Let’s get this out of the way:
Yes, I built custom software for my company.
Yes, I ditched Buildertrend.
Yes, I’m still building a business that doesn’t require me to hover over it every day.
And yes, I’m still on a mission to split time between Canada, the U.S., and Spain because… well, have you seen what’s happening here?
But let’s rewind a bit.
AI, Custom Software, and Owning the System
Roughly a year ago, I decided to build our own project management system. Not because I wanted to—but because I had to. Buildertrend wasn’t cutting it. It’s built for the average contractor, and we’re not average. We operate in the fringe. That’s where we shine.
So I leaned on something powerful: AI.
ChatGPT and Claude became my coding buddies. I’m a hack developer, but I know enough to be dangerous—especially when it comes to databases. So I got to work.
- Built a custom time clock system
- Built purchase order automation
- Migrated our operations onto our own platform
Now we own the data. We control the interface. And we can build exactly what we need—without waiting for some SaaS roadmap to maybe someday care about our use case.
Business Process First. Software Second.
This is a hill I will die on:
You don’t build your business around software.
You build your software around your business.
Most small businesses do this backwards. They contort themselves to fit a tool—and then wonder why they can't scale, adapt, or innovate. Meanwhile, the tool changes, and the business is stuck in old habits that no longer serve them.
But in 2025, there’s no excuse. The cost to build custom front-ends on your own data has plummeted. AI has made it accessible.
What used to cost $500,000 now costs… a late night, some decent prompts, and maybe $50 in cloud credits.
The People Piece
This all ties back to something deeper: value creation.
I don’t just want to build software. I want to build people. And that requires asking:
What is this person really good at?
How can we design the job around them—not the other way around?
Case in point:
- One of our site supervisors was running a small labor company. Instead of competing, we invited him in, gave him capital, structure, safety, and support—and helped him build a business within our business.
- We’re onboarding a local accountant who’s currently a student. Can’t get hired. Overqualified. So we said: come work part-time, learn our system, and let us help you build your own bookkeeping business. We’ll be your first client.
These aren’t hires. These are investments.
This is what creating value looks like in the real world.
Why This Matters More Than Ever
I’m not doing this just to feel good. I’m doing this because:
- Offshore solutions don’t scale with us anymore.
- Canada’s economy is sliding into government bloat and declining productivity.
- Great people are hard to find—and harder to retain.
That’s why we’re switching to local, in-person help for finance. Not because it’s cheaper. It’s not. But because it works. Because the ability to train, collaborate, and build trust in the room is worth more than whatever exchange rate savings we were getting.
We’ll still use our overseas team for proposal follow-ups and pre-bid tasks. That model works for admin. But for operations and leadership? We’re going local.
Final Thought: What Is Business, Really?
I used to think business was just:
- Revenue in
- Expenses out
- Profit if you’re lucky
Now I think business is:
- People in
- Systems around them
- Unlock value if you’re intentional
My job now is to make myself irrelevant. And then try it again, in a new market, under a new flag.
Watch on YouTube