Company

Maddy Ellithorpe is Construction Coordinator at TBP Homes of Raleigh, a custom home builder, where she manages preconstruction from selection to estimating. Established by Luke Costanza in 2018 in Raleigh, North Carolina, TBP constructs, renovates, and manages properties to be built to the highest industry standards in the Triangle area. 

Although Maddy began working at TBP less than a year ago and had no prior construction experience, she quickly rose to the challenge, taking on more responsibilities. Maddy now handles preconstruction, permitting, and all early tasks—such as cost estimates—that are essential to the successful start of a construction job: “When I do my job well, I ensure that each project goes off without a hitch and gets going as efficiently as possible.” 

Things are “going” so well the company is expanding into multi-family homes: “We're growing immensely in today's market. We've gone from building 10 homes a year to 20. Now we're hoping to do 40 or more next year. The team is also growing to try to keep up with the demand. We’re really excited about the future.” 

Founded on extensive construction knowledge and an appreciation for Raleigh, TBP has two simple goals: to provide every family a quality-built home to build their memories and to get better at what they do with each build—to always keep learning. According to Maddy, TBP is most proud of the fact that they’ve been able to “accomplish so much in so little time.”

Challenge

Prior to 1build, TBP used construction management software for scheduling, estimates, specs, and selection. They would send out bids through this program to their subcontractors.

“Our construction management software has a section on bidding in each project calendar. In the bid section, we would add each line item and the subcontractor we would use, so they would know sizing and the plans. That was incredibly time-consuming and even worse—no one would get back to us. We'd wait for weeks for replies that wouldn't come and would end up wasting precious time.”

Maddy Ellithorpe, TBP Homes of Raleigh

When Maddy quickly found that subcontractors weren't getting back to her and that the estimates they did provide were inaccurate, she began looking for construction estimating products like 1build: “Before 1build, preconstruction was slow, and we were wasting valuable time waiting for subs to respond. The estimates we did get were completely inaccurate or incomplete.”

Maddy realized that she needed to find a better way to develop estimates and began looking for a solution. 

Solution

Maddy came across 1build when the president of her company sent her the names of a few cost estimating services to solve the ongoing cost estimate issues they were having. Within hours, Maddy was able to connect with 1build:

“After I spoke with 1build and they showed me the platform, I really loved how easy the service was to use. I was also impressed by the professional look of the software, which was much higher quality than some of the other solutions/tools we assessed.”

Maddy Ellithorpe, TBP Homes of Raleigh

After Maddy’s initial call, she was up and running on the platform the next day. Once her initial walkthrough and a formal training session were completed, she was able to create her first estimate quickly:

“It took only a couple of days to get our first estimate developed, so we cut our estimate time down from weeks to just days.” 

Maddy Ellithorpe, TBP Homes of Raleigh

Maddy was not only impressed by how easy the platform was to use and how quickly she developed her first estimate, she was also impressed by how helpful 1build’s estimators were:

“When I experienced an issue and reached out to my 1build estimator, he responded quickly, diagnosed the problem, and then fixed it fast. What was even more remarkable was the fact that he continued to touch base with me even after the problem was fixed!”

Maddy Ellithorpe, TBP Homes of Raleigh

Results

Maddy was amazed by the results TBP was able to achieve using 1build. After using 1build, the company was able to cut down the time it took to develop an estimate from weeks to days.

What’s more, TBP was also able to develop estimates that were more accurate than those submitted by veteran subcontractors, saving them money: “1build definitely filled that gap we needed for more accurate estimating.”

With 1build’s help, Maddy believes TBP will be ready to expand their business into new areas like multi-family homes. In fact, now that 1build is TBP’s estimating partner, the company is ready to take on new challenges and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend 1build to residential builders who need to grow their business:

“1build is really easy to use. I love how you can take off directly from the plans and how helpful the assemblies are because they include every little detail you need. In fact, the whole staff is super friendly—very helpful and knowledgeable.” 

Maddy Ellithorpe, TBP Homes of Raleigh

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