Podcast: One-On-One With Sean Faries, CEO of Land Gorilla

The CEO of Land Gorilla says his goal is to empower financial institutions with best-in-class construction lending technology.

Sean Faries founded the construction loan management software company after seeing the need for a platform that allowed for faster disbursements and a seamless exchange of information between stakeholders.

Land Gorilla is headquartered in San Luis Obispo, California. Clients include construction lenders, commercial banks, community banks, credit unions, independent mortgage bankers, and private money lenders.

Rally Credit Union in Texas announced a partnership with the company on May 6.

Faries recently sat down with The Mortgage Note’s Scott Kimbler to talk about Land Gorilla and his vision for the company.

Faries said he started the company in 2010 after losing everything during the financial crisis. His home was foreclosed on, he had a newborn son, and he was having difficulty finding a job.

“It was just a really low point in my life. And I had a friend call me up and say, ‘Hey, you know, there’s a bank out in the east and they are looking for people who are up for doing inspection work on some construction projects.’ Throughout high school and into my college years, I had done inspections for banks. I loved doing it,” Faries said.

Faries created an LLC online, and in his first year of business, he pulled in $8,000 in inspections.

With a $500 credit card from Wells Fargo, Faries incorporated the company, got a phone going, and registered a domain.

150 employees later, Land Gorilla is a leading technology provider of construction loan management software.

“If you keep working hard at something, good things will happen,” Faries said.

Faries says he is still excited to see Land Gorilla grow and explained the onboarding process for new clients.

“The lenders contract with Land Gorilla, they subscribe to our software platform. In the typical engagement, they configure their platform and onboard all their construction loans. And they get them all digitized and set up on the Land Gorilla platform. Then they send out invites to borrowers and the general contractors that are associated with those loans,” Faries said.

The platform uses machine learning and some artificial intelligence to reduce manual tasks. It can be accessed from a mobile device so parties can keep each other updated.

Faries says Land Gorilla goes a long way in keeping projects organized.

“The borrower and lender had this construction loan agreement, and they have to make sure all the I’s are dotted and T’s are crossed,” he said. “It is like doing your taxes by hand versus using something like Turbo Tax, where you’re just entering a couple of pieces of information and everything goes to work behind the scenes, and you’re able to file your taxes the same day. It is a very similar experience to Land Gorilla. We make it as easy as possible for people to get that information and exchange information behind the scenes.”

The time it takes to onboard depends on the financial institution. Large financial institutions typically take about 90 days.

Land Gorilla was recognized as a 2025 Tech100 winner by HousingWire.

#construction #constructionlending #mortgagenews