December 29 , 2006

Built Tough: e-Builder offers 21st-century solutions for a 20th-century industry

South Florida Business Journal - December 29, 2006
by Ed Duggan

e-Builder was part of mega-publisher McGraw-Hill's buying spree in 2000, when it picked up pieces of tech companies with related links to its publication niches.

The alignment became the force driving the young, Plantation-based company's strategy to reach construction industry buyers via prestigious trade journals and shows.

The tech firm had developed an online software program that helped medium and large companies automate the planning and construction process.

They were heady days, according to CEO Jonathan Antevy.

"For us, it was like the Good Housekeeping seal of approval when McGraw-Hill acquired a piece of us," he said, laughing.

McGraw-Hill acquired less than 20 percent of e-Builder - a confidentiality agreement shrouds the actual amount - although apparently no money changed hands in the deal, according to Antevy.

"We got ad credits for their engineering and construction publications," he said. "I understand that, of all the similar technology acquisitions they made at the time, we're the only one left standing."

Left standing and profitable, according to Antevy, who said e-Builder is growing by 30 percent a year, with 2005 revenue of "less than $10 million."

The company operates out of a 10,000-square-foot Plantation office with about 30 employees. There is also a small office in Gainesville, which houses the company's two chief software architects.

On the program side, it offered everything a construction user could want. The e-Builder program allows files to be shared, calendar items posted, drawings viewed, as well as discussions and virtual meetings held in real time.

"The e-Builder program can pay for itself just from the savings in not incurring the traditional printing and shipping charges to deliver plans and spec sheets to bidders and sub-contractors," said President and COO Ron Antevy, Jonathan's brother.

A recent Harvard University case study by Becerik and Pollalis made a strong case for computer-aided collaboration in managing construction. It showed there were tangible, quasi-tangible and intangible benefits from using a system like e-Builder.

The study demonstrated a tangible annual saving of $13,457 per project just in the handling of requests for information, and up to $29,000 in e-bidding costs.

E-Builder can also link architects, engineers, vendors, subcontractors and general contractors, leaving an electronic paper trail of information requests, bids, e-mails, change orders and approvals.

The latest tweak to the firm's marketing strategy is more feet on the street.

"We have five excellent sales execs now - and I'd have 15 tomorrow if I could find them," Jonathan Antevy said.

That shouldn't be too hard with salary, commission and bonus packages worth $75,000 to $125,000 annually.

"We need people with a construction background who can intelligently sell. They are the jobs of the future," he said.

E-mail residential real estate writer Ed Duggan at eduggan@bizjournals.com