How BuiltMG scaled from $25M to $70M without adding overhead costs

Executive Summary

BuiltMG, a mid-tier residential construction company in Australia, scaled from $25M to $70M in annual revenue (180% growth) without increasing back-office overhead costs. This wasn't about implementing one tool or fixing one problem—it was about creating an integrated operational platform that connected every part of their business, from site to office, enabling them to handle dramatically more volume with the same team.

Key Results:

• Revenue: $25M → $70M (180% growth)

• Overhead: Flat (zero additional admin staff)

• Invoice Processing: $5.5M monthly, fully automated, saving $100K+ annually

• Revenue Protected: $600K+ annually from billing errors and incomplete work payments

• Approval Cycles: 3 days → 30 minutes (98% reduction)

• Quality Issues: Caught at $100 cost instead of $20,000 disasters

• Audit Preparation: 6 weeks → 1 day

The Problem

At $25M revenue, BuiltMG hit the wall every mid-tier builder faces:

• AP staff drowning in manual invoice processing, working overtime just to keep up

• $100K+ leaking annually through billing errors, duplicates, and payments for incomplete work

• Budget overruns discovered weeks too late to fix—margin evaporating before they knew it

• Quality and safety falling through cracks—defects reaching handover, expired vendor insurances creating liability

• Hours wasted coordinating—chasing site updates, creating task lists after meetings, reconciling data across systems

The choice: Hire more admin staff (eroding margins) or accept increasing chaos as volume grew. Neither was sustainable.

The Solution

We spent hours with every department—AP, project managers, site supervisors, procurement, WHS, finance—understanding their actual workflows. Then built integrated systems around how they really work:

AI Invoice Automation AI reads invoices, matches to POs, catches errors/duplicates, routes for approval. Aimee in AP processes triple the volume in half the time without manual data entry.

Site Verification Before Payment Site managers confirm work is actually complete before invoices get paid. Stopped $500K+ in payments for incomplete work annually.

Real-Time Budget Tracking Live visibility into committed costs vs. actual spend. Adrian sees real cash position across projects without waiting for month-end reports. Catch overruns while you can still fix them.

AI-Guided Site Labor Less experienced workers get real-time prompts on what to do next, which codes apply, what mistakes to avoid. Hired three apprentice-level carpenters productive within two weeks instead of three months.

Quality Hold Points Enforced Work can't proceed without inspection completion. Caught waterproofing defect before tiling—$200 fix instead of $18K rework after discovery.

Everything Connected Invoices match to POs, track against budgets, update cost management, sync to Xero. Site progress verifies payments. Quality tasks, defects, safety checks sync to one task board. Information entered once, flows everywhere.

The Results

Revenue Growth Without Overhead:

• $25M → $70M annual revenue (180% growth)

• Zero additional back-office staff hired

• Same AP team processing 3x invoice volume

• Same PM team coordinating significantly more projects

Money Protected:

• $600K+ saved annually (billing errors + incomplete work payments caught)

• Quality issues caught at $100 cost instead of $20,000 disasters

• Budget overruns identified mid-project when fixable

Time Back:

• Invoice processing: Hours daily → Minutes

• Approval cycles: 3 days → 30 minutes

• Audit prep: 6 weeks → 1 day

• PO creation for 5 identical orders: 45 minutes → 8 minutes

Risk Eliminated:

• Zero expired vendor insurances on site

• Zero hold points bypassed

• Zero defects reaching client handover

• Zero budget surprises at month-end

What Their Team Says

"I can see our real cash position across all projects. No more surprises at month-end, just clear forecasting."
— Adrian Galessi, Managing Director

"I'm processing triple the invoices in half the time. What used to take hours now happens automatically."
— Aimee Buckles, Accounts Payable

"I know exactly what's happening on every site without making constant phone calls. Saves me hours every day."
— Lee Timms, Construction Manager

"Updates flow from site to office straight away. No more end-of-day paperwork headaches."
— Josh Bell, Site Manager