1build Announces $19.5M in Funding to Create the Industry's First Real Time Data Platform for Construction Cost Estimating

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 22, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- 1build, the only real-time data platform for building construction estimating, today announced that it recently raised a total of $19.5M in funding, including the closing of a $14M Series A led by Greycroft Capital. As Covid-19 continues to make the cost of construction and housing materials like lumber more volatile than ever, 1build's technology delivers the latest and most accurate pricing data from every county in the country - creating the de facto cost estimation tool for contractors and home builders. The company also previously raised a $5.5M seed round led by Initialized Capital.

"1build is operating at a core leverage point in the construction space, driving materials cost transparency on a localized basis and enabling regional commodity economies to improve market efficiency," said Brentt Baltimore at Greycroft. "By revolutionizing access to real-time materials data for everyone from smaller contractors to large commercial builders, 1build's platform is bringing stability to a market that directly impacts which materials manufacturers should orient their supply chains around, where landlords may purchase their next asset, how much consumers ultimately pay for this housing, and much more."

Construction estimating has long been poised for disruption, as most construction companies rely on an antiquated, printed directory of building costs that has hampered materials cost estimation since WWII. Even today's software-based tools don't offer real-time insights into pricing. Yet construction materials and costs change on an increasingly frequent basis, and not just during the pandemic. Building cost estimates based on old data can create major budget errors for home builders and contractors, sometimes to the tune of millions of dollars. Leveraging a unique team of software engineers and data scientists alongside construction industry veterans, 1build has developed a proprietary API to codify construction SKUs from more than 3,000 counties across the US - bringing thousands of construction materials under a single data standard. The company introduced a subscription model powered by their data bank in 2020 which has seen 10x growth in the last year.

"The current methods for construction cost estimating still rely on printed cost books with national averages. Given that lumber prices have skyrocketed more than 3x and then crashed within the last 9 months, it's clear that the industry is ripe for a real-time approach to cost estimating. We've been working on this exact problem over the past 2 years and have developed a data platform that lets builders put together their bids as easily as assembling a set of LEGOs but with real-world construction materials," said Dmitry Alexin, Founder and CEO of 1build. "We are hoping that this enables construction companies to take control over their costs and to win more bids with confidence."

1build's cloud-based API platform pulls from millions of data points to create a "periodic table" of construction elements, using data to standardize the way construction projects are priced. By providing immediate access to real-time data, 1build offers an accurate estimate of material and labor costs across the country for residential and commercial building projects. From there, builders use the platform to convert blueprints into digital shopping lists, as they add line item by line item, with costs adjusted instantaneously , to help them win construction bids. The platform gives owners of construction companies hours of their day back which used to be spent researching materials costs and putting together estimates in Excel. This enables them to bid on more projects with higher accuracy while giving builders the access to the most affordable, highest quality, environmentally friendly materials. This groundbreaking technology creates new opportunities to accelerate construction and reduce the cost of living nationwide. 

"1build took me from where I was stuck and put me in a whole 'nother place. It took what I couldn't do and made it possible," said Terry with Northpoint Drywall who landed more than $6M in contracts thanks to 1build.

1build helps construction companies win more bids and dramatically reduce the time spent on cost estimating. It's the ideal solution for builders who want to stop relying on outdated cost books and archaic estimating software to stay competitive in today's volatile market. To learn more about 1build and to request a demo, please visit https://www.1build.com/.

About 1build 
1build offers the only real-time data platform for construction cost estimates, bringing pricing accuracy and predictability to an ever-changing market. Leveraging a unique team of software engineers and data scientists alongside construction industry veterans, 1build's proprietary API pulls from millions of data points to create a "periodic table" of construction elements, using data to standardize the way construction projects are priced. With 1build, builders can manage the entire pre-construction process, from plan upload to bid submission ? enabling them to win more bids with best-in-class estimating technology and on-demand support from expert cost estimators. 

Media Contact: Kyle Celeste, [email protected]

SOURCE 1Build