed-price first | Steep curve | Limited | High |
| Houzz Pro | Fixed-price first | Workflow-heavy | Bolted on | High |
| Buildwise | ✓ Native | ✓ Native | ✓ Native | Minimal |
Go to Market
YouTube Feeds the Top of Funnel
One source of education at the top — four entry points underneath — all converging on Buildwise.
▶
Bryan Kaplan
Construction Consulting Co.
YouTube · Top of Funnel
1
Lead Magnets
Free downloads & worksheets for specific builder pains.
2
AI Agents
The AI Estimating Agent — a low-friction first taste.
3
Templates
Pre-built documents and workflows inside Academy.
4
Coaching
AI Consulting
Financial Consulting
Executive Coaching
Destination
Buildwise
The Flywheel
Academy Lowers CAC.
Platform Compounds LTV.
Content and training build trust. Platform and AI agents make the software indispensable.
Buildwise
Flywheel
Content & Academy
Organic top-of-funnel
Platform Signup
Self-serve or high-touch
AI & Payments
Usage-based expansion
Retention
Training makes it stick
Differentiator
Cost-Plus Is the Wedge
We enter through the segment no one serves well — then expand from a position of strength.
🎯
Underserved Niche
Cost-plus builders are underserved by legacy SaaS built fixed-price first. It's our deepest product-market fit.
🪝
A Sharp Entry Point
Purpose-built cost-plus reporting and job costing is a wedge competitors can't easily copy.
↔️
Expand Horizontally
Win cost-plus, then expand to fixed-price builders on the same AI-native platform.
Pricing
Three Tiers. One Upgrade Path.
Recurring is the floor. AI usage and payments compound from there.
| Tier | Pricing | Includes |
|---|---|---|
| Buildwise Core | $99/mo | Core platform — estimating, job costing, reporting |
| Buildwise Pro | $199/mo | Everything in Core + the full AI agent suite |
| Buildwise Premium | $599/mo | Pro + a monthly strategic advisor session |
Lever 01
Recurring Subscription
The predictable floor — tier upgrades from Core to Pro to Premium.
Lever 02
AI Token Margin
Metered margin on AI agent usage scales with how much work the platform does.
Lever 03
Payments Orchestration
A fee on payments through the platform — ARPA that grows with customer volume.
Traction
V1 Live in Production — Real Builders Paying Today
Bootstrapped to Real Revenue
30
Paying Accounts
$120K
Cumulative Revenue
$5.2K
MRR
<3%
Monthly Churn
Shipped in V1
- Estimating
- Change Orders
- Expense Management
- Labor Tracking
- QuickBooks Integration
- Budgets
- Job Costing
- Financial Dashboard
- Schedules
- Job Logs
Next 6 Months
- Invoicing
- Payments
- AI Agents
Revenue Forecast
A Clear Path to Breakeven
24-month MRR trajectory driven by account growth and ARPA expansion.
30 → 258
Account Growth
$196 → $326
ARPA Expansion
Month 18
Breakeven
Team
Deep Roots in Construction & Code
Founder-built, builder-led, and backed by a strategic advisor.
BK
Bryan Kaplan
Founder & CEO
21 years building custom homes and running remodeling companies. Built Buildwise because no software on the market actually worked for cost-plus builders.
JG
Joel Gallant
CTO
Leads a dedicated Canadian-based development team shipping Django, React Native, and AI-native features on a weekly cadence.
VK
Vijai Karthigesu
Strategic Advisor
CEO of Qnetwork. Advising on go-to-market, fundraising, and investor positioning.
The Raise
Raising to Accelerate
$1M USD
Seed · SAFE Note
30%
R&D
Engineering team, AI agent development, platform expansion
40%
Sales & Marketing
Content & Academy expansion, paid acquisition, sales hires
30%
Operations
Admin, infrastructure, DevOps, and working capital
The Only Platform
Purpose-Built for
Residential Builders
Bryan Kaplan
hello@buildwiseapp.com · buildwiseapp.com
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