Triangle Company Helps Construction Industry Rebuild Itself Through E-Business

BuildNet provides the software for managing new construction, and the company could be the Triangle's next big success story.

Building a home is a complicated and time-consuming business. BuildNet can make it more efficient and tap into the $240 billion worth of residential construction.

"There's 40,000 components in a house," explains BuildNet chairman Keith Brown. BuildNet "helps you determine those components, and where they go out and what goes out at a particular time to the job site."

The company is piecing together a community of builders, manufacturers and distributors which will share information inside a seamless electronic transfer system.

In the Triangle,Goldston's Building Supplyworks with BuildNet. Simplifying the supply chain and eliminating mistakes can take up to 35 percent out of the cost of building.

"That's more costly than actually shipping materials to the job site at times," says Goldston's Scott Warren. "So if we can eliminate mistakes, it saves us money [and] makes better profits."

Brown says the residential building industry is the first to work together, rebuilding itself using e-business.

"Everybody will have opportunities to have more of what they want," Brown says. "[BuildNet adds] more efficiency within the process. Right now, it's very inefficient."

BuildNet has no competition and is aggressively adding to its staff of 300 in the Triangle. The national business-to-business initiative rolls out this year, now with a lot of money behind it.

Southeast Interactive Technology Fund helped get BuildNet off the ground and committed to this latest round of funding. Brown says there is no plan to take the company public at this time.