By Riley Kaminer
80% over budget. 20 months behind schedule. That’s the reality that project managers in the construction industry face. (Imagine if tech development were like that – there would be an uproar!)
What’s causing this inefficiency? More often than not, it comes down to supply chain and material management issues.
Miami-based DigiBuild can help. The YC-backed has developed a digital platform enabling construction project stakeholders to find, order, track, and manage materials. The idea is that capturing all the data in a centralized dashboard will ultimately save builders time and money while also reducing scheduling delays.
DigiBuild’s platform is unique in that it is free for suppliers to join. That has enabled DigiBuild to ramp up to over 50,000 suppliers in its database and hundreds of thousands of available building materials and supply chain items. In total, DigiBuild has managed $5B in material volume on our projects.
The platform follows a SaaS model whereby construction companies pay a monthly fee to use the platform. Beyond that, DigiBuild also receives a small percentage of profit from goods sold by suppliers on the platform.
“We always get better pricing for our customers,” co-founder and CEO Robert Salvador told Refresh Miami, since suppliers offer more competitive rates because of the scale of DigiBuild’s platform. For customers, Salvador explained, it’s a no-brainer to spend a percentage point of two when the savings can range anywhere from five to 15 percent.
DigiBuild has now raised upwards of $5 million and plans to become profitable by the end of the year. “That puts us in a good position for the future,” said Salvador, hinting at the possibility of a Series A soon.
These funds, in part, have gone towards building out the artificial intelligence features on DigiBuild’s platform. This includes a tool that enables users to simply chat with the platform through an LLM to get status updates on-the-go. DigiBuild also has predictive scheduling tools as part of its suite of features that ultimately enable builders to reduce their material management time in half.
Geographic expansion is top of mind for Salvador and team. “We continue to be the market leader in the US Southwest and Northeast.”
Now, Digibuild is expanding further throughout the U.S. Southeast and even to Saudi Arabia, having been introduced to some key players there through an investor. “They’re really driving tech from the top down there,” noted Salvador, expressing excitement about the extent to which tech – including from startups – is infused into building projects. He also shared that the scale of construction happening there is almost difficult to fully understand, with billion dollar projects already in the pipeline.
Salvador, who moved to Miami from his native Chicago during Covid, has also started to advise Governor DeSantis on his tech policy. The two first connected during DeSantis’s bid for Republican presidential nominee but have since kept in touch, advising on AI, crypto, and more. Since then, Salvador has also been tapped for a similar role from Governor Brian Kemp of Georgia.
“It’s good for DigiBuild as well,” Salvador said of his new political hobby, because it enables him to network with high profile construction executives who may be able to help push DigiBuild forward.
READ MORE IN REFRESH MIAMI:
- DigiBuild raises $1.3M seed extension, inks partnership deals with major construction companies
- SmartBarrel’s AI-powered time-tracking solution makes construction sites more efficient and compliant
- Industry-backed Suffolk Technologies is unlocking VC dollars to usher in the next era of construction tech
- Patrick Murphy on Togal.AI’s 940% growth in 2023
