Full transcript: Danny Assabgy — BuildBuddy: how a traditional builder created a platform to help homeowners bypass the builder's margin
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Kylie Davis: Welcome to the Proptech Podcast. It's Kylie Davis here, and I'm delighted to be your host as we explore the brave new world where technology, real estate, property ownership, design, and construction all collide. It's so great to have you here and to share stories with you of innovation, opportunity, and challenges. The aim of each episode is to introduce listeners to a proptech innovator who is pushing the boundaries of what's possible across how we design, build, buy, sell, rent, and invest in property, and all of the associated behaviors and activities around that, and there's a lot. Now, none of this would be possible without our sponsors, so a very big shout-out to HID Digital Identification and Building Access Solutions, ezipay, making collecting payments easy for proptechs, Dynamic Methods, the innovators behind Forms Live, REI Forms Live, and Realworks, Direct Connect, making moving easy, and the Proptech Association of Australia. Thank you for your support of the podcast. In this episode, I have a fantastic conversation with Danny Assabgy, the founder of BuildBuddy and the CEO of the major home building company Hudson Homes. Danny shares the revolutionary story behind BuildBuddy, a platform he founded to disrupt his own industry after a customer challenged him to admit that an owner could do a better job building their house than Hudson Homes could. He realized the core value a builder provides is a structured workflow, a curated trade and supply network, and expert oversight. So BuildBuddy distills these core elements into an intelligent all-in-one platform that allows homeowners, even those with no prior experience, to design and build their homes. And this collaborative construction model cuts through the builder's margin, rewarding customers with savings of 20% or more, while giving them complete control and transparency over the process. The platform's secret weapon is the Construction Buddy, a licensed building professional who reports directly to the homeowner, providing expert guidance every step of the way. We also discuss the challenges and nuances of the construction industry, where the builder often gets an unfair wrap for the mistakes of tradespeople. And Danny explains how BuildBuddy addresses this by implementing a transparent customer-driven review system for trades and suppliers, and this aims to elevate the quality of customer service across the industry. He shares his ambitious vision for BuildBuddy to become the single largest home building entity in Australia within five years, and how they're leveraging AI to automate complex processes like generating accurate price guides. Danny Assabgy, welcome to the Proptech Podcast.
Danny Assabgy: Thank you for having me, Kylie.
Kylie Davis: Uh, look, I'm really looking forward to this conversation because we've had a few chats over the last year or so in, in bits and pieces, grabbed in bits and pieces, but I am dying to hear the full story about BuildBuddy because I think it's such a, such a good one.
Danny Assabgy: Thank you.
Kylie Davis: But before we kick off, um-
Danny Assabgy: Yes
Kylie Davis: ... the hardest question is always the first one. So what is the BuildBuddy elevator pitch?
Danny Assabgy: Ah, elevator pitch, okay. So, well, imagine this, the customer now in complete control of their entire home building journey. Now, that sounds crazy when I just say it like that, but that's what BuildBuddy is. It's a intelligent platform that empowers you to both design and build your own home without ever having to engage a traditional home builder, and rewards you with savings of as much as, um, 20% or even more of the cost of building your home. And then, then that's significant.
Kylie Davis: Wow, okay. Now, that sounds excellent elevator pitch. I think we're only up to level three or four-... so good work. Um, so that sounds pretty revolutionary though because your background is, if I am not incorrect, is you are a builder. Are you not? Tell us-
Danny Assabgy: Isn't that ironic?
Kylie Davis: ... the background of that.
Danny Assabgy: Yeah. I kind of feel like-
Kylie Davis: Why is a builder, yeah, why is a builder d- disrupting building?
Danny Assabgy: It's, it's crazy. I, I, I kind of feel like the, uh, the owner of the Yellow Taxi car company going out and starting Uber.
Kylie Davis: So tell us how, tell us the story behind that.
Danny Assabgy: Um, how we started?
Kylie Davis: Yeah. Why did, why, why did... Yeah, so tell me a little bit about your background, and why have you created BuildBuddy?
Danny Assabgy: Okay. So my background ac- is actually not in construction. So I studied accounting and law at university-
Kylie Davis: Ah
Danny Assabgy: ... and I was running a financial planning company, uh, before, uh, getting into home construction. So I, I got involved in the building industry to help provide better products, uh, for my investment clients to buy into. You know, rather than selling them the traditional investment properties, we wanted to sell them, uh, owner-occupier qui, um, quality properties. And, um-
Kylie Davis: Yeah
Danny Assabgy: ... that's how I got introduced to, to, to, uh, building and construction.
Kylie Davis: Right. Okay.
Danny Assabgy: So, so the way this started is if you walk into any one of our... And as you said, I'm, I'm the CEO of a major home building company-
Kylie Davis: Mm
Danny Assabgy: ... um, that a couple of years ago in 2023 were the Australian Builder of the Year, and, uh, the New South Wales was the Builder of the Year last year. And if you walk into any one of my display homes, you're gonna see a, a, a picture of me there on a brochure with my phone number and my email address. And, and the reason I put that there is- Building's difficult, and it has a lot of challenges. And I always say there's 150 things that can go wrong when you're building a home. But I want customers to reach out to me, you know, give me the opportunity to fix them. So I remember about four years ago, uh, on the phone that's right behind me here, a customer rings me up and says, "Mate, I can do a better job building my house than what you can." And, uh, I, I thought about it. It kind of took me by surprise for a second, and I thought about it and I thought, "Mate, I've got 550 homes in construction. You've got one." You know?
Kylie Davis: Yeah.
Danny Assabgy: It's the most important home ever built, which is, which is your own home. And when I hung up the phone, I thought about it and I thought, "What is it that we do as builders?" And I kinda narrowed it down to three things. Uh, one, we have a workflow. So in every new home construction, we follow the same process. You know, we excavate the site, we pour the slab, we put up the frames and trusses, and so on and so forth. Um, the second thing we have is we have a, um, a, we have a trade base, and we have, uh, supply arrangements. So we have a trade base that we rely upon to do, you know, the carpentry work, the concreting, and so on and so forth, and we have special supply arrangements, you know, with, you know, Austral Bricks and so on. The third thing we have is we have a level of expertise. So our site supervisors, who are the ones who really build the home, they're the ones that are on site, you know, every day or every odd day, making sure that-... everything gets done properly. When I thought about it, I thought, "Well, what if we flowchart this, and what if we created a platform that empowered somebody to do this without having to go through a traditional builder?" Um, so I pulled out a sheet of paper and I ended up with nine A1 sheets of paper. Do you know how big an A1 sheet of paper is?
Kylie Davis: Uh, I do. Yes, I do.
Danny Assabgy: Okay. So I've got about 4,000 boxes on this, 'cause I have to think of the whole process, and then I've got about 20,000 arrows that come off in all different directions, because you really need to think about, what are all the things that can happen at each one of those stages? Um, and I looked at it and it took up my whole boardroom table. I kinda folded it, put it into my drawer and I thought, "Forget it. It's just way too hard."
Kylie Davis: Yeah.
Danny Assabgy: Uh, and then I got a, a, um, a, a, a phone call from one of my very good school friends who, uh, is a, a very good software engineer. Uh, rings me up for a cup of coffee and I share this idea with him. His name's Vince Marciano, uh, who is now my co-founder and the real-
Kylie Davis: Mm
Danny Assabgy: ... brains behind everything that's, uh, um, tech-based on BuildBuddy.
Kylie Davis: Yeah.
Danny Assabgy: And we just went into the COVID lockdowns and he said, "Why don't we just get started on it?" I said, "Okay. Let's get started." And, uh, three years later, we, we'd launched a complete platform that's, does everything.
Kylie Davis: Fantastic. So do you wanna give a shout-out to your former, like, to your building company?
Danny Assabgy: Uh, well, we're Hudson Homes.
Kylie Davis: Hudson Homes. Yeah.
Danny Assabgy: So Hudson Homes. Uh, we, uh, we build in New South Wales and Queensland. So they're-
Kylie Davis: Mm
Danny Assabgy: ... the two areas that we, uh, we... They're what we call our build regions, so anywhere in, uh, Brisbane, Gold Coast, uh, Northern Brisbane, and, uh, Sydney, Central Coast, and Lower Hunter.
Kylie Davis: Mm-hmm.
Danny Assabgy: Uh, we have display homes all over the place. So for those people that BuildBuddy is not right for, and I don't think BuildBuddy's for everybody, um, Hudson Homes is another good choice.
Kylie Davis: Yeah. Awesome. We're, we're always happy for a good tool just plug. Okay.
Danny Assabgy: Thank you.
Kylie Davis: So, so your... So BuildBuddy puts, provides a workflow and a process and a, a platform to help people who want to build their own homes build their own homes.
Danny Assabgy: Yes.
Kylie Davis: How big is that as a market? Like, how, what's the potential there?
Danny Assabgy: Well, we're talking about the construction industry, right?
Kylie Davis: Yeah, I know.
Danny Assabgy: Um, s- so what are the numbers? I mean-
Kylie Davis: Kind of a Dorothy Dixer. Yeah.
Danny Assabgy: I, I, I think on a global scale it's something like $6 billion or something like that.
Kylie Davis: Mm.
Danny Assabgy: Um, I mean, the Australian market's worth about 90, uh... Sorry, $6 trillion I meant to say.
Kylie Davis: Yeah. It's been, it's been up.
Danny Assabgy: Uh, the Australian market's worth about $90 billion on its own.
Kylie Davis: Yeah.
Danny Assabgy: Um, but again, remember this, BuildBuddy's not for everybody.
Kylie Davis: Mm.
Danny Assabgy: Um, some people will still go down the path of tr- of the traditional home builder, and that's, that's completely fine. But I do believe that when somebody has gone through and experienced the whole process of construction, construction is not easy. Uh, whether you're building in Australia or building overseas, it has a lot of challenges 'cause you're always relying on, on, on third parties. You're relying on external suppliers. You're, you're relying on external tradespeople. And, and that's where most of the issues come about. It's not actually the builder, even though the builder gets, gets, gets the bad rap. Um, so I believe that once we've gone through two or three cycles of customers on BuildBuddy platform, and what I mean by a cycle of customer is this. A cycle of customer in Uber is 20 minutes. You jump in the car, you get out, 20 minutes, transaction's over. With BuildBuddy, or with any home building process, it's 18 months. It's two years.
Kylie Davis: Mm. Mm.
Danny Assabgy: Um, so our cycle's a lot longer. But I believe, let's say for example, Kylie, you decide to take on BuildBuddy and do you have any construction experience, like actually on site?
Kylie Davis: So, so we built our house down on the South Coast.
Danny Assabgy: Oh, there you go.
Kylie Davis: Yeah. My husband was the-
Danny Assabgy: Okay. So you've got, you've got-
Kylie Davis: Although we hired a... We, did we build it? We hired a builder to build it, but we managed the process.
Danny Assabgy: Okay. So you're talking about... Remember I said that there's three things that we really narrowed it down to, and it's having a workflow?
Kylie Davis: Yep. Yep.
Danny Assabgy: Um, our software platform essentially, um... Well, let, let me go back a step, because the way we actually started is we studied what the best builders do, and we developed intelligent algorithms to actually create the ideal workflow for your pro- for your specific project. And that's what, that's what our algorithms actually do. So our software will tell you what you need to do, when you need to do it, how to go about doing it, and then it connects you to our curated marketplace of suppliers, trades, consultants, everybody that you need, um, in order to build your house. Um-
Kylie Davis: Yeah
Danny Assabgy: ... so that's, that's, that's the marketplace side of, uh, of our platform.
Kylie Davis: Right. Right
Danny Assabgy: And, and since now you're dealing directly with each trade, um, you're free to negotiate your own deals, you can review their profiles. Every single trade gets profiled by the customer. You can read other customer reviews, and essentially select the very best team to build your home. So if you think about it, what we've created is a new method of construction. I mean, there's two methods at the moment. There's traditional builder-
Kylie Davis: Yeah
Danny Assabgy: ... where you just hire a builder, and then there's the owner builder model.
Kylie Davis: Yeah.
Danny Assabgy: Um, what we've created, we're calling collaborative construction.
Kylie Davis: Yeah.
Danny Assabgy: And in this model, there's no middleman. It's just you and the tradespeople working together. But just like what you did with your project, our secret source is something that we call the construction buddy.
Kylie Davis: Mm-hmm.
Danny Assabgy: So a construction buddy is a real life building professional who reports directly to you, the, the homeowner, and guides you through all things construction. So once you're always in control, at BuildBuddy, we say, "Whilst you're always in control, you'll never walk alone."
Kylie Davis: Mm-hmm.
Danny Assabgy: So I guess in summary, we've created the world's first all-in-one solution that handles every aspect of the home building journey from, you know, design to approvals, uh, right through to final handover. And, uh, we've placed that into the palm of your hand.
Kylie Davis: Yeah. Awesome. Awesome. 'Cause I do re- I do remember, so we had a pretty good experience building our house, but we've had terrible experiences renovating. So
Danny Assabgy: Hmm. It's hit and miss, isn't it?
Kylie Davis: That...
Danny Assabgy: It's hit and miss.
Kylie Davis: Oh, yeah. Depends who you're working with. Yeah.
Danny Assabgy: I, I think most builders-
Kylie Davis: Yeah
Danny Assabgy: ... out there are honest and ethical, I'm gonna say 95% of them, I mean, despite what the industry says. Um, but it's a tough industry because like-
Kylie Davis: It is a very tough industry. Very tough
Danny Assabgy: ... we are relying on external people who, and, and, and not to bag tradespeople because there's some exceptional tradespeople out there, but sometimes they don't have the ability to, um, deliver a level of customer service that professionals may be used to. And it's not because they're bad, it's because they're out on site, and they're busy, and they're up on a roof. And so it just makes it a bit more challenging.
Kylie Davis: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, so we, so we did the owner builder model, and I think that's one of the reasons why it w- well, we worked with a very good builder who guided Mark through the, through the process. And so kind of a similar thing, I guess just, but without the structure around it. And-
Danny Assabgy: Yeah
Kylie Davis: ... and if I compare that to the renovations that we had, that was awful because it was the world's smallest but longest and most drawn out renovation in and expensive history in the planet. Um, it was because of that lack of control and that inability to impact when trades were gonna turn up. And so just, just the delays in, you know, just the very non-agile process, just like one thing and then the next thing, and discover things that we were highlighting as the owners saying, "Look, you're probably gonna pull up that floor and discover X." You know, like discover that it's just, um, MDF board under there. But they pulled up the wrong corner and they found a bit of, you know, floorboard and said, "No, no, it's all floorboard." It's like, "No, no. The bit over there was put in later. That's probably gonna be NBF." And so then, you know, s- three months into the build, they finally get to pulling up the floor and go, "Oh, we're gonna now need floorboards." Things like-
Danny Assabgy: Yeah
Kylie Davis: ... that that were so frustrating. So I'm kind of really interested, you mentioned before that you had like a 20%, um, sa- like 20% savings when someone takes on a BuildBuddy platform that you've proven so far. What does that look like? Like what does that look like? Does it-
Danny Assabgy: Well-
Kylie Davis: ... still take 18 months to build? Or, uh, as a, as a builder owner, can you actually, you know, speed it up a bit?
Danny Assabgy: One of the things that people love about the platform is the fact that you can save money. But like-
Kylie Davis: Yep
Danny Assabgy: ... you touched on a moment ago, it's the control and transparency that the building industry today is lacking. That is-
Kylie Davis: Mm
Danny Assabgy: ... also another very big point. But the way we help people save 20% is there's no builder's margin. So-
Kylie Davis: Right
Danny Assabgy: ... and, and because we are, uh, attached to a major home building company, we buy our bricks at a significant discount to what an owner builder would buy them for. Same with our, um, plumbing supplies and our tiles and roof tiles and, and all our materials. So because I went out to all the same suppliers that we use at Hudson Homes, and I shared this idea of BuildBuddy with them, and they all support it. And when I said, "What rates would you do for BuildBuddy?" And they said, "Danny, it's you," you know, the same rates. So we pass on those savings onto the customers. Um, with the tradespeople, the same thing happened with tradespeople. I reached out to our existing tradespeople, and that's why we launched BuildBuddy in New South Wales and Queensland as opposed to in Victoria. Because if something were to go wrong, I've got the infrastructure in place to actually address it. Uh, and when we talk about construction buddies being our, our secret source-
Kylie Davis: Mm-hmm
Danny Assabgy: ... my site supervisors have come on board BuildBuddy. My Hudson Home site supervisors have come on, uh, on board BuildBuddy, uh, as construction buddies. Um-
Kylie Davis: Right. Okay
Danny Assabgy: ... because if you think about what we've created with the role of the construction buddy, um, the easiest way of explaining is like this. 15 years ago, there was no such thing called an Uber driver.
Kylie Davis: Mm.
Danny Assabgy: But Uber came along and said, "If you've got a driver's license, um, I assume no criminal record, and you've got a decent car, you can come onto our platform, and you can offer your services to drive people around." What we're saying is, if you are a licensed builder, and you've got at least 10 years experience in this industry, then you can come onto our platform and offer your services as a construction buddy and be there to support the owner builder. Now, where that's really powerful is that, one, you're not gonna be paying, you know, 20% or 25% builder's margin. You're gonna pay them a set fee. And because you're the one paying the fee, you're the one in control. So the duty of care has now changed. So with my site supervisors at Hudson Homes, they report to me as their CEO. They act in the company's best interest. Whereas when you employ your own site supervisor or your own construction buddies, we call them- They report to you, and they act in your best interest, so they have a duty of care to you. And I think it's that single paradigm shift that has the biggest potential of making this a successful platform.
Kylie Davis: Yeah. Awesome. Yeah. I, I... It's, it's interesting, isn't it? How sometimes just that small change in perspective can be really, really powerful.
Danny Assabgy: Yeah.
Kylie Davis: I guess, like-
Danny Assabgy: It's not easy though, Kylie, I can tell you.
Kylie Davis: I, yeah,
Danny Assabgy: Our, our, our customers who come on board, they think the building industry is the same as, uh, you know, all the other professional industries they come from, but it's not the case, and it's a case of the tail wagging the dog. You know, with the tradespeople are in control, so-
Kylie Davis: Yeah, yep
Danny Assabgy: ... you know, you've, you've gotta be nice to them, you've gotta respect their processes and so on. And when you try to get a bit tough with them, they just walk away.
Kylie Davis: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yep.
Danny Assabgy: And, and you're stuck. So that's the hard lesson we've gotta try and teach some of our customers on the platform.
Kylie Davis: I th- yeah, g- good, good tradies are worth their weight in gold.
Danny Assabgy: 100%.
Kylie Davis: You hang on to them and you make them your best friends.
Danny Assabgy: Yeah. And, and, and I think that's the reason we created the curated marketplace.
Kylie Davis: Yeah.
Danny Assabgy: You see, there's no marketplace in Australia where you can find... Well, you've got things like, um, tradie platforms that you can find tradies, but-
Kylie Davis: Hipages and... Yeah
Danny Assabgy: Yeah. So ours is more of a curated marketplace. So we don't have 1,000 tradies or 1,000 plumbers on ours. We'll have three really good plumbers in one region.
Kylie Davis: Yeah.
Danny Assabgy: And my... What, what I'm trying to do is elevate the quality of tradesmanship in Australia-
Kylie Davis: Mm-hmm
Danny Assabgy: ... because trades are not accountable. I mean, I once had a customer ring me up and... Have you ever seen our little BuildBuddy logo, the, the man that we've got?
Kylie Davis: Yep, yep.
Danny Assabgy: Well, we call him Barry. And, and we call him Barry after-
Kylie Davis: Barry from BuildBuddy
Danny Assabgy: ... a phone call that I got from one of my painters whose name is Barry, and he rings me up. Um, actually I had a customer ring me up and he said, "You know, Hudson Homes, you guys are the worst painters." I said, "Oh, what's the matter? Show me some photos." And I saw some photos and the painting wasn't the best.
Kylie Davis: Yeah.
Danny Assabgy: But I rang Barry, the painter, and I said, "Barry, mate, what happened here?" And he said, "Oh, I'm sorry Daniel, I'll go out on Wednesday and I'll fix it." So anyway, I didn't hear anything further until on the following Friday I get an alert on my computer that Hudson Homes gets a one-star review, and it was that customer.
Kylie Davis: Wow.
Danny Assabgy: And saying, "Hudson Homes don't care about their customers. They lie. They say they're gonna be on Wednesday. Uh, their paint quality's horrible." And I'm thinking, "Uh, we're not even the painters."
Kylie Davis: Yeah, that's right, with the builders.
Danny Assabgy: But it's the builder that gets the wrap, right?
Kylie Davis: Yeah.
Danny Assabgy: It's not the tradesperson. So I thought, "How unfair is that?" So I ring up Barry and I said, "Barry, mate, what happened on Wednesday?" He's like, "Oh, sorry Danny, surf was up."
Kylie Davis: Oh.
Danny Assabgy: "Sorry. Surf was up, didn't bother going out." But we get the wrap.
Kylie Davis: Yeah.
Danny Assabgy: So I thought to myself, "If we can create a net promoter score style review system on our platform," and we've done that, as well as, you know, five-star review rating system on five different categories, as well as comments, and every customer on the platform has to review the supplier or the trade they dealt with. The lesson I'm trying to tell trades is this: unlike some of the tradie websites where it's a race to the bottom, you know, cheapest price wins-
Kylie Davis: Mm
Danny Assabgy: ... I want to say to the, uh, framing carpenter, if you look after Mr. and Mrs. Smith and they give you a great review, the next time you submit a quote, they're gonna have three quotes. You're gonna have quote A at $8,000, the next one's gonna be at 9,000, you're gonna be at 11,000. But they're gonna read your reviews, and they're gonna say, "For an extra $1,000 or $2,000, this guy's gonna give me peace of mind. He's gonna turn up when he says he's gonna turn up. He's going to do the right thing by me." And I think that system has the ability to change trades. Again, not for everybody. It's for the trades that want to service customers and be rewarded financially for bringing that level of customer service to the building industry.
Kylie Davis: Yeah. Yeah.
Danny Assabgy: To me, that makes a lot of sense.
Kylie Davis: Yeah. Barry. We-
Danny Assabgy: Yeah
Kylie Davis: ... we, we actually, because we're located near the beach, we had a few of those issues where surf was up and work stopped.
Danny Assabgy: They're common stories. They're common stories.
Kylie Davis: Or the salmon were running. That was the other one.
Danny Assabgy: The which one, sorry?
Kylie Davis: The salmon. There was a... We're on a surf beach where there's big-
Danny Assabgy: Ah
Kylie Davis: ... surf fishing. So-
Danny Assabgy: Ah, of course
Kylie Davis: ... we had one day where we lost everyone 'cause the salmon were on.
Danny Assabgy: Yeah.
Kylie Davis: Um, yep.
Danny Assabgy: There you go.
Kylie Davis: So you have to roll with it. So, so what's the kind of, um... What's the profile of a client of BuildBuddy?
Danny Assabgy: We say my, my perfect, uh, profile of a customer is a husband and wife team. He's a police officer and she's a schoolteacher.
Kylie Davis: Right.
Danny Assabgy: So homeowners with no building ins- building experience.
Kylie Davis: Okay.
Danny Assabgy: Um, there are already owner builders out there, but they know it all. They wanna do things their way. We've got really strict rules with our platform. So I'll, I'll share a story with you because when I approached my team in Queensland, uh, I specifically remember one of my electricians coming to our boardroom and he says, "Danny, I'll do anything for you, but please don't put me on the BuildBuddy platform because I don't want to deal with owner builders." I said, "There's a story there. Tell me, what happened?" He said, "Mate, the last time I worked for an owner builder, the house was at frame stage. The guy didn't have a set of plans, and we're walking through the house and he's pointing at the ceiling saying, 'Oh, I'd like a light fitting here and I'd like a power point there.'" And this guy's just scratching his head because professional builders don't work that way. So we have a philosophy at BuildBuddy where I always say to customers, "You need to plan slowly so you can build quickly."
Kylie Davis: That's a building thing, isn't it?
Danny Assabgy: My one case-
Kylie Davis: Measure twice and cut once or something.
Danny Assabgy: Yeah, that's right.
Kylie Davis: Is that a-
Danny Assabgy: So, so, but when I say plan slowly-
Kylie Davis: Yeah
Danny Assabgy: ... I'm talking about having a full set of plans available.
Kylie Davis: Mm.
Danny Assabgy: Uh, making sure that they're actual construction drawings. One of the challenges we have is a customer will come on the platform, they'll see an architect, they'll draw a sketch which is, you know, good enough to get a council approval, and they'll say, "Here are my construction drawings." And I'll say, "I'm sorry, but these aren't construction drawings."
Kylie Davis: Yeah.
Danny Assabgy: Because what's gonna happen if you don't do that, the trades are gonna know that they're not professional drawings, so they're gonna charge you more money for contingencies. So we have made it very, very strict on the platform that it won't let you proceed to the next stage until you've done a certain thing. And one specific example, we have a, a customer of ours, uh, one of the first to actually go to site. The system was preventing her from commencing construction. And I said to her, I said, "So what does it say?" She looks it up and it says, "Well, we haven't selected our shower taps." I said, "Well, go select your shower taps." She said, "Come on, Danny, that's silly." She goes, "We won't need our shower taps for at least four or five months." I said, "Let me explain what's gonna happen. The plumber's gonna turn up, and they're gonna run a hot and cold pipe through your walls, and they're gonna have two little, you know, um-"
Kylie Davis: Holes coming out the wall.
Danny Assabgy: Yeah, coming out.
Kylie Davis: Yep, little pokey thing.
Danny Assabgy: We're gonna waterproof that. We're gonna put those beautiful tiles on, and then you're gonna go down to Harvey Norman, and you're gonna select a $300 mixer tap."
Kylie Davis: Yeah, that's right.
Danny Assabgy: "New tiles, off comes the waterproofing, and $10,000 later, they're installing your $300 tap." I said, "So do me a favor, select the tap."
Kylie Davis: Choose the tap, lady.
Danny Assabgy: It makes a difference. It makes a difference with, you know, the spacing that comes out of the wall and so on. So that's part of the education program. And one of the things that we're... It's still a work in progress, and we've gone through three, uh, versions of it. Our next version of this, uh, is called the master class. So have you ever heard the saying where you, you say that, um, if you hand a man a fish, he eats for a day-
Kylie Davis: Mm-hmm
Danny Assabgy: ... but if you teach him how to fish, he eats for a lifetime.
Kylie Davis: Yep.
Danny Assabgy: Well, that's what we're trying to do with BuildBuddy. We have- we're putting together a master class. So let's say, for example, you get a task that appears that says, uh, you need to get a quote for structural engineering.
Kylie Davis: Yep.
Danny Assabgy: What are you gonna ask for? Um, so our system will give you a full scope of works, but we wanna interview a structural engineer, and I'll interview him, and I'll say, "So tell me, what is it that you do? What should customers look out for? What are some tips? What are some hints? What prices should they be paying?" So if people have the confidence and the knowledge, uh, sorry, rather, if they have the knowledge, they will have the confidence to go out and do that, that work.
Kylie Davis: Yeah.
Danny Assabgy: And if they've done it once, they're gonna do it again, and so on and so on. And, and I think that's how the platform's gonna grow over the years.
Kylie Davis: We talked before about it being a 20%, um, cheaper to, to build because, uh, you, you're not paying the sort of builder premium, I guess.
Danny Assabgy: Mm-hmm.
Kylie Davis: But does it... Are you able to get it built faster because you're managing it yourself?
Danny Assabgy: Is it perhaps.
Kylie Davis: Is it perhaps?
Danny Assabgy: So-
Kylie Davis: Okay
Danny Assabgy: ... I, I, I don't feel comfortable saying absolutely.
Kylie Davis: Sure. Yep.
Danny Assabgy: It depends on the customer.
Kylie Davis: Yeah.
Danny Assabgy: So I'm gonna give you two examples. Our very first customer on the platform, a gentleman by the name of Greg Lurie, um, we weren't even ready for him to get started, and I took him on-
Kylie Davis: He was an early adopter. We don't care. Yep.
Danny Assabgy: That's right. So the, the way I found him, I've never posted anything in my life on Facebook, probably three posts in my life that I've actually-
Kylie Davis: Yeah
Danny Assabgy: ... written on the last three years. And I was on an owner builder group, and I saw him make a comment, and in my head I'm thinking, "Mate, this is perfect for BuildBuddy." So I said, "Check this out." And I sent him the how it works video The next day he contacts me, says, "I want this." And I thought, "Wow, this is pretty good." So anyway, I went up and met up with him, and I showed him the platform, and he got a quote from a builder for $1.35 million. He goes, "Danny, I'm about to sell the property, the block of land, because I can't afford the 1.35 million."
Kylie Davis: Mm.
Danny Assabgy: So I ran him through the process. I gave him a construction buddy. His construction buddy was actually my general manager in Queensland.
Kylie Davis: Okay.
Danny Assabgy: James- Jason Camilleri, who, um, became Greg's, uh, construction buddy because he believed in the system as well, so he got great value for money. So he went out and helped him get started, and he used the platform. He poured his slab in May. He moved in in February, and I'm talking about a 48-square home that he got quoted $1.35 million for, and he moved in at $860,000.
Kylie Davis: Wow.
Danny Assabgy: Now that is a massive saving. We're talking about an after-tax saving, right? So-
Kylie Davis: Yeah, yeah
Danny Assabgy: ... if you're a first home buyer or, you know, if you're somebody that, that doesn't wanna spend all that money. Now, I don't see BuildBuddy as a cheaper way of building. I actually see it as a better value way of building.
Kylie Davis: Mm.
Danny Assabgy: Um, because some of the customers we have on the platform are building $3 million homes.
Kylie Davis: Yeah.
Danny Assabgy: Um, and I think that's where the difference is, right? Because when you go to a volume builder, you come into my showroom at Hudson Homes, which is called the Spectrum Design Studio, and you can pick that sink, that sink, that sink, or that sink. Which one would you like?
Kylie Davis: Mm.
Danny Assabgy: Whereas with BuildBuddy, it's infinite.
Kylie Davis: Mm-hmm.
Danny Assabgy: So I've just come back from a trip from China, and I've got supply arrangements with companies, uh, in China that can supply basically anything. Um, and there's additional savings there as well, so the world is your oyster.
Kylie Davis: Yeah. Right. Yeah.
Danny Assabgy: So, so the savings are real, so.
Kylie Davis: Yeah. Yep, and May to February, that's pretty, that is pretty fast-
Danny Assabgy: Yeah
Kylie Davis: ... right? Yeah.
Danny Assabgy: Now, about the timing thing-
Kylie Davis: Yeah
Danny Assabgy: ... because I've got other customers who don't like to make decisions. And so we have a, we have a customer service-
Kylie Davis: It's overwhelming. It's overwhelming.
Danny Assabgy: It is. So we, we have-
Kylie Davis: So many taps out there. So many taps.
Danny Assabgy: I beg your pardon?
Kylie Davis: So many taps.
Danny Assabgy: That's right. That's exactly right. Um, but-
Kylie Davis: Kick it down the road
Danny Assabgy: ... so we have a customer service representative that, that assists the customers, kinda like a, a hot desk. And, and when we see there hasn't been much activity or things aren't moving along, we'll gently give 'em a call and say, "You know you've got these three tasks." "Oh, yes, I've been meaning to get around it." So sometimes the owner's in control, and if they take a while to accept quotes, um, trades will just move on.
Kylie Davis: Mm.
Danny Assabgy: And you've gotta go out and find other trades, and that will delay things. But one of the most important things that a construction buddy does, I think they do two really important things. One is obviously check quality assurance, but the second thing is scheduling.
Kylie Davis: Yeah, right.
Danny Assabgy: So scheduling of a, of a construction site, that makes it run efficiently.
Kylie Davis: Yeah, it does. It can be-
Danny Assabgy: Mm
Kylie Davis: ... make or break. Right. Yes. So in fact, I can't think of anything more important, 'cause we've, w- um, when I think about our build, when I think about the, the renovation that we did that was awful, when I think about a house down the... 'Cause we live in Russell Lea, which is, as I've said many times, the knockdown rebuild capital of Sydney.
Danny Assabgy: Yeah.
Kylie Davis: Um, literally every street's got at least two h- properties coming down and new ones going in. Um, house at the end of our street took nearly four years to go up.
Danny Assabgy: Wow. Through a builder?
Kylie Davis: Yeah.
Danny Assabgy: Yeah.
Kylie Davis: Yeah, and it looked, the site looked like a tip the entire time. It was awful.
Danny Assabgy: Yeah.
Kylie Davis: Um, but, um, but it's... Yeah, so it's, but there's the cost of that time, right? Because-
Danny Assabgy: Absolutely
Kylie Davis: ... you're not living in the house. You're still paying rent, or you're living somewhere else while you're-
Danny Assabgy: Absolutely
Kylie Davis: ... trying to pay to build that, and then there's the cost of capital and all of those sorts of things.
Danny Assabgy: And that's why I'm saying the most important thing that a site supervisor does is scheduling.
Kylie Davis: Mm. Mm.
Danny Assabgy: And you've gotta plan properly, and, and our platform takes all that. And as a matter of fact, we created the first, you know, three-dimensional, um, workflows that don't just base on, on predecessors and postcessors but also based on time. So we know, for example, that you need to give eight weeks notice to order your windows. So that task will appear when it needs to appear, not sooner-
Kylie Davis: Lovely
Danny Assabgy: ... and definitely not later. Uh-
Kylie Davis: Yeah
Danny Assabgy: ... and a certain task won't appear until other things have been done. Because one thing that really peeves off the tradespeople is if they come out on site, and they're not supposed to be there yet.
Kylie Davis: Yes.
Danny Assabgy: They've wasted that day. So-
Kylie Davis: Yeah
Danny Assabgy: ... for example, our system won't allow you to book in your bricklayer until your bricks are on site.
Kylie Davis: That's simple but effective. Um-
Danny Assabgy: It's important
Kylie Davis: ... so, so absolutely. So how, how, how big are you guy- So there's two things I wanna ask, Danny. How, how big are you? Like, let's get a feel for y- I know you've only been going for three years, and about three years? 2022?
Danny Assabgy: Uh, three years-
Kylie Davis: Yeah
Danny Assabgy: ... since we came up with the concept, but we've only really been in the market since... Well, we launched in April of last year.
Kylie Davis: Okay.
Danny Assabgy: Um-
Kylie Davis: Right
Danny Assabgy: ... so we launched at the Home Show in Sydney.
Kylie Davis: Yeah.
Danny Assabgy: And, uh, back then, so I'll give you the history behind that. So we thought we'd launch at the Home Show in Sydney, and the Home Show is n- today not what it used to be. So in the old days, builders would go to the Home Show, but today it's more about buying mattresses and all that. So we thought there are some people looking to renovate, and there are some people looking to, to, to build new homes. So I was setting up the, um, setting up the stand with Vince. There was just two of us there, and Vince had a version of the software, 'cause it'd only been going for about nine months. There was a version that worked, but Vince was like, "Just make sure you don't press this button." "And make sure you don't press that button."
Kylie Davis: Don't press the big red button.
Danny Assabgy: That's right. So you certainly could not build a house with it at that point, but the whole idea was to see how the market reacted. Now, as we were setting up, there was this lovely lady who turns up with a pram, with a baby in the pram, and, uh, she goes, "What's this BuildBuddy?" And I said, "Oh, it's a platform that enables you to build your own home." She goes, "Oh, my God." She goes, "We're just about to go through a home builder. We've got a few designs already done." She goes, "Tell me about it." So I showed her the software, making sure to click on all the right buttons. We're now building her home. So her home is in construction at the moment. So the first person ever saw it, about half an hour later, this lovely couple come up, they're probably in their, you know, mid-50s, and I showed him the platform, and he thought it was a great idea. And he says, "But sorry to tell you, mate, we just signed a contract with, you know, XYZ builder, and we paid a $2,000 deposit." And the wife said, "Well, I'd like to see this." Now, she wanted to build her forever home, and one of the things she told me she was frustrated with with her builder is that exactly like what Hudson Homes do. You can choose from that sink, that sink, that sink, or that sink. But she wanted to choose whatever she wanted.
Kylie Davis: Mm.
Danny Assabgy: Within half an hour of showing him the platform, he walked away, made a phone call, came back, and said to his wife, "Honey, I've just canceled that contract with the builder, and I'm getting my $2,000 back and we're doing this," and we're building-
Kylie Davis: Lovely
Danny Assabgy: ... his home. So at that point, I turned... And we only had four or five people in the office back then. At that point, I turned to Vince and I said, "Go build this thing."
Kylie Davis: Yeah.
Danny Assabgy: "So here's $5 million, go and get it done."
Kylie Davis: Do it.
Danny Assabgy: And that's what we did. So most people build an MVP, test it in the marketplace. I took a different approach because-
Kylie Davis: Mm-hmm
Danny Assabgy: ... if I'm gonna empower a police officer or a school teacher to build their own home, then I have a responsibility to make sure that something as serious as building your own home, that we're certainly capable of doing it. So we hired 14 software engineers. Uh, they worked on it for, uh, probably 18 months, and we've built the platform to where it is today. You, you can do all your payments on the platform because, you know, one of the biggest problems in this industry is, is getting paid. Um-
Kylie Davis: Mm
Danny Assabgy: ... tradespeople don't trust builders, customers don't trust tradespeople. So we operate on a proper, you know, trust account set up and so on and so forth. Um, and I always use the analogy that if you're Boeing, you can't build an MVP of an airplane. You can't just-
Kylie Davis: Yeah
Danny Assabgy: ... build the fuselage and say, "Okay, let's give it a crack."
Kylie Davis: See how it goes.
Danny Assabgy: So you've got to build the whole thing. So-
Kylie Davis: Yeah
Danny Assabgy: ... we built the whole thing. We're very proud of where it is now. It is fully operational, fully functional. We've got about 150 people on the platform in the past 12 months. Uh, 26 of them are actually in construction, and two people are living in BuildBuddy homes. So two have been handed over.
Kylie Davis: That's a really interesting element to your proptech though, isn't it? That is probably not the case with many others-
Danny Assabgy: Mm
Kylie Davis: ... in that you've, you started in 2022 with monstrous sheets of A1 paper and you've had it built since, sort of for the last 18 months. But it takes a, it takes at least 18 months to build a property. So proof of, proof of the tech working and, and being able to build up those, that, those case studies and, and everything is part-
Danny Assabgy: Yeah
Kylie Davis: ... of the challenge of your runway, of your funding runway, I imagine.
Danny Assabgy: Uh, well-
Kylie Davis: It-
Danny Assabgy: ... everyone, when I first, uh, started talking to people about this, the first question they ask is, "Oh, is it, is it, is it proof of concept? What traction have you got?" So, you know, we've got about $160 million in construction work coming through, which... And this is a time where the building industry is quiet. So-
Kylie Davis: Mm
Danny Assabgy: ... major builders aren't making many sales. Um, but the downside is that it does take a while for customers to get into construction. But, uh, in the past 12 months, we've managed to get 26 into construction, and we've got 120 in the pre-construction process, um, you know, waiting on DA approval or amending their design or waiting to get started or waiting for land registration, uh, which are the typical delays you normally have in construction anyway. So the pipeline is strong.
Kylie Davis: Yeah, yeah. But I think it's a, it's an interesting, it's an interesting insight for potential investors out there that not all proptechs, depending on the segment that they're following, are able to just do an MVP, roll out something really quickly, prove it, prove it up, and, um, and start to dem- to, to demonstrate those... I mean, you, you're- you've definitely got quick wins, but your traditional process is quite long and involved, and there are things that even inside a new platform you can't, you can't impact approval processes from council. Those things take time.
Danny Assabgy: Mm-hmm.
Kylie Davis: That's not a fault of your technology. That's the, that's the space that we're playing in. Um-
Danny Assabgy: It's exactly right.
Kylie Davis: Yeah, that's God bless local councils.
Danny Assabgy: Yeah.
Kylie Davis: Um, there's, um, you know, there's a lot of variables in this sector. I se- I see this similar thing in the conveyancing sector too, like conveyancing, you can't launch good enough technology in conveyancing because it's all very, very leg- it's legal technology basically. So you have to have it-
Danny Assabgy: And consumers have-
Kylie Davis: ... sort of complete it
Danny Assabgy: ... options that work-
Kylie Davis: Yeah
Danny Assabgy: ... quite frankly, you know?
Kylie Davis: Yeah, yeah.
Danny Assabgy: So if you wanna pro- produce something that is going to be better than what-
Kylie Davis: Yeah
Danny Assabgy: ... currently exists, then it has to be better.
Kylie Davis: Yeah.
Danny Assabgy: So it needs to be built, which, uh, in other industries you can get away with MVPs, but, uh, I just made the decision to, to, to go for it after we got that initial response. We wanted to start a pilot program with just 10 customers.
Kylie Davis: Yeah.
Danny Assabgy: So I was happy just to fund the business, have 10 customers go through the whole process, and we got 12 people signing up that weekend, and I thought-... forget it, pilot program, let's just go for it.
Kylie Davis: Let's go for it. Go for broke. So-
Danny Assabgy: And we've hardly marketed the platform, Kylie. I mean, it's only-
Kylie Davis: Yeah
Danny Assabgy: ... other than a few Facebook posts and that, we haven't done any really serious advertising. Um-
Kylie Davis: Yeah
Danny Assabgy: ... but I've just-
Kylie Davis: Well, quite a few award wins though, Danny. Like, well done.
Danny Assabgy: I think people love it.
Kylie Davis: Yeah.
Danny Assabgy: I think people love it because they, they love the idea of being in control of their own home.
Kylie Davis: Yeah.
Danny Assabgy: When they see the platform and, you know, I'd love to give you a demo of the platform when you get the opportunity, and you see how much work has gone into every single aspect of it. Uh, and you can do it all from a, from a mobile phone. Um-
Kylie Davis: Yeah
Danny Assabgy: ... desktop is obviously a lot better, but the mobile phone has everything.
Kylie Davis: Yeah.
Danny Assabgy: It tracks all your payments. It tells you if you're over budget, under budget. It tells you how many lineal meters of this piece of timber you need. It's, it's, it's very powerful.
Kylie Davis: I think it's, it, it sounds amazing because when, when we bought our, when we built our place, we actually went down the architect path, decided that- As I explained to my husband, I bought my wedding dress off the rack. I actually don't think, and I, I do- I don't think couture is really our thing.
Danny Assabgy: Yeah.
Kylie Davis: So, so we ended up buying a, um, a kit home, and then finding a local builder who could-
Danny Assabgy: Oh, yeah
Kylie Davis: ... we did it as an owner builder, but a local builder supported us to get it built.
Danny Assabgy: Yeah.
Kylie Davis: But we did it at the time of, um, the GFC, and so, and we did it in a regional area that was having a pretty tough time with the GFC. And so we had our pick of tradies, you know, like the, the great salmon run and the, and the, and the surf's up incidents were just like, there was only a couple of days where we lost everyone-
Danny Assabgy: Yeah
Kylie Davis: ... 'cause everyone was grateful for the work, which was-
Danny Assabgy: Yeah
Kylie Davis: ... a ridiculous experience that, that will never be, will never happen again. But, um-
Danny Assabgy: Well, it's not happening at the moment, I can tell you that
Kylie Davis: It's not happening at the moment.
Danny Assabgy: No.
Kylie Davis: No, no, no. We know. So we, so we knew. But, but just the, my overall experience was so much choice, so many things to decide, so much lack of clarity around what had to be decided in what order. And often as a consumer, I mean, I feel... That story about the taps, I, I completely understand where she was coming from.
Danny Assabgy: Yeah.
Kylie Davis: Um-
Danny Assabgy: Me too
Kylie Davis: ... we got told by council we had to choose our color scheme before they would even approve it-
Danny Assabgy: You get stuck on a color scheme. Yeah
Kylie Davis: ... before they would even approve it. And it was like, "Well, I don't know what color I wanna paint it yet. Why do I have to decide that?" So because, um, well, we did because it's got Colorbond, so we had to decide the Colorbond.
Danny Assabgy: Yeah. But, but, but there's a reason for that, and there's a reason that a home builder, traditional home builder, will get you into the office, make all your selections before they get started because everything needs to be documented.
Kylie Davis: Mm.
Danny Assabgy: Because if any decisions are made on site, they're expensive.
Kylie Davis: Yeah. Yeah.
Danny Assabgy: It's a lot cheaper to draw something on a piece of paper and make sure it's correct. Um, and that's why builders will charge a customer, you know, $1,500 or $2,000 to make a change-
Kylie Davis: Yep
Danny Assabgy: ... whether they wanna change, you know, where the toilet roll holder goes. Um-
Kylie Davis: Yep
Danny Assabgy: ... because even that needs to be drawn on a plan.
Kylie Davis: Yep. Yep.
Danny Assabgy: And the customer will say, "Why?" I say, "Well, what if he puts it up here? Or what if he puts it down here?"
Kylie Davis: Yeah.
Danny Assabgy: Why don't you just tell him you want it, you know, 900 mil off the ground, 1.2 meters from the side wall, and that's where it's gonna go.
Kylie Davis: Yeah.
Danny Assabgy: And to me, that is following building industry best practice, and our-
Kylie Davis: Yeah
Danny Assabgy: ... whole platform has been built on building industry best practice. Now, because you're in control, you can choose not to follow it. Um, it won't let you go any further because it's gonna stuff everything else up. Um, but you can go on your own, and a lot of owner builders like to do that, which is why many owner builders haven't been using the platform. And when you-
Kylie Davis: Yeah
Danny Assabgy: ... asked me earlier who their ideal customer is, it's a, you know, school teacher, a police officer who doesn't know any better and will listen to the information that's on the platform. Because I promise you, if you listen to it, and you follow the process, it will work.
Kylie Davis: Yeah. So I think some of this is around literacy too, isn't it? It's like if you haven't been and worked in the space, then you don't have the, the literacy or the understanding to, to know that-
Danny Assabgy: Yeah
Kylie Davis: ... the measurements are just, you know, so important. You, uh, you know, it doesn't occur to you. Um-
Danny Assabgy: A little knowledge is dangerous sometimes.
Kylie Davis: A little bit of knowledge is dangerous. All those owner builders out there trying to get away with that, trying to, um... What's that-
Danny Assabgy: They try and take shortcuts, and it comes back and bites them on the backside, and it takes longer, you know? Just, uh...
Kylie Davis: It... And what's the na- What's that... Oh, there was a show, there's that show, um, where they do all the architectural homes that always end up a huge palaver. And, uh, it, there was one in the UK, one in Australia, one in New Zealand.
Danny Assabgy: Oh, yes.
Kylie Davis: I've gone completely blank.
Danny Assabgy: I know which ones you're talking about.
Kylie Davis: Yeah. Um, but that, yeah, they're, they're full of owner builders who don't have plans. Um-
Danny Assabgy: Yeah.
Kylie Davis: So, so, d- Danny, what do you see is the future for BuildBuddy, and, and what trends... How are you guys embracing things like AI, data, all of that stuff?
Danny Assabgy: Okay, there's a couple of good questions there, but, uh-... I'm a bit ambitious with my, with my plans. And, um, it's my prediction that in five years' time, more homes will be built in Australia by BuildBuddy than by any other major home building company in Australia.
Kylie Davis: How does Hudson Homes feel about that?
Danny Assabgy: Um, like I said, it's not for everybody. Um, but it's like getting another builder coming along because if you think of it like this, our, our biggest builder is Metricon, and they have about 2% of the market. I believe that one out of every five people will use something like BuildBuddy.
Kylie Davis: Mm.
Danny Assabgy: That's extremely ambitious, but let's even call it one out of every 20 people.
Kylie Davis: Mm.
Danny Assabgy: That's still 5% of the market, which is-
Kylie Davis: Yeah
Danny Assabgy: ... two and a half times bigger than our biggest builder, and it's probably the size of the top 10 builders in Australia. Now, we can only achieve that if it works. And I believe that any platform or any product that empowers the consumer and gives the consumer confidence to take on a project like building their own home, I believe that's a recipe for success. Now, it'll take us at least five years, uh, to get to that point because our cycle of customers is, is quite long.
Kylie Davis: Mm.
Danny Assabgy: And five years probably, uh, being extremely ambitious. But, uh, I think the future is good.
Kylie Davis: Yeah. And so are you looking at incorporating AI? Um, you know, there's a whole lot of new-
Danny Assabgy: Yeah
Kylie Davis: ... work going on around council data sets to start to digitize planning and-
Danny Assabgy: There is
Kylie Davis: ... and sites and things like that. How, how do you see-
Danny Assabgy: Yeah
Kylie Davis: ... all that coming together?
Danny Assabgy: We've actually got a pack of AI interns at the moment.
Kylie Davis: Ah.
Danny Assabgy: And the first thing they're working on is we have a product called the, um, EVP, which is the early... Uh, EPV, early price g- um, EPG, early price guide.
Kylie Davis: Mm.
Danny Assabgy: Uh, and that exists... So let me go back a step. When you work out how much it costs to build a home properly-
Kylie Davis: In your group chat.
Danny Assabgy: ... a professional builder won't work out just a square meter rate. They actually work out what we call a bill of quantities. They'll take every single item, and I could tell you to the cent what it's gonna cost to build a home. But that takes a bit of time-
Kylie Davis: Mm
Danny Assabgy: ... which time is money, so it costs a couple of thousand dollars to do that. So we came up with something called an early price guide, which we're using AI now to start doing that. So we can upload a set of plans, which is... it's not working yet, but hopefully it will be soon. But this is our plan. Upload a set of plans. Um, the computer will automatically work out the dimensions and apply a relative rate for your region and give you an early price guide, which when we tested it mathematically, we can get within 5%. At this stage of, of, of what the end price is going to be. So it's a, there is the reason we call it an early price guide. Um, we're also exploring the opportunity of introducing Barry to AI. So if you're a trades person and you forget to submit a quote because, you know, you've got one of the three valuable spots on our platform, you know, because you, you go home and you're just busy or you're tired and you-
Kylie Davis: Surf was up
Danny Assabgy: ... the next day.
Kylie Davis: Yep.
Danny Assabgy: They get a friendly call from AI Barry. So, so Vince is working on something there. Um, that's all we've got planned for AI at the moment. Um-
Kylie Davis: Yeah
Danny Assabgy: ... the rest of it is just working off intuitive and intelligent workflows.
Kylie Davis: Yeah. Okay, cool. Very cool. With, w- with BuildBuddy, uh, are you s- do you still have that ability like you've got with Hudson Homes to have set designs that you've already got, or are we, are you coming to it with completely-
Danny Assabgy: I love that question
Kylie Davis: ... I've got a vision for, you know, turrets and
Danny Assabgy: I love that question. Um, there are three ways that you can start on the platform.
Kylie Davis: Yeah.
Danny Assabgy: The first way is you can bring your own design.
Kylie Davis: Yep.
Danny Assabgy: The second thing you can do is you can be asked to, uh, be connected to a architectural designer-
Kylie Davis: Mm-hmm
Danny Assabgy: ... to, to design your own home. The third thing you can do is you can choose one of our 200-plus floor plans, and we have built, if you go to our website and you go to buildbuddyworld.com, we have built the world's first 47 virtual display home, where you can actually walk through a display village of actual house plans that we have. You can, you know, there's a little coffee shop there as well. There's a playground for the children. Um, you can walk into any one of these homes and do a virtual tour of the home. You can then click on it, and you can download those plans, uh, which are complete set of construction drawings with a bill of quantities for less than $2,000.
Kylie Davis: Wow.
Danny Assabgy: Now, we've got over, uh, 200 plans. Uh, guess who we borrowed those plans from?
Kylie Davis: Hudson?
Danny Assabgy: Yeah.
Kylie Davis: Yeah.
Danny Assabgy: But we renamed them to protect the innocent. So we're using all those same floor plans because-
Kylie Davis: And can you choose your own taps?
Danny Assabgy: Um, well, in this one you can. Uh-
Kylie Davis: Yeah, okay
Danny Assabgy: ... with BuildBuddy you can. At Hudson Homes, we've got our-
Kylie Davis: No
Danny Assabgy: ... our builder's range of product.
Kylie Davis: Yep, perfect. Perfect.
Danny Assabgy: Which, you know, suits that, that market.
Kylie Davis: Yeah, totally. Totally. Look-
Danny Assabgy: Yeah
Kylie Davis: ... not, not, not a bespoke-
Danny Assabgy: So check out BuildBuddy World.
Kylie Davis: Yeah, not a bespoke girl. Really wanted the structure of a, for, you know, for us buying the, um, the kit home reduced that choice that we needed to make.
Danny Assabgy: Yeah.
Kylie Davis: We didn't have to worry about like, okay, yeah, that was, that's what it looks like. That's what it's gonna look like. We want it to adjust it this way, that way.
Danny Assabgy: Yeah.
Kylie Davis: Can we do that? Yep, all good. All the quantities-
Danny Assabgy: And honestly-
Kylie Davis: ... pop out the other end
Danny Assabgy: ... when you're on a budget, Kylie, that's the best way of doing it because custom in, when it comes to construction, is expensive.
Kylie Davis: Oh, yeah. Yep.
Danny Assabgy: Mm-hmm.
Kylie Davis: Very much so. Very much so. Um, well, look, Danny, it's been absolutely awesome talking to you. Thank you so much for your time. Um-
Danny Assabgy: No
Kylie Davis: ... and I've, I, I, I truly love BuildBuddy. Well done on all of your wins at the recent Proptech Awards and-
Danny Assabgy: Thank you so much
Kylie Davis: ... and not just at the Proptech Awards. You guys have been, you know, winning awards left, right, and center from everything I see on social.
Danny Assabgy: That last one that you gave us caught, really caught us by surprise. We went and didn't even know that we were nominated for proptech of the Year, and, uh, um, when they announced it, we weren't even... Normally you film it. You know, you're sitting there and everyone-
Kylie Davis: Yeah.
Danny Assabgy: ... at the table's filming it. We didn't even know, so none of us got any footage of that. But, uh, and when they announced BuildBuddy, I thought, "Wow, that's fantastic." And-
Kylie Davis: Yeah. Yeah, so you don't get-
Danny Assabgy: ... and the proptech to watch. So that, that was s- we're really humbled by that and, uh-
Kylie Davis: Yeah
Danny Assabgy: ... especially when there's so many good proptechs out there.
Kylie Davis: Yeah. You were, you were Startup of the Year from, um... And I think, um, uh, yeah, so everyone who wins an award goes into that one, so it's like-
Danny Assabgy: Yeah
Kylie Davis: ... the, the best of the best. But-
Danny Assabgy: Yeah. Mm-hmm
Kylie Davis: ... I do remember one of the judges ringing me up after, um, he had done the judging and saying, "I," you know, redacted, um, "love BuildBuddy. Oh my God."
Danny Assabgy: Yeah. It, it really is something. It really is something.
Kylie Davis: Yeah.
Danny Assabgy: You know, I think we're the only people in the world that have been stupid enough to try this.
Kylie Davis: Ah. No, well-
Danny Assabgy: You know? I, I like to say clever enough, but, uh-... you know, it's just-
Kylie Davis: Well-
Danny Assabgy: ... it's stupid enough.
Kylie Davis: Yeah. Well, look, I look forward to the day when BuildBuddy is funding Hudson Homes. I think that's a, that's an awesome ambition to have, um, and, and if it-
Danny Assabgy: Ah, there's quite a bit to go before it gets there.
Kylie Davis: It's early days.
Danny Assabgy: Yeah.
Kylie Davis: Um, and it's been great to have you on the podcast. Thanks.
Danny Assabgy: Kylie, thank you so much.
Kylie Davis: So what did you think about BuildBuddy? I really love how Danny is working to create options around his own industry. The construction industry is one of the least efficient sectors in Australia. Productivity in the sector has gone backwards over the past 10 years, and 20 years of digital transformation and automation that has occurred across the manufacturing and logistics sectors literally has hit a brick wall when it comes to construction. If Australia is going to solve its affordability and housing supply crisis, we absolutely need more construction solutions and options, and BuildBuddy is one very strong example of this. What I personally loved was the concept of the construction buddy, that real-life licensed building professional reporting directly to the homeowner to guide them through the process. I love that it's expanding career options within the construction industry while delivering a high-value service. I love, too, how Danny has used his deep knowledge of homeowner behavior to structure the workflow for BuildBuddy. Building a home is a complicated process, and it has a myriad of decisions, and it's hard as a noob to know what order things need to be done in or the, what the consequences of making or not making a decision are until it's too late. I really like how BuildBuddy forces owners to make decisions early and prevents trades from being booked when the site isn't ready and how it takes delivery times into account. This is revolutionary stuff. Also of note is the transparent customer-driven review system for the tradies. One of the most frustrating things of running any building or renovation project is the lack of accountability in some areas. And so I love how BuildBuddy's even thought of that with their review system because good tradies really are worth their weight in gold, and they are the guys and girls that need to be celebrated. So really well done, Danny, Vince, and the BuildBuddy team. Congratulations again on your proptech award win l- in 2025, and we look forward to hearing so much more about BuildBuddy in the future. Now, just before we go, are you a fast-growing proptech looking to take a new product to market, position yourself strongly through unique thought leadership and research, or are you struggling to wrangle all the strategic and tactical pieces of marketing so that they convert into real sales? Then I, Kylie Davis, and the proptech Guru team would love to help. Proptech Gurus, which is the consulting business I run with my husband, former Gartner director and media executive, Mark Hollands, specializes in a service called Scalable CMO. Most proptechs have a marketing team in place, and many of them are just one or two young marketers struggling to do all the things. But with Scalable CMO, you get the perfect mix of top-level executive thinking, plus affordable and tactical executions to support, scale, and enhance your current team. To kick off, we audit your existing marketing with an overlay of where you need to get to, and we'll identify what's working and fit for purpose and what you need to do to hit your number. And then we create a strategic plan and the cost of delivery of the work required from digital marketing, CRM and automation management, content, media, social media, sales structure, KPIs, and all the accountabilities. Work is executed by our team in the Philippines to ensure it's affordable, and it's overseen by Mark and I here in Australia to deliver accuracy, reliability, and domain expertise. So our goal is to get you up and running in market and firing on all cylinders and make ourselves ideally redundant in around 18 months because we get it. No one wants to work forever with a consultant. You want marketing and positioning to get results, and we want to show you how. So if this sounds like something that could work for your proptech, reach out. Email me at kylie@proptechguru.com.au or connect up on LinkedIn. Now, if you have enjoyed this episode of the Proptech Podcast, I would love you to tell all your friends or drop me a line either via email or LinkedIn or on our Facebook page. And you can follow this podcast on Spotify, Google Podcasts, Anchor, and Apple iTunes, and anywhere good podcasts are heard. I would like to thank my podcast producer, the fabulous Charlie Hollands, podcast website editors, Jill Escudero and Shira Sexsen, and our sponsors, HID, digital identification solutions for your building, Direct Connect, making moving easy, Dynamic Methods, the name behind Forms Live, REI Forms Live, and Realworks, Easy Pay, making collecting payments easy for proptechs, and the Proptech Association Australia, Australia's industry body which is supporting the flourishing proptech community. Now, if you're an Australian or New Zealand proptech who would like to be on the show, please drop me a line via LinkedIn or email kylie@proptechassociation.com.au. Thanks so much, everyone. Until next time, keep on propteching.
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