Rent it, build it yourself, or own it.
AI made code cheap, so builders now have three ways to get software. What each one gets you, what it costs you, and what you should actually be paying for.
Two years ago a builder had one real way to get software. You picked a vendor, signed up, and paid every month for as long as you ran the firm.
AI changed that. Writing code is now cheap. A superintendent with a free weekend can type a description into an AI app builder and have a working schedule tracker by Sunday night. Builders have noticed, and the question we hear on fit visits has changed. It used to be “which software should I buy.” Now it is “should I buy software at all.”
There are three honest answers. Here is what each one gets you.
Option one: rent it
This is the construction PM subscription, the CRM, the agency that hosts your site. It works the day you sign up, and someone else fixes it when it breaks.
What you get: a finished product, integrated inside its own walls. Its scheduling talks to its own change orders.
What you give up: everything outside those walls, which is most of the firm. The website, the leads, the ads and usually the books live in other rented systems. You pay per seat, so every hire costs you twice. And it is never yours. When the vendor is sold, reprices or shuts a product down, you migrate on their schedule. CoConstruct customers are living through that right now.
Option two: build it yourself
This is the AI app builder route. You describe a tool, the AI writes it, and you have something custom to your firm for a small monthly fee.
What you get: a tool shaped exactly to how you work, fast and cheap. For a single job, like a punch list or a selections sheet, this can be the right call.
What you give up: three things builders find out a few months in.
- You are still the one building it. Every change, every bug, every “can it also do this” is your evening. You run a construction firm, not a software shop.
- Nothing is connected. The tracker you built does not know about the CRM, the books or the website. You have added a seventh system to the six you already had.
- It lives on someone else’s platform. Most of these tools host what you build on their own servers. It feels like you own it. Check what happens when you stop paying.
Option three: own it
Owning means three things together. The system is built for your firm. It is integrated end to end, from the website form to the books. And it runs on accounts in your name: your domain, your hosting, your database, your ad accounts.
There is a fourth thing people leave out. Owners still need help. Owning a house does not mean you frame your own additions. When a draw does not reconcile or a new super needs access at 6am, somebody has to pick up the phone.
What you get: one system across the whole firm, shaped to how you already work, that keeps running if you walk away from whoever built it.
What you give up: the lowest sticker price. A rented PM tool can be cheaper per month than an owned system with a team behind it. Compare it to the six bills it replaces, not to one of them.
If code is cheap, what are you paying for?
Fair question, and we ask it about ourselves. If AI keeps making software cheaper, the price of plain software should fall. We think it will.
What does not get cheaper is the part around the code. Moving ten years of books over without losing a cent. Making a change order on site land in the ledger the same minute. Knowing the lien waiver and retainage rules in the state you build in. Being there the morning something breaks. That is integration and a team, and it is what you should be paying for.
So when you price any option, separate the two. How much is the software, and how much is the people who make it work in your firm? If the answer is “no people,” you are the people.
Where Yglu sits
Yglu is option three. We build one system for the firm, on its own accounts, from the website and CRM through construction and accounting, plus the firm’s own iOS app for the crew. Then we stay on to run and improve it. Month to month, so we stay because it keeps getting better, not because you are stuck.
The ownership page has the full checklist. If you are weighing a DIY build right now, we are happy to look at it with you on a fit visit. Sometimes it is the right answer for one job.
Written by Kol Dorney, founder of Yglu. Field Notes drops when there is something worth putting on the record, not on a publishing schedule.