The newly unveiled Instabid.pro, an artificial intelligence-enhanced pricing model, promises to revolutionize the bidding process for contractors by significantly diminishing the time invested in project estimations. With this innovative tool, contractors can potentially reclaim dozens of hours each week that would otherwise be consumed by traditional bidding practices. Eric G and John Dudley delve into the intricacies of this groundbreaking technology, elucidating its myriad features designed to streamline operations and enhance efficiency. Notably, the system automates the generation of detailed estimates and contracts, enabling contractors to focus on their core competencies rather than the burdensome paperwork that often accompanies project bidding. As we explore the myriad advantages of Instabid.pro, we invite our audience to consider how this transformative solution can facilitate more effective project management and bolster profitability within the construction industry. The dialogue between Eric G and John Dudley regarding the launch of the Instabid.pro AI-enhanced pricing model encapsulates a pivotal moment for contractors seeking to enhance their bidding processes. The episode meticulously outlines how this innovative tool can drastically reduce the time expended on project estimates, thereby granting contractors the opportunity to allocate their resources more effectively. Eric's candid reflections on the challenges of traditional bidding methods highlight a prevalent pain point within the industry—namely, the excessive time and effort required to produce competitive bids. This discussion serves as a clarion call for contractors to embrace new technologies that promise to alleviate such burdens. Moreover, the episode delves into the operational intricacies of the Instabid.pro platform, showcasing its ability to generate precise estimates based on real-time data from suppliers and labor markets. The automation of proposal generation not only expedites the bidding process but also enhances accuracy, enabling contractors to make informed decisions swiftly. Eric and John further emphasize the importance of maintaining a competitive edge in a fluctuating market, where efficiency and responsiveness can significantly influence client engagement and satisfaction. In conclusion, this episode stands as a comprehensive examination of how the Instabid.pro AI-enhanced pricing model not only addresses the immediate concerns of time-consuming bidding processes but also positions contractors for long-term success. By adopting such innovations, professionals within the construction industry can navigate the complexities of their work with greater agility and confidence, ultimately fostering a more productive and profitable business environment.

Takeaways:

• The introduction of the Instabid.pro AI-enhanced pricing model promises to significantly alleviate the time contractors spend on project bidding, potentially saving dozens of hours weekly.
• With its automated features, Instabid.pro allows contractors to generate estimates and contracts with minimal manual input, streamlining the bidding process remarkably.
• The platform is designed to cater to various construction professionals by providing tailored solutions that address common pain points experienced in project estimation.
• By utilizing real-time data for pricing and customizable features, Instabid.pro empowers contractors to remain competitive in fluctuating market conditions and manage their resources more effectively.

Links referenced in this episode:

• aroundthehouseonline.com
• instabid.pro

Mentioned in this episode:

Around the House YouTube

Make sure and Subscribe to our YouTube page!

Check out our BRAND NEW YouTube Channel @AroundtheHouseHQ

Check out our brand new YouTube channel! Head over to YouTube and search @AroundtheHouseHQ and subscribe and ring that bell for updates when the new videos upload.

Foreign.

The House Pro Insider.

This is the podcast for trades pros, carpenters, contractors, interior designers and innovators building homes, renovating spaces or creating the next big thing.

Let's dive in with your host, Eric G. Hey guys, welcome to the around the House Pro Insider.

This is for all you guys out there in the construction world, whether you're designing, framing, plumbing.

This is for you guys.

And we have got a great one today.

We've been off for a little bit because I tell you what, when you have rotator cuff shoulder surgery, it is one of those things that slows you down a little bit.

And being a one armed bandit over here, I had to take some time off from doing that because little slowed down.

But we have got groundbreaking news and working with here John Dudley, co host of the show on his new project that he has been living, shall we say for the last six months to a year.

But he's been really working on it recently, probably the last six months.

And you've been diving and he has come up for air and he has something to share.

Yeah, I think maybe it's been living me more than I've been living the product.

Seriously, I can't.

Yeah, it's, it's, yeah, it's like a plane going down.

You can't pull up.

Yeah, no insta.

It.

Yeah, that's the product.

And it's honestly purely by accident.

Accident.

But after 30 years as a general contractor, you know, you know the pain points.

Right.

And honestly I was just kind of goofing around in AI looking for those pain points and how to serve contractors as a whole.

And obviously estimating came up and for me, I hated it.

Right.

Like I wanted nothing to do with paperwork.

Put a spreadsheet in front of me with now my eyes gloss over.

Dude, if you wanted a paperwork, you'd have gone to school to be an accountant.

Yeah, I just, I.

No, man, I want to hit with a hammer.

I want to build stuff.

I want to look back and wow, cool.

I built that.

Yeah, yeah.

Go make money.

Because it seems it's hard to make money when you're sitting there in front of a computer.

You're just trying to stay on top of stuff.

You're worried about the job that you should be on.

Yeah.

And I knew what each proposal entailed, Right.

And yeah.

And it was a lot for me.

It was.

Our buddy just said this the other day.

He's.

I'm old school.

I sit here with a yellow pad and you know, bids take me anywhere from four to eight hours you know, if you can save me two hours on those, it's worth the 99 bucks a month.

I'm like, dude, how about I save you all eight hours on those?

Let's do that.

Yeah.

I mean, I hated them.

I put them off for a week, and I lost a ton of jobs because of it.

And I knew I was losing those jobs, but I just.

I would procrastinate and not get it done.

And it cost me money.

Cost me probably a lot.

Probably more than I know.

Well, you know, it's so interesting across the country because we have all these, like, little micro economies, like in the Pacific Northwest right now.

For most people, construction is deadly slow.

Hasn't been this slow in 15 or 20 years.

But then you go a state or two away, and all of a sudden it's booming.

Because on the west coast here, we have more people leaving than coming in.

And then you have other states that you're getting into.

Texas, Florida, Idaho.

Let's go down the list.

You know, 10, 15, 30% growth.

Yeah.

And those people can't build stuff fast enough or remodel things fast enough.

Where here, people are just trying to survive.

So it's so interesting because it works both ways.

If you're that guy out there or girl that's out there trying to get a quote, and you're in Portland, Oregon, like I am, you want to get the most out of your time because you're just trying to fill that pipeline full again so you can keep your crews busy.

Yeah.

And on the flip side of that coin, if you're in Texas, Florida, Idaho, wherever else, you need your time out there.

FaceTime on the site with clients, and you're trying to be more efficient so you can squeeze out of your workday more.

It helps for both situations.

Yeah.

And.

Right.

And I think we all end up in that spot, which I did a number of times, depending on where you're at with growth.

Right.

Where, okay, I need 10 guys.

Now I only need two, but I really need 10.

But I should be in the office, But I got 10 guys to watch.

So you just.

It seems like you're always at that crux, especially in construction, because the demand fluctuates so much.

And so to justify being in the office when I've got three kitchen remodels going is pretty difficult to do.

And working smarter and not harder is the thing.

And I learned this with my kitchen, a bath company that I had.

Sometimes bigger isn't better if you can stay the same size and just be incremental.

Growth.

With a good system behind you, you might make more money than if you had twice as many crews that you can't manage by yourself.

There's so much truth in that.

I mean, and those are lessons we only learn the hard way, right?

Those are lessons we learn by scaling too fast or scaling too slow.

Yeah, it's.

Yeah.

More is not always better.

You're like, hey, we did a million bucks this year, but I made 30k less than last year.

And then it almost gets to the point where you're like, I'll just put a tool bag back on myself because this is silly and I hate the paperwork anyway.

So one job at a time.

Knock out a bathroom in a couple of weeks, make six or eight grand, you're pretty happy.

You're pretty happy, exactly.

For a couple of months.

And then you're like, why am I back here with drywall mud all over my face?

Your body hurts, you're looking at vacations, all your friends are going to the Bahamas or wherever.

And you're like, yeah, boy, I hoped I'd go to Costa Rica this year.

And I can't take the time off because I'm a one man show.

Yeah, yeah.

So it's a delicate balance.

So let's get into the nuts and bolts here.

So how does this help people?

How does Insta Bid help the contractor to get from point A to point B?

Well, I mean, it takes that off of your plate, really, if you can.

I mean, even if you're out, right, and somebody says, oh, you're a roofer.

Oh, you do siding, Whatever it is, you can say, hey, just go to our website.

There's a little form there.

You fill out that form, it takes about two minutes.

It's detailed enough to get a pretty, pretty dialed in, quote, pitch of the roof or type of siding or condition.

You can attach photos there of your project that upload directly to the contractor.

Contractor also gets a Google map view of the property so you can look, oh man, we'll never get a, you know, a crane in there or we're gonna have to load my hand.

Yeah, exactly.

So, you know, again, like, I know the pain points.

So I thought of all the details.

Basically, customer goes to your website, fills out a form and within, you know, the two minutes it takes them to fill that form out, everything happens on auto.

You did nothing.

Meanwhile, you're on a job, right, doing what should be custom PDF with all your logo and branding, goes out to their email within seconds, gives them the breakdown, gives them a contract.

There's contract templates in there, gives them a stripe.

Put a deposit payment button right in their email that goes directly to your calendar schedule that's integrated.

They can pick the date they want to start.

So legitimately, you could bid, sell and schedule a job without touching a thing.

And that's pretty crazy in five minutes, right?

And you didn't even know what happened.

You get home and you're like, we got three new bids today and one of them already paid the deposit and it's booked for the 17th and.

Right.

Instabit immediately provides, first of all, that client contact information goes into a little CRM in your back end.

So you've got, if you want to follow up, email with them, any kind of sequences like that.

You can auto all that.

It auto creates a material list that you can either email or print a CSV and ship that directly to your suppliers.

You guys can pick that stuff up on the dock.

You just saved hours of your guys shopping.

Right.

So it's just I created efficiency at every corner I could.

All the pricing in there is, you know, based on 30 day data polls from Home Depot, Lowe's going market rates, the labor rates are based on 800 plus zip codes and regionally split out accordingly with the X multiplier in there.

And then the icing on the cake is you can put in all of that is editable in your back end.

So if you're like, man, I can get shingles for 40 bucks a bundle instead of 46.

Cool.

Change it to 40.

Be more competitive.

And the ability to add fields, you're like, you guys don't have a flashing field in here, which we do.

But you know, whatever.

You're like Tico Nails.

Okay?

Put Tico Nails in there and know that they're 12 bucks a box.

This much?

Yeah.

All right, so Johnny, for the contractor that goes, oh, hell no, I want control of this before we go to contract because I want to be able to get my eyeballs on it.

I will never sell that.

This is still going to be a great tool that will give them a hip shot.

Air quote estimate.

Yep.

That or a project budget, depending on how you want to word it.

That can still get them to the closing point before you get out there.

Yeah.

And that's a thing, Right.

So you just saved a drive out to the property because they thought it was going to be five grand.

In real life, it's 20.

Right, exactly.

You just got that tire kicker out of the way and saved yourself two hours of time writing up a bid that they were Never going to go for anyway or four hours.

I think it's the ultimate pre qualification tool for your client because it absolutely is.

Yeah.

You know, and there's, you know, disclaimer saying, you know, this could fluctuate 15%.

You know, it's not like you.

You're stuck to whenever complex or projects are complex.

We can.

We want to get our eyes on it to make sure we get you the most accurate word however you want to.

You're not going to get caught with your foot in your butt for sure.

Yeah, exactly.

Well, you know, it's interesting too, because when you.

When I think back of my purchasing habits, and this was very specific last year when I was trying to sell my house, I had a few windows that the glass was fogged up in.

And so I called around to glass shops or got on their email list or whatever to get numbers because I knew what the window sizes were, I knew what needed to happen.

I had pictures.

Yeah.

And I went on to six different glass companies.

Two of them called me back, and the two that called me back were so high that I went, oh, my.

Gosh, on drugs come out.

I'm like, I can do Windows for 20% of the price that I can put in new vinyl windows for that.

Awesome.

I'm out.

Yeah.

And I figured it out.

But I also had four companies there that didn't ever even reached out that I was ready to write a check on.

If they would have given me a more competitive number, I'd have gone, sweet, let's do it.

Yeah.

And those are four companies.

If they would have had something like this, they could have.

They would.

Had a much better job of capturing the sale.

I will say this just some quick recon I did via.

Right.

Like what used to be Angie's list.

HomeAdvisor.com legit asked for 20 different quotes.

Right.

I wasn't gonna go crazy.

I'll ask 20 contractors in various areas just to see where we're at.

I got two responses.

And these are on lead sites they're paying money for.

Yeah.

So I got two guys that got back to me.

Right.

Yeah.

And honestly, this tool was meant to be that lead magnet more than it was meant to be this perfect, you know, means guide catalog of pricing.

It was more like, man, if you get them something, at least you've made contact.

And they're a.

You get the tire kickers out of the way that don't have any money and just wanted to get you out there to chat.

The dreamers, as I call them.

Yeah.

And B, you don't have to do anything.

You don't have to get back to me.

The machine already did it for you.

Welcome to the world of AI, right?

Yeah, it's incredible.

And the scope of what goes beyond this and the features we're still adding are ridiculous.

I won't get into it.

One of the big things for me.

And again, back to my pain point.

Because I hated doing estimates, writing out proposals, typing them out, whatever.

I spent three, four or five thousand dollars on, you know, xactimate and all these different programs, I never used America.

I never really used.

Right.

You're like, I don't want to hold them out.

I just saw them get them all get all excited and see a neat color on there.

And I'm like, huh, What?

How, huh?

How does that work?

No, you need a college degree to run half of them.

So this, you know, by design, this is incredibly.

5 Minute setup.

Stupid simple.

So it just goes on the front page of their website for an estimate.

Boom.

Here you go.

Or a budget estimate or a quote, whatever they wanted to say.

You drop a little five code widget.

Yep, little five code widget in there.

You can make it a pop up.

You can put it, you know, just on an estimate page.

Get an instant quote button on the front page.

They hit that, goes to the forms filled out, email goes out, you come home, job's already done.

Right.

At the very least, you got their phone number.

You call them up, hey, I saw that, you know, you requested a quote.

You get a five minute call in with that customer.

They're already waiting for you to call them because you responded with a bid immediately, right?

They're like, yeah, we got the proposal already.

It says here you'll, you know, so when you call up, they're warm, they want to talk, right?

Now the ball, you've already seen a.

Number, went, all right, we're ready to have a conversation.

Yeah.

Now you have the five minute combo and go, Is this realistic?

When you say it's in good shape, is that good, bad shape or.

Right.

Do some clarification.

Now it's worth your hour drive out there to make a $20,000 sale, okay?

But if you save five of those a month and your money's, you know, your hours are worth 100 bucks an hour.

I mean, you pay for this thing five times over in a month.

Oh, dude.

So I, you know, think about paying for it.

Is this like $3,000 a month or what is this stuff?

No, 99 bucks a month, man.

Try it out.

14 Times 14 days free.

Check it out.

If you think it's ridiculous, please tell me.

Tell me what it's missing.

Tell me what you don't like.

Tell me what's difficult or bothersome or.

I mean, I really need the feedback right now.

And so, yeah, these 14 day trials are gold for me.

Doing due diligence and really making sure I'm providing the best product I can.

And again, is if I was trying to get rich, yeah, I could be pitching this thing for 3, 400 bucks a month.

And I'm not about that.

Like, genuinely want to help dudes that hate the same junk that I did.

Right.

Oh, man, I wish I could swear on you.

Sometimes we're only on a podcast.

You can a little bit on this one.

So yeah, I'll keep the cool, but they know what I'm saying.

We don't like doing that stuff, man.

If it sells you numbers, speak and you guys can look this up.

I'm not making this up.

Literally the odds of you getting the job, the first responder, increase by 60 to 70%.

It's a legit number.

I am not.

I couldn't believe it.

I was like, what?

But it's true.

It's like you said with the windows.

You're waiting for a call back.

I'm waiting to sign a check to somebody.

I want to get that thing done by the time I call.

I'm like, let's go.

I made a decision and I was that guy.

I wouldn't have called you back for a week.

I'm like, ah.

You know, it's either a looky little or I don't know, I don't know, projects.

I'm not gonna waste my time.

You know what I mean?

It cost myself money.

And this does it all for you.

You know, for 99 bucks a month, you spend that on Starbucks.

I mean, come on.

It's.

If you happen to land for the buddy one $10,000 job a year, it paid for itself 10 times, let alone.

The contractors out there.

By 10 times.

I mean, that pay for 10 years.

Yeah.

All of a sudden you look like you got the aame on and, you know, it's one of those things because so many people out there have the 99, you know, the $99.

1999, Just little tiny square box website that nobody has ever seen for since the MySpace days.

Yeah.

And now you're moving right into the next product that I've been working on developing, which has been even more of a hair terror than Instabid.

But it's A combination of actually giving away to the.

For a while.

I'm legit sending out demo sites like, hey, your website could look like this.

Demo sites with their info, some of their photos, if they're good in baked into this fully created, ready to launch website with Instabid already embedded in it.

I'll swap out your site tomorrow, put this thing live.

If you buy your subscription, you get a free.

I saw the exact same thing.

These guys are selling for 5 to 7k the other day and I used to sell those.

You can't sell a website for 5 to 7k anymore.

No, I'm literally printing these things out like it's not.

I'm not giving you $5,000, but I'm giving you a new website that's responsive, that people can use and literally be in their car and get an instant estimate from you.

If that doesn't increase sales and revenue and make your life a little bit easier or a lot easier for 99 bucks a month, I don't know what will.

Man, that is so true.

And you know, it's funny.

I was on another website the other day.

I'm not going to mention the contractor.

It's not my.

We don't hammer on contractors and people out there.

I was like, whoa, when's the last time you touched this?

Built on Netscape Navigator.

Exactly.

I was like, oh, man.

Okay, old school.

Well, give him my number.

I'll get him a new one.

I know.

I didn't.

I don't know who they were.

I just kind of looked.

I was looking through it.

I'm like, how old it.

Oh, wow.

Give me a th000 bucks you get in Subid for a year and a free new website.

You can't beat that.

I dare you.

I dare you to beat that.

I'll go lows on you and say we'll match the price.

Go ahead.

Absolutely.

Dude, it is so awesome.

So how do people find out more about this, brother?

Because this is a game changer for so many people out there.

Yeah, I mean we actually have a page on the.

Around the house.

Aroundthehouse online.com.

We've got a landing page there for you to check out if you happen to already be on our site there.

And then instabid Pro.

Insta bid dot Pro.

Because there's a few instabids out there and I was just trying to move quick so I said, yep, instabid it is.

And I really didn't care about the name and.

But yeah, for now, Instabid Pro, fellas.

Go check it out.

And yeah, man, buy a year, get a free website.

Not a bad deal.

Ah, that is so good for so many people out there that are trying to struggle how to fix theirs.

Maybe they've had six different people on it or they jumped on and got some company to start it and now they're trying to get in the back end to figure out how to change it around.

And it's so outdated and it's the word.

Well, you know, the struggles.

Right.

I mean, I had to bug you for years.

I'm like, dude, just let me fix this stinking website.

I had the GoDaddy thing as about as pushed as hard as I could and still what I wanted to do, Mr.

I'm going to do it all myself.

I'm like, dude, you're just.

You're giving away your time.

What are you doing?

I know, right?

It changed everything of how we operate by getting that updated.

I mean, it's so different.

And the traffic shows.

The traffic really shows what happens when you're doing yourself versus having something that's professionally built that I can look through and find things that you want them to find.

All of those things out there.

It makes a big difference these days.

So you bring this up, right?

And I know actually listening to myself talk, feel like I'm making stuff up because it's so ridiculous what I'm giving out.

But these new websites, fresh new websites.

I'm already via AI, of course.

Yeah.

Already loaded with your business's schemas and tags and canonicals and SEO ready like you will immediately in the first 60 days, see traffic increase, searchability increase.

Get your Google business set up.

Right.

Yep.

Yeah.

The scheme is already baked in there.

It's ridiculous.

It's.

Yeah.

So quick and easy, but so basic, but so integral into a good business plan.

And again, just like estimates used to haunt me at night.

It's the same pain point for websites, Right.

Every Sunday night, you're like, oh man, someday I got to make the website better.

I do it on my own website.

Yeah, I know.

It's the cobbler's shoes, man.

I don't.

You know, it is.

I know it needs it.

So important.

Yeah, yeah.

We used to be.

So we got to be in the top four pages on Google now.

It's.

Well, yeah, but you also need to be able to be found on AI so people can.

When they do their research on who's the best contractor in your area, you show up there too, because that's Just as important.

Yep.

So, yeah, again, like, all that stuff gets included in the.

In the new site.

We'll give you that's five pages.

You got 20 pages on your website.

Obviously we're talking a different price, but.

Sure.

But basic 5 page website with Instabit already embedded and ready to rock.

Pretty good deal, man.

It is.

Johnny, thanks for taking the time today, brother.

I appreciate it.

It is so fun to talk about this.

We've been floating it around, of course, over the last six months.

So, hey, we're working on this, but it's live now.

Finally nailing it down.

Instabid Pro or find the landing page on aroundthehouse online.com and reach out, man, please.

Any kind of feedback is super helpful at this point.

Still in, you know, early adopter stages, so call me up and tell me it's a piece of garbage.

Call me up and tell me can't find a thing.

Any of that is helpful.

And I was a contractor for three years, so you don't got to be nice.

And if you're a big company out there that wants to put this nationwide, Johnny can help you with that too.

And there's a program for that as well.

Scaling it up.

You got it, Eric.

Thanks so much, dude.

I appreciate you taking the time for us to get this done, man.

It's awesome.

Absolutely.

All right, guys, take a look.

Instabid Pro.

I'm Eric Chi, and you've been listening to the around the House Pro Insider.

Thanks for tuning in to the around the House Pro Insider.

We are happy to be back.

Make sure you subscribe so you know to catch the next episode.

We will see you next time,.

Man.

I need to focus now.

What is that?