Business explained · internal reference
BuildPack in numbers
Who buys, what a builder is worth, what a pack costs to make, why both sides pay, and why the middleman survives. Short version.
Internal reference. Not indexed, not in the sitemap; comes off the site at launch. Fact = published business fact. Assumption = working estimate (change it in the calculator).
1 · The model
Two revenue lines, one cost line
$2,500
Builder fee, Standard Pack (fact). Compact $1,999 · Large $2,999. 50% up front, 50% on delivery.
$975
Cost per pack: 25 hrs × $35 + $100 overhead (assumption). $1,150 if W-2.
$250 × hires
Trade fee per hired scope, pay-on-win (fact, private). ~11 hires on a first pack = $2,750.
Base case, builder fee only: $2,500 − $975 = $1,525 (61%). Trade fees on top: + $2,750 → $4,275 per pack (81%). Add-ons on top of that: rush +$300 · re-quote $250 · repeat lot $400 · permit pull $600.
2 · Target client
Who buys a pack
Primary
- Owner-operator custom builder, Spartanburg / Greenville
- 3–10 houses a year, different plan each time
- No estimator on payroll — bids every house out himself
- Construction-loan financed — every idle week costs interest
Secondary
- Owner-builders (one house)
- Spec builders adding lots faster than their sub bench
- Out-of-area builders with no Upstate roster
- Remodelers pricing a large addition
Not the client
- National production builders (in-house purchasing)
- Commercial GCs with an estimating department
- Homeowners needing one trade
- Anyone who wants us to hold the money or run the job
3 · Income per builder
What one builder is worth in a year
Assumptions: 11 hires on a builder's first pack · ~5 new subs hired on later packs (they call the ones they know direct) · ~3 on a $400 repeat lot · cost $975 per new pack, $380 per repeat (~8 hrs) · Standard tier, add-ons excluded.
| Builder | Packs / yr | Builder fees | Trade fees | Revenue | Gross profit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Owner-builder 1 house, 1 plan | 1 new | $2,500 | $2,750 | $5,250 | $4,275 |
| Small custom builder 3-5 houses/yr, different plans | 4 new | $10,000 | $6,500 | $16,500 | $12,600 |
| Active custom builder 6-10 houses/yr, some plans reused | 6 new + 2 repeat | $15,800 | $10,500 | $26,300 | $19,690 |
| Spec / small production 10-15 houses/yr from 3-4 plans | 3 new + 9 repeat | $11,100 | $12,000 | $23,100 | $16,755 |
- 1 full-timer ≈ 6.4 packs/mo → ~72/yr → ~18 active builders at 4 packs each. Cap is 8/mo.
- Year 1 with a builder is the richest year (full trade fees). Steady state = builder fees on new plans + $400 repeats.
- Trade fees come from new builders. Builder fees come from kept builders. Two different jobs.
4 · The $35/hour employee
What a pack costs to make
| Step | Hours |
|---|---|
| Intake, scope list, same-day fee | 2 |
| Takeoff notes for subs | 4 |
| Send-out + follow-up (40-50 conversations) | 8–10 |
| Collect + level bids | 6 |
| Assemble pack, QA, delivery call | 4 |
| Total | ~25 (20–30; target 17 once the roster is warm) |
$875
labor / pack, 1099 at $35
$1,050
labor / pack, W-2 at ~$42 loaded
$6,720
one W-2 full-timer per month, packs or not
- Full-timer breaks even at 2.3 packs/mo on builder fees alone (2.8 W-2), 1.1 with trade fees.
- Under ~3 packs/mo: pay by the hour (1099). W-2 only when the queue is steadily above that.
Change the assumptions
Unit-economics calculator
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revenue / pack
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cost / pack
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profit / pack · —
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profit / pack with zero trade fees
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revenue / month
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cost / month · —
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profit / month
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packs/mo for a full-timer to break even on builder fees only
Burden 20 = W-2, 0 = 1099. Capture 0 = no trade fees at all. Compact $1,999 / Large $2,999 move the fee ±$500.
5a · Why the builder pays
$2,500 vs the alternatives, per house
| Comparison | Bid it yourself | Own estimator, $35/hr | BuildPack |
|---|---|---|---|
| Your hours | 30-40 | ~2 (managing) | ~1 |
| Cash | $0 ($2,250-$6,000 of your time) | $1,260–$1,680 — if you can keep them busy | $2,500 |
| Calendar | 6-8 wks | 6-8 wks (same cold Rolodex) | ~10 business days |
| Loan interest ($400k @ 8%) | $3,690–$4,920 | same | ~$1,230 |
| Bid leveling | if you do it | if they know how | every scope |
| Trade compliance | you chase certificates | they chase them | certified, insured, bonded — compliance packet on file, handled |
| Material lists | maybe | maybe | itemized, every scope |
- Speed alone saves 4–6 weeks of interest (~$2,460–$3,690). That covers the fee.
- Nobody can hire a fractional estimator for 4–8 houses a year. BuildPack is that estimator, shared across ~18 builders, with the warm roster none of them has.
- No lock-in, no markup, never in the money. That's why the numbers can be trusted — and why §6 exists.
5b · Why the trade pays
We quote the job for them. $250 when they win, $0 when they don't
| Trade | Typical contract | Fee on a win | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Framing | $35k-$55k | $250 flat | 0.5-0.7% |
| Plumbing | $18k-$28k | $250 flat | 0.9-1.4% |
| Roofing | $12k-$18k | $250 flat | 1.4-2.1% |
| Drywall | $12k-$16k | $250 flat | 1.6-2.1% |
They get
- Takeoff + quote on their own rate sheet, leveled
- Itemized material list — bid-ready, they just approve
- Compliance packet kept current, shown to every builder
- $0 to join, no exclusivity, direct contract with the builder
Versus
- Lead platforms: pay per lead, win or lose, shared with competitors
- Salesperson: paid whether jobs close or not
- Cold-calling builders: unpaid time off the tools
- $250 only on a signed contract, ~0.5–2% of the job
Why they pay
- Honor system, two levers
- Dodge the fee → out of the packs
- Dodge the fee → back to doing your own takeoffs at night
- Baked into the quote they approve. Never a markup, never a %
6 · The middleman question
After one job they can go direct. Why am I still worth it?
We sell the pack, not the introduction. The intro happens once. The pack is needed on every new plan.
- Value renews every plan. New quantities, 15-20 new bids, new leveling. Knowing the framer doesn't price the next house — or the other 17 scopes.
- Builder fee is paid before the leak. 50/50, delivered before anyone meets. Going direct can only cost the trade fee — and the model works at zero trade fees (§1).
- The roster is the asset. Rolodexes go stale; ours is maintained — rates, availability, compliance — and every pack has subs they haven't met.
- Aggregation. 1 builder needs 18 trades × 3 bids; 1 trade needs 18 builders. Doing it across many builders is cheaper than any one builder doing it.
- Neutrality. No markup, no steering. Direct "friend prices" drift; leveled bids refreshed every pack don't.
- Repeats priced low on purpose. $400 repeat lot, $250 re-quote — cheaper than an afternoon of calls.
- We are the trade's estimating department. Quoted, leveled, material list ready to go — a sub who leaves goes back to takeoffs at night. We keep the trade.
- Compliance handled both ways. Builders never chase a certificate; trades never assemble a packet. Renews every job.
Be the estimating department for both sides, not a toll booth. No lock-in is the pitch, not the weakness.
Honest risks
Where it can lose
- Spec builders with 3 plans learn the roster in a year → year-2 value is the $400 repeat.
- Trade-fee dodging → keep enforcement credible; get the SC attorney's sign-off before the first paid pack.
- Hours/pack not falling → W-2 model breaks. Rate sheets on file + templated scopes fix it.
- Founder dependency → written scopes + maintained roster let a $35/hr person build the same pack.
Watch
Four numbers
- Hours/pack ≤ 25 by pack 10, trending to 17
- Trade-fee capture ≥ 70% on first packs
- ≥ 3 packs/mo sustained before the first W-2 hire
- Core builder buys ≥ 3 packs/yr — that is the business
The why, in numbers. The site is the how.
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