For home plan companies
Help your customers say yes to the plan — with a real cost-to-build number
StartBuild powers cost-to-build reports for 20+ house plan publishers. Your customer gets a 60+ line-item construction estimate for your plan in their ZIP code — and you get the lead the moment they order.
One customer. One plan. One ZIP code.
We don’t sell house plans, and we never steer your customer toward anyone else’s. When a customer prices your plan, the entire experience stays about your plan: the order flow, the report, and every follow-up name only one publisher — you. Customers comparison-shop across the internet whether anyone likes it or not. StartBuild is the only place where that research still sends you the lead.
How the partnership works
- Your plan pages get a cost-to-build button. Our team handles the integration with yours. Customers click it right where their biggest question lives: “what would this plan cost to build?”
- Your customer orders a report — $32.95. A 60+ line-item estimate for your plan and their build ZIP code: foundation, framing, roofing, electrical, plumbing, HVAC, finishes, contractor fees. Prepared by a real estimator, conservative and accurate to within about 10%. Local cost data updated 10–12 times a year, all 50 states.
- You get the lead at the time of sale. The moment the order completes, your team receives the customer and order details by API and by email — who is evaluating which of your plans, and where they want to build. Not a week later. Not in a batch. At the sale.
- The report works for you. Each report for your plan is shared back with you, so your sales team can answer questions, quote modifications, and close the plan sale with the customer’s own numbers on the table. A monthly reconciliation summary keeps your records straight.
Why a cost number sells house plans
Cost is the unknown that stalls plan purchases. A customer who loves your plan but can’t gauge the build cost hesitates, drifts, and shops. A customer holding a credible line-item estimate for your plan in their ZIP code has a budget, a banker-ready document, and a reason to come back to you. We’ve prepared over 90,000 reports since 2006 — the report doesn’t compete with the plan sale; it completes it.
Built and supported by a real team
StartBuild has run its costing platform for over 20 years — a blended national, regional, state, and ZIP-level database plus actual builder costs, refreshed 10–12 times a year. Integration is handled engineer-to-engineer with our CTO’s team, and our estimators and support staff handle your customers’ report questions, so your team can stay focused on selling plans.
Partners we power
20+ house plan partners. For more than 20 years, StartBuild has helped our partners give their customers confident, informed cost-to-build decisions.
Common questions
- Does StartBuild sell house plans?
- No. We sell cost-to-build reports. Plans are your business; the number is ours.
- Will my customers see other publishers?
- No. The order flow, report, and emails for your plan name only you. Partners are named only in our privacy disclosures — never in a customer’s purchase journey.
- What exactly do we receive?
- At time of sale: customer and order details plus the report, by API and email. Monthly: a reconciliation summary with order date, order number, plan number, and customer ID.
- How is customer data handled?
- Transparently — customers see a disclosure at checkout naming your company before they buy, and our privacy policy spells out the sharing. Clean data practices protect your brand as much as ours.