Build better homes. Run a better company.
Jared Gossett talks with builders, developers, and authors about running a home building company: pricing spec deals, keeping clients for life, hiring, and planning an exit. 111 episodes, plus the templates his own company uses every day.
David Gerstel on Building, Business, and Turning 80
Our most-listened-to guest returns. At 80, the builder and author shares what decades in business taught him about running a construction company and living a meaningful life.
Recent conversations
How to Exit Your Company with David Lupberger
GuestThe construction veteran first joined us in 2019 to talk client-for-life strategy. He returns for an under-considered question: how do you one day sell or step away from your company?
109Cedar Build
Innovators SeriesSmall multifamily infill in Austin and beyond: how to optimize tight sites, use the newest code and legislative updates, and assess infill at scale with AI-assisted software.
108Austin Tunnell of Building Culture
Innovators SeriesThe Oklahoma builder and developer on homes and urban communities designed to last generations, and how he structures deals for investors.
107How to Go Bankrupt Building Spec Homes
Mini-sodeA short, blunt episode on staying safe and profitable in the spec building trenches.
106Why Most Builders Fail
SoloThe episode Jared hesitated to release. The building industry gets better only after it looks at its situation honestly.
The templates we run our own company on
Spreadsheets, guides, and paperwork from Gossett & Co, ready to edit with your own logo and numbers.
Spec Home Pro Forma Template
Analyze a spec deal in minutes and show investors and banks the economics on one page.
Pre-Construction Client Guide
The guide we hand our own clients in those first conversations, as a template you can make yours.
Custom Home Selection Sheet Template
Track every finish decision with budget, actual cost, deadline, and client sign-off.
Construction Budget and Specifications
About 100 cost-code line items in two Excel versions, one for custom homes and one for spec.
Articles for working builders
Home Builder Leads: How to Get More (and Better) Inquiries
Most builders have a sorting problem, not a lead shortage. Where good leads come from and how to qualify them before you spend an evening.
Read article →Home Builder Marketing Ideas That Don't Require a Big Budget
Ideas that cost more time than money, grouped by getting found, getting referred, and getting seen.
Read article →ChatGPT Prompts for Contractors You Can Use This Week
Prompts for marketing, client emails, hiring, and operations, plus the jobs ChatGPT should not do.
Read article →
We can't get better until we accept the reality of our situation.Jared Gossett · Episode 106
Jared is CEO of Gossett & Co, a custom home builder in Austin named the city's Builder of the Year three times. Building Optimal is where he trades notes with the builders, developers, and authors who shaped how he runs a company.