The Self-Funding Guarantee
The Builder tier pays for itself out of the working capital we free up for you. Or it stays free.
The Self-Funding Guarantee is the offer underneath the Builder tier of The Construction Clearinghouse. Apply in under four minutes. We onboard four GCs per month.
Why this offer exists
Most software pricing asks you to pay before it has helped you. We do the opposite.
The honest version of a SaaS subscription is: pay us a fixed amount in the hope that we deliver. If we do not deliver, you are still paying. If we under-deliver, you are still paying. The contract is the contract.
The Self-Funding Guarantee inverts that. The Builder tier costs $28,800 per year, but you only owe the subscription after we have freed at least $28,800 of working capital for you. We measure days saved on cash-cycle, multiply by your working capital and LOC carry rate, and add it up monthly. When the running total of capital freed crosses the subscription cost, you owe.
If we never cross it, you never pay. The platform stays free past month twelve until we do. There is no cap on how long we work for you for free if we have not yet earned the subscription.
The four design partners running on the platform have all crossed the threshold by month four to month seven. The math works because the operational compression is real. If it stops being real for your business, you stop being on the hook to pay.
The math, step by step
One worked example, on a real cohort project.
The project: $24M contract, 31 active subs, 18-month schedule. Baseline cash-cycle measured at 47 days. Working capital deployed against this project's draw float: $1.8M. LOC carry rate at this GC: 11 percent annually.
Daily cost of trapped working capital: $1.8M times 11 percent divided by 365 equals $542 per day. Each day of cash-cycle compression frees $542 of working capital cost.
Cash-cycle by draw three: 19 days. That is 28 days of compression. 28 days times $542 per day equals $15,176 of working capital freed in the first ninety days, on this single project. Across three or more active projects on the rail, the running total crosses the $28,800 subscription cost between month four and month six.
The day the running total crosses, the subscription is owed in full and we invoice. Until that day, the platform is free. After that day, the platform pays for itself many times over. By the end of month twelve in the cohort example, working capital freed across the GC's portfolio sits between five and twelve times the subscription cost. The remaining four-to-eleven multiples are profit you keep.
What you get (the stack)
The Builder tier bundles eight components that would cost over $85,000 sold separately.
| Component | Standalone value |
|---|---|
| Subcontractor Audit platform, Builder tier | $9,588/yr |
| White-glove onboarding with a dedicated compliance operator (first 60 days) | $15,000 |
| COI amnesty cleanup: every active sub brought to compliance in 30 days | $12,000 |
| Unlimited state-statutory waiver generation plus notary coordination | $8,400/yr |
| Draw-package audit service: first three draws reviewed by our ops team | $9,000 |
| Direct line to the founder's Slack for 12 months | $18,000 |
| Capital Readiness Report delivered to your CFO and lender within 30 days | $7,500 |
| Lender-facing evidence export with a same-day SLA | $6,000 |
| Total stack value | ~$85,488 |
| Your investment, after we earn it | $28,800/yr (billed annually) |
The triple guarantee
01
Unconditional 60-day money-back
For any reason, in the first 60 days, we refund any payment in full and offer a 30-day read-only export window. No retention desk.
02
Self-Funding Guarantee
You only pay the subscription after we have freed its full cost in working capital. If we have not freed it by month 12, the platform stays free until we do.
03
The take-away
Four GCs per month. Application required. We turn down roughly 60 percent of applicants. If you are not a fit, we say so.
Fit, and the honest opposite of fit
This is for you if
- Mid-market GCs with $20M to $500M in annual revenue.
- Three or more active projects today.
- Real pay-app volume (monthly or faster).
- A CFO or VP Finance who is tired of funding the cash gap from the LOC.
This is not for you if
- Residential-only builders and owner-builders.
- Pre-revenue or single-project teams.
- Organizations unwilling to feed their data into a shared ledger.
- Teams with no clear owner for pay-app and lien-waiver workflows.
How the program actually runs
01
Apply
Eight questions. Four minutes. We reply within one business day.
02
Working session
We run Subcontractor Audit against your live project data. We measure your baseline cash-cycle in writing.
03
Onboarding
We start within 14 days of acceptance. The 12-month measurement window opens on your first draw on the rail.
04
Measurement
We track cash-cycle days saved, multiplied by your stated working capital and your LOC carry rate, every month. The total is the working capital we have freed up for you.
05
Payment
Pay your annual subscription only after we have freed at least its full cost in working capital for you. If we have not freed it by month 12, the platform stays free until we do.
The math is what sold us. We pay only after they have made us more than they cost. There is no scenario where this is a bad trade.
Aligned incentives are the whole pitch. They cannot get paid until our cash-cycle drops. So they show up.
Frequently asked
Questions our design partners asked us before they signed.
How exactly does 'pays for itself' work?
Three steps. Step one: on day one we measure your baseline cash-cycle (sub invoice received to bank-settled funds, trailing four-draw average) and we agree on it in writing. Step two: every month for the next twelve months we measure your trailing-four-draw cycle and compute days saved versus baseline. Step three: working capital freed equals days saved multiplied by your stated working-capital-at-risk multiplied by your LOC carry rate. When that running total exceeds your annual subscription cost, you owe the subscription. If it has not exceeded the subscription by month twelve, the platform stays free until it does.
What does 'stays free until we hit it' actually mean?
The platform stays free past month twelve, with the same operator coverage and the same SLAs, until our running total of working capital freed crosses your annual subscription cost. There is no clock pressure on you. There is significant clock pressure on us.
What if we are already below 30 days at baseline?
The Self-Funding math still works. The threshold is whichever is lower: a 15-day reduction, or a 10-day floor. If you are already at 25 days and we drive to 18, that is a 7-day compression and the math runs against that. We do not chase fantasies of zero-day cycles.
Why do you do this instead of charging upfront?
Because it makes our incentives identical to yours. We get paid only after we have made you more than we cost. If we cannot do that, we do not deserve to get paid. It is the simplest possible alignment.
Is this just deferred billing?
No. Deferred billing means you pay later regardless of outcome. The Self-Funding Guarantee means you pay only after the outcome lands. If the outcome never lands, we never collect. Your downside is bounded at zero. Ours is bounded at the operator hours we spent.
Do Portfolio and Clearinghouse Seat tiers get this?
Yes, scaled to the larger subscription. Portfolio is self-funding against $96,000 of working capital freed in year one. Clearinghouse Seat is $240,000. CFO Chair is $500,000. Same mechanic, same alignment, larger numbers.
What if we downgrade mid-program?
The Self-Funding Guarantee is forfeit on downgrade. If you need to pause, contact us before you downgrade and we will look at options.
Is there small print?
Yes. The full terms are at /guarantee/terms. We are specific about how baseline is measured, what working capital figure we use, what disqualifying events look like, and how the running total is reported.
What happens if we beat the target by a wide margin?
You keep every dollar of working capital you unlocked. We collect the standard subscription, not a percentage of savings. There is no upside skim.
Does this also apply to the 60-day money-back guarantee?
The unconditional 60-day money-back guarantee is separate and applies on top. Inside the first 60 days you can refund any payment for any reason. After day 60, the Self-Funding Guarantee takes over and the money-back is forfeit.
Full terms and conditions: Self-Funding Guarantee terms.
Apply
Four slots per month. Eight questions. One business day.
Apply for the Self-Funding Guarantee Program. If you are not a fit, we will point you to the Associate tier or the book. Nobody wastes anyone’s time.
P.S. Every month you spend considering this, you are financing your subs out of your own LOC. The bank is charging you for that financing. We are charging you only after we stop the bank from doing it.