Beyond the Bid | Practical AI for Builders
The GC Who Built His Own Software So His Crew Can Clock Out at 4:30
Find where your business is leaking time and margin in 7 minutes, before your competitors do: https://www.gofirstconsulting.comThomas Kurtz has been in the trades since he was 12 and would still rather bang nails than sit at a computer. So when his apps "kind of worked but didn't really work," he didn't buy another one. He built his own with Claude, one friction point at a time, and now runs Vici Construction without a full-time person in the back office.Most $3M builders try to fix admin overload with another hire or another subscription. Tom went after the place where bad data starts: anything that depends on a person typing the right thing in.His crew clocks in with one button because the job is already on their schedule. His vendors answer a normal email and the reply lands in his system, with no portal and no login. When he quotes an assembly, it becomes the material list, the purchase order and the field's cut list in one step.None of it worked because of the software alone. It worked because Tom wrote his process down first, fixed the data entry before anything else, and kept building in small pieces he could test and break. If you've been waiting for the right app to fix your week, this is the conversation to watch.A 25-year tradesman shows how he coded his crew out of the 60-hour week.OTHER THOMAS KURTZ RESOURCES Connect with Tom on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-kurtz-08658b31Reach Tom at Vici Construction: tom@viciconstruction.com [confirm Tom is OK listing this publicly]The cost data Tom benchmarks against: Craftsman Book Company, https://www.craftsman-book.com [VERIFY] Get in Touch with Beyond the BidInstagram: @beyondthebidLinkedIn: [Beyond the Bid LinkedIn URL]Website: https://beyondthebid.coEmail: [Beyond the Bid email]⏱️ Timestamps [00:00] The builder who wanted his crew home by 3:30 [00:34] Why a steady 40-hour week is the whole point [01:53] Using Claude as a board of advisors, then as a coder [07:37] How vendors answer RFIs without ever logging in [09:30] One assembly becomes the material list, PO and cut list [19:42] The screenshot trick that stops AI from guessing [20:48] Running the whole business out of one in-house system [28:49] Onboarding a new hire with one button [31:36] Where to start if you're on Buildertrend today [33:56] Fix the data entry first: the rule behind every build [37:04] Why job-site photos save you from poking holes in drywall [40:25] Stop pricing framing by the square foot [41:45] Tom's advice: just try it, and go break itThis content is for educational purposes only and is not legal, tax or financial advice. © 2026 GO First Consulting. All rights reserved. Like it if this made you rethink your back office. Comment with the one friction point you'd fix first. Subscribe for a new systems breakdown every week. Share it with a builder who's still running 60-hour weeks.
