Hi everyone,

I'm a junior in college studying Construction Management. I'm currently doing an internship with a construction company as an estimator where I'm actively bidding jobs on a daily basis. Since I've begun my internship, I've found myself using multiple bidding websites online. These websites provides users with bidding information, upcoming projects, project contacts, business phone/fax numbers, digital blueprints, budget numbers, subcontractor information, trade information, a comprehensive project search function, etc. The list goes on and on. A few weeks ago, I came to the realization that the success of a website such as this is based on basically 1 major thing. Access to information. The more and more I thought about it the more I realized, being a student, I'm in a very unique position to access large amounts of valuable information about upcoming construction projects. This is not only because of my internship status but also because I have a genuine reason to be contacting General Contractors and project owners. In addition to this, my list of personal contacts in the construction industry is ever-growing, and so is my understanding of the logistics of the bidding process.

Working for a construction company, I see first hand just how valuable a website resource like this is for a business. I use these websites on a daily basis, and much of my company's work has come from construction jobs posted on such sites. The monthly charge for an account with websites like these ranges from $40 a month to over $100 a month. Resources that provide information about potential construction jobs are of infinite worth to companies, especially during a recession when work is hard to find. This would be a business where our customers will need us just as much as we need them, which is an immediate advantage.

I think my knowledge of the construction process, the industry, and my access to valuable information could be a great step towards building a successful construction-bidding based website. I have dealt with many General Contractors, Project managers, and company owners. I know how to talk to them, I know how to obtain information from them, and I know the right questions to ask. I know how the public bidding process works and I've seen the business side of it all. I know how to network and talk to people of higher company status as I've been doing it for 6 months and will be doing it for 12 more before I get my degree.

Basically what I'm looking for is someone who is extremely hard-working and focused, someone who has extensive knowledge and experience on how to build a strong and secure website, and someone who might be willing to invest some of the startup costs of such a business...or assist me in finding investors. The good thing about a company like this is that it shouldn't cost much to start up. I've already begun putting together an outline of the business plan. I understand that in order for this company to be successful, we will have to do a little more than just dig and attain project knowledge. We will have to have a niche. Whether it be price, some special service to contractors, a comprehensive forum, a specialized service not offered by the competition, email notifications, etc. We will have to come up with a genuine advantage and infuse it into our business plan.

I haven't decided whether the website should take a local approach (Ohio, Michigan, Indiana) or nationwide. Obviously going nationwide could be more lucrative, but it would also cost considerably more and take quite a bit more work.

A majority of the startup work here will be digging for company information, digging for upcoming project information, digging for contact information, and digging for digital blueprints on these projects. A large amount of this information needs to be available upon launching of the site. And we'll need many terabytes of storage for all of this information.

Well there's my idea, and I think it has the potential to be successful. We will have to start small and work our way to relevance. We will need some basic legal advice and a fresh website look with plenty of bandwidth.

If you have any interest in this idea, and you have experience building successful websites, PM me and we can talk more. Starting a business alone can be extremely difficult and even a bit lonely. I need the right help and I hope it's out there. I'd prefer it if you were somewhat local (OH, MI, IN) but it's not a pre-requisite.