Bolster GTM brain

category

market profile

• text: Residential contractors need to turn estimates into client-ready proposals and then manage the resulting jobs.
• text: Construction estimating vendors compete on cost databases, takeoff, proposals and broader job management.

personas

• title: Owner of a remodeling company
  pains:

  • Losing evenings building estimates and reworking quotes
  • Losing upsell opportunities when homeowners cannot easily compare options
• title: General contractor or custom home builder
  pains:

  • Coordinating bids, budgets, schedules and change orders across multiple projects
  • Keeping homeowners informed as scope and selections change
• title: Estimator at a specialist trade contractor
  pains:

  • Manually measuring and pricing large numbers of line items
  • Rebuilding presentations after a customer changes materials

icp

• text: Small residential remodeling, home building and general contracting firms that repeatedly quote project work.
• text: Trade contractors in roofing, decking, fencing, landscaping or flooring who sell options directly to homeowners.

message pillars

• text: Make estimates faster with digital takeoff and cost data.
• text: Turn proposals into interactive buying experiences with upgrades.
• text: Keep project changes from eating margin.

objections

• objection: Our spreadsheets and old estimates already work.
  response: Compare the time to prepare and revise one real estimate and presentation using Bolster.
• objection: The monthly cost is steep for a small crew.
  response: Quantify the time saved per bid and the effect of even one additional profitable project; review the Core plan first.
• objection: A database price may not match my local subcontractor costs.
  response: Validate a sample of local labor and material costs and adjust the estimate before sending it.

competitors

• name: Buildxact
  why: Residential estimating and takeoff platform.
• name: Buildertrend
  why: Construction management and sales software for home builders.
• name: Contractor Foreman
  why: Combines estimates with scheduling and project management for contractors.

influencers

• name: Mike Bignold
  url: https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/bolster
  why: Founder with firsthand contracting experience.

keywords

• residential construction estimating software
• remodeling estimate software
• contractor proposal software
• construction takeoff pricing
• home builder project management
• construction change order software

voice

• Contractor-centered
• Commercial and outcome-driven
• Plainspoken

signals

• text: A remodeler is quoting more jobs than its owner can estimate quickly.
• text: A residential builder wants to standardize customer selections and change orders as it grows.

pricing

motion

channels

• SEO
• LinkedIn
• customer case studies
• referrals
• sales demos

confidence

Founders

• name: Mike Bignold
  title: Founder
  role: Founder
  bio: Mike Bignold is the founder and CEO of CostCertified. He conceived and built CostCertified while running his previous contracting contracting company, with the aim of transforming the construction industry. He dived full-time into CostCertified in 2017, it came out of beta in late 2020, and in 2021 it is expected to have over $200m of construction projects sold through the platform. Born and raised in Canmore, Alberta, he also has a BMgt from University of British Columbia (Okanagan).