Build Supply: Automating and Streamlinning Real Estate Development Workflows
Sameer Nayar
CEO & Founder
Advancements in technology are gradually replacing the outdated processes and operational tactics of the traditional real estate industry with innovative methodologies. A select few real estate technology companies have begun rolling out technology-based platforms in order to facilitate the operation and management of real estate assets and the construction process. However, it is still in the nascent stage, and the sector is plagued with multiple pain points at its very core that demand to be addressed. Projects often undergo continual delays and revisions, have inherent leakages in the system and encounter a high level of price opacity and inefficiency. This adds complexity to managing and monitoring processes like process management, resource planning, inventory management and finance and marketing. There is a complete absence of standardization and a clear lack of automation of workflows that impacts all the stages of project planning and execution. Organizations are on the lookout for advanced technological solutions that can be leveraged to save time, increase productivity, boost offerings and stay compliant post the introduction of RERA and GST in India. Putting the ‘technology in the technology-driven real estate and construction domain, Gurgaon headquartered Build Supply offers an end-to-end and innovative SaaS and ERP platform that delivers a unique system for standardization, efficiency, and transparency that assures project completion within the stipulated time frame at an economical cost. “There are several real estate tech companies out there targeting purchase and distribution of property but very few have attempted to organize the real estate development and construction process itself, and I feel very proud to say that BuildSupply is the leader in that category,” says Sameer Nayar, CEO at BuildSupply.
Instead of a siloed approach, once the client is on board, the integrated platform can be employed right from the project inception followed by execution and monitoring of the final project hand over. Through the deployment of the cost planning and estimation, contracts and tendering, invoicing and billing, scheduling and resource planning modules, the product aims to break down the individual and disparate departments that the teams normally work within.
Ensuring an Increased Operational Efficiency
The platform encompasses a centralized database inclusive of more than 13 million line items that can efficiently identify any possible item of work with a distinct rate analysis and its associated technical specifications required at aconstruction site.“Our tool analyses project data to derive critical KPI’s pertaining to cost performance, schedule performance and earned value analysis (EVA),”reveals Sameer. The line item cost database has been developed as the core engine of the platform around which all the workflows have been automated. This proprietary database has all the materials and rates embedded within, permitting users to maintain a very clear view of the estimated and actual costs of the project thereby delivering more projects on time and within the set budget. At the request of the user, the cost management module can be utilized to bring up the specified project’s progress reports by performing a real-time, industry standard Earned Value Analysis(EVA)at any given point in time. The detailed report displays the cost to completion and final cost, and examines the discrepancies, if any, in the schedule and budget along the due course of the project. “Due to the increased transparency and real-time collaboration, it plugs leakages and increases operational efficiency. This helps save a substantial amount of the total project time and cost, by giving complete control over the process management, and hence significantly enhancing equity returns,” adds Sameer. The Build Supply Cost Manager helps reduce the construction costs by 8 to 10 percent; a high ROI for customers.
An Economic Solution within the Competitive Real Estate Market
The cutting-edge real estate ERP solution is equipped with not just crunching out the final numbers but is engineered with modules to
provide a comprehensive list of the costs involved even before the architectural design is completed. Once the design is done, a customer can prepare an itemized Bill of Quantities(BoQ’s), identify and map out the execution strategy and run the entire tendering process online. The contracts can then be seamlessly managed online on the cloud-based solution. Additionally, the entire billing and invoicing process is controlled from a central repository with all the stakeholders working in real-time on the same platform. Furthermore, the vendor management and reverse auction tools in the system enable any procurement team to access the best available prices for all the purchases and contracts. BuildSupply serves as a great platform that keenly observes all the project expenditures involved and increases profits by monitoring costs, material procurement and time schedules for the respective projects. “E- Tendering and online bidding conducted using BuildSupply platform have shown a time reduction of up to 45-60 days when compared to the traditional approach. Also, it has displayed a reduction in billing and invoicing process by 25 to 30 days. Our reports module helps to generate customized real-time reports instantly,” declares an enthusiastic Sameer.
"There Are Several Real Estate Tech Companies Out There Targeting Purchase And Distribution Of Property But Very Few Have Attempted To Organize The Real Estate Development And Construction Process Itself"
He goes on to explain that this positive growth trajectory of the product did not come into being overnight. Taking us through the journey right from before the inception of the product, the team with their deep expertise in this domain designed the product post conducting an expansive market research. The team met with over a hundred different real estate development companies and attained an extensive market feedback on the process and pain points. The assimilated data, the team’s industry rich experience and state-of-the-art technologies translated into building a product that penetrates deep into the issues that have plagued the sector and addresses them all on a single integrated platform.
Founded in 2016, the company has received a tremendous response from the industry despite being a fairly recent entrant in the market. The company has worked with a gamut of reputed real estate developers in India who swear by the product. One such customer is one of the most renowned real estate developers in the country. The enterprise client is currently managing more than 25 million square feet of development with over 25 Pan India projects onboard on the BuildSupply platform. The organization needs uninterrupted access to analyze hundreds of projects
for acquisition or joint ventures at any given time. In fact, the client intends to increase their development portfolio by 10 million square feet per year for the next few years without a significant increase in their workforce. This mammoth of a task would be near impossible without BuildSupply and its dedicated team of professionals.
Already having gained a strong foothold in this competitive market, BuildSupply envisions staying focused on the Tier 1 market in the Top 10 metros of the country over the course of the next few years servicing the best in class companies in this space. Continually striving towards delivering value-added products and services to its customers that are easy to-use and streamlining complex processes, the company also plans to integrate a full-fledged procurement marketplace and a financing service into the system over the next couple of years.
Real estate and technology expertise
The BuildSupply team comprises a very diverse set of experts who boast of real estate, construction, and technology expertise. The company was founded by Sameer Nayar and Sarit Sethi. Sameer is a veteran in the real estate sector across the US and Asian markets with over two decades of experience. He holds an MS in Real Estate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT,1996). “This is the fifth investment cycle that I have been witness to in my career,” informs Sameer.
Sarit has worked with a German EPC company delivering large scale projects for MNC’s in India prior to being a part of BuildSupply. In addition to this, Ramanathan, an independent Director on the Board, brings with him to the table over 35 years of experience in the Architecture and Project Management space. He has played a pivotal role in developing a number of the building standards in the country and has been actively involved in developing the building codes. He has been an advisor to the Government of India on various large scale projects as well.
The convergence of these three indispensable individuals formed the perfect combination that propelled them to build a deep vertical solution that addresses the plethora of bottlenecks encountered from an investment and an execution standpoint.
"There Are Several Real Estate Tech Companies Out There Targeting Purchase And Distribution Of Property But Very Few Have Attempted To Organize The Real Estate Development And Construction Process Itself"
He goes on to explain that this positive growth trajectory of the product did not come into being overnight. Taking us through the journey right from before the inception of the product, the team with their deep expertise in this domain designed the product post conducting an expansive market research. The team met with over a hundred different real estate development companies and attained an extensive market feedback on the process and pain points. The assimilated data, the team’s industry rich experience and state-of-the-art technologies translated into building a product that penetrates deep into the issues that have plagued the sector and addresses them all on a single integrated platform.
Founded in 2016, the company has received a tremendous response from the industry despite being a fairly recent entrant in the market. The company has worked with a gamut of reputed real estate developers in India who swear by the product. One such customer is one of the most renowned real estate developers in the country. The enterprise client is currently managing more than 25 million square feet of development with over 25 Pan India projects onboard on the BuildSupply platform. The organization needs uninterrupted access to analyze hundreds of projects
for acquisition or joint ventures at any given time. In fact, the client intends to increase their development portfolio by 10 million square feet per year for the next few years without a significant increase in their workforce. This mammoth of a task would be near impossible without BuildSupply and its dedicated team of professionals.
Already having gained a strong foothold in this competitive market, BuildSupply envisions staying focused on the Tier 1 market in the Top 10 metros of the country over the course of the next few years servicing the best in class companies in this space. Continually striving towards delivering value-added products and services to its customers that are easy to-use and streamlining complex processes, the company also plans to integrate a full-fledged procurement marketplace and a financing service into the system over the next couple of years.
Real estate and technology expertise
The BuildSupply team comprises a very diverse set of experts who boast of real estate, construction, and technology expertise. The company was founded by Sameer Nayar and Sarit Sethi. Sameer is a veteran in the real estate sector across the US and Asian markets with over two decades of experience. He holds an MS in Real Estate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT,1996). “This is the fifth investment cycle that I have been witness to in my career,” informs Sameer.
Sarit has worked with a German EPC company delivering large scale projects for MNC’s in India prior to being a part of BuildSupply. In addition to this, Ramanathan, an independent Director on the Board, brings with him to the table over 35 years of experience in the Architecture and Project Management space. He has played a pivotal role in developing a number of the building standards in the country and has been actively involved in developing the building codes. He has been an advisor to the Government of India on various large scale projects as well.
The convergence of these three indispensable individuals formed the perfect combination that propelled them to build a deep vertical solution that addresses the plethora of bottlenecks encountered from an investment and an execution standpoint.
