Building a construction materials marketplace for a 50-year-old home building company.
Joe McGinnis is the CEO of Braidwater Group, a home builder that’s been in business for 50 years. He was looking for a scalable spin-out enterprise—something related to the construction industry but that could grow globally without the resource constraints and regulatory red tape of house building.
The trouble was this: he needed a software product to go to market, but his previous experiences with local software firms had been frustrating. He needed someone who could take a complex, industry-specific vision and turn it into a real product—and tell him what not to build as much as what to build.
I helped Joe plan the product blueprint for his construction materials marketplace, and then I managed the team of developers to build it across web, iOS, and Android.
The result was Bulki—one of the most ambitious MVPs I’ve built. Here’s exactly how I helped Joe build the product he needed.
Background
Braidwater builds around 300 homes a year and employs roughly 100 people. But the construction industry in Northern Ireland had changed dramatically in the last decade—more regulation, more bureaucracy, more red tape. Joe wanted something that could grow exponentially without those constraints.
He had done some low-level internal R&D—a land management platform, internal business tools—but quickly realized he needed to think bigger.
“We were looking for a spin-out enterprise that was related to the industry, but something that was scalable on a global level from our local base. Something that doesn’t require the level of resources and skills which are very difficult to get in our market at the minute.”
— Joe McGinnis, CEO, Braidwater Group
Problem: Joe needed to build a complex product, and his experiences with local firms hadn’t inspired confidence
Joe had a clear vision for a construction materials marketplace that would work across web, iOS, and Android. But turning that vision into a real product required technical expertise his team didn’t have—and his experiences with local software firms had left him skeptical.
Need 1: A working product across multiple platforms
Joe needed someone who could take a complex, industry-specific vision and turn it into working software—an ecommerce marketplace with supplier listings, order management, live carrier pricing, credit applications, and mobile apps. I typically advocate for building less software—using existing platforms like Shopify wherever possible—but the ecommerce platforms on the market were too simplistic for what Joe needed. This had to be a custom build.
Need 2: Real technical expertise, not “smoke and mirrors”
Joe’s previous experiences with local software firms had been frustrating. He needed someone who actually had the technical depth to build a platform of this complexity—not just sell him on one.
“I think that sometimes in our local market for software there’s maybe not as much technical expertise and knowledge in terms of building the type of software platform that you built for us. But also there’s a bit of smoke and mirrors in terms of how that’s sold to you and how they go about it.”
— Joe McGinnis, CEO, Braidwater Group
Need 3: A clear scope and budget he could rely on
This was a major investment for Braidwater. Joe needed to know exactly what he was getting and what it would cost before committing—no surprises, no open-ended billing.
Need 4: A team that could continue after launch
Joe didn’t just want software delivered and forgotten. He needed a runway—a team and a platform that could continue to grow after the engagement ended.
Why Joe chose Kareem to build Bulki
Ciaran Doherty at Loadar—a previous client—referred Joe. Joe was also considering local software agencies, but the referral carried enough weight to try a different approach.
“It was purely down to Ciaran Doherty’s positive recommendation.”
— Joe McGinnis, CEO, Braidwater Group
He wanted someone who’d actually done this before—not an agency
Software agencies make money by charging senior developer rates but paying junior developers to actually build the product. There’s no substitute for experience—most juniors at an agency simply don’t have the technical strength to build a solid foundation for a complex, multi-platform marketplace.
I offered Joe my 20+ years of software development experience, including building a marketplace I grew to $130 million in volume. I’ve shipped over a dozen MVPs, so I could help Joe identify what to include in a v1 and—just as importantly—what to defer to post-launch.
“Most valuable is probably your experience with what not to do as well as what to do. Don’t do that because you don’t know if you need that. Start with the bare bones and build from there.”
— Joe McGinnis, CEO, Braidwater Group
He wanted a fixed price with a clear blueprint
Agencies rarely commit to a fixed price because it comes with estimation risk. Instead, they bill in weekly or monthly increments—the longer the project takes, the more you pay. If the project isn’t well managed, your scope can balloon and you may end up paying far more than you anticipated.
I take a different approach. I conduct an extensive blueprinting exercise up front to flesh out the details, and then I provide a fixed price for the build. Joe’s 103-page blueprint defined exactly what we’d build across web, iOS, and Android—and what “done” would look like—before we wrote a line of code. After “smoke and mirrors” experiences with local firms, there were no surprises.
He wanted a team he could keep, not just software delivered and forgotten
When an agency finishes a product, they toss it to you over the fence and move on to the next. Joe needed more than that. He needed a team and a process that could continue after I was done.
The engagement was designed to transition the lead developer to Braidwater’s team after launch, not just deliver code and walk away.
“Not just ‘here’s your software, see you later.’ It sets up a runway for the direction that you’re going—setting up the initial platform, but facilitating the software developer that can then continue to build that platform.”
— Joe McGinnis, CEO, Braidwater Group
He valued the straight-talking collaboration
Unlike previous firms, I was direct. When Joe brought an idea, I’d either run with it or explain why a different approach would work better. I didn’t tiptoe around asks, or have drawn-out processes to justify additional billing.
“We could put anything forward and you’d handle it in the right way. ‘Yeah, I’ll look at that,’ or ‘I don’t think you should look at that,’ or ‘Let’s look at it a different way.’ Get straight to the point without having to beat about the bush.”
— Joe McGinnis, CEO, Braidwater Group
The geographic distance turned out to be a non-issue:
“Probably one of the main hesitations was your location in Canada. A lot of what we do is relationship-based and locally local connections. But through the weekly meetings and the regular communication lanes that we had set up, it probably wouldn’t have mattered where we were based. It worked really well.”
— Joe McGinnis, CEO, Braidwater Group
Solution: A 103-page blueprint, an MVP across 3 platforms, and a technical team
I ultimately provided Joe with three things. First, I helped him plan the product blueprint—this was a 103-page “blueprint” for the web, iOS, and Android apps he needed to build. This was one of the most ambitious MVPs I’ve worked on.
Then, once he chose me to actually build the MVP, I put together a team of developers and managed the build across six phases.
Finally, I transitioned the developer resources to the Bulki team so Braidwater had in-house capacity to continue building.
1. I led a comprehensive blueprintping session
During the blueprintping session, I worked with Joe to understand the business needs and translate them into specific features. The 103-page blueprint covered supplier listings, order management, live carrier pricing (integrated with Loadar), credit applications, shipment tracking, and a mobile app.
This blueprint served as the shared understanding of what a successful build looked like. By the end, Joe knew what he needed to build, what done would look like, and what it would cost.
2. I built the Bulki platform across 6 phases
I served as CTO, VP Engineering, and Chief Product Officer on the project. The build was structured across six phases over roughly 8 months.
I met with Joe and Karl (his project representative) weekly throughout. I built a strong working relationship with Karl, which took the day-to-day burden off Joe while keeping him in the loop.
“The collaboration that you built up with Karl and our team was particularly useful. It took the burden from me in terms of the day-to-day and operational aspects and the queries. It allowed me to still have an impact and feed into the process, but it just made the process really smooth.”
— Joe McGinnis, CEO, Braidwater Group
3. I transitioned the lead developer to Braidwater
At the end of the engagement, I transitioned my developer on the project to the Bulki team, giving Braidwater in-house capacity to continue building. I also set up the processes and tooling they needed to keep the project moving.
Results: “The experience you brought was invaluable”
Bulki is live and being trialed with customers. Early feedback has been positive—customers can see the potential, and the platform has opened doors with suppliers at scale.
Early traction
The platform gave Braidwater a credible entry to the part of the market they wanted to be in.
“It gives us enough to start with, where we can engage with our customers. They can see the potential in it and the gap in the market there. It’s given us a good base. It’s given us an entry to the part of the market that we want to be in. And it’s opened doors with suppliers at scale, which is what we’re looking for.”
— Joe McGinnis, CEO, Braidwater Group
It changed their view of what’s possible
Learning about modern tools and API capabilities along the way opened up new possibilities for the platform’s future.
“We are really encouraged by the early signs of some of the functionality that we have. Off the back of this, some of the thinking that has evolved and developed through the process, it’s totally changed our view of what is possible. So we’re excited about that.”
— Joe McGinnis, CEO, Braidwater Group
When asked if he would recommend working together, Joe was clear:
“I certainly would recommend working with you. Your experience from having done this so many times — how to run the process, keep on track, keep the lines open, and get it all done — that was invaluable to us.”
— Joe McGinnis, CEO, Braidwater Group
Thinking about building?
Get in touch