EP 61 - Lend Logic - Casey Schillereff - Private Lending

Casey joins the pod to talk about his software platform for lenders , contractors and home owners who are building a home with private funds. This is great ! 

https://www.lend-logic.com 

https://www.trevorbuckco.com/ 

Edited & Produced by Daisie Media 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:12

Welcome to the Trevor Buck Podcast, episode 61. And we've got Casey with Len Logic with us today. Welcome. Thank you. And you grew up in Montana. Yeah. Whereabouts? From the Kalispell area. And you were out there. How long did you live there? So grew up out there, moved here when I was 18. Okay. And what did you do uh for fun, for hobbies growing up in Kalispell? I was one of those skater boys. Okay, I heard you were high level. Someone said you were about pro. Uh not quite. What did you do during the winter? Oh, snowboarding. Okay. Whitefish. Okay. Big mountain. That is that's cool. That's a cool mountain. You've been there. It's been a little while. And then uh you moved out to okay, look, growing up, did you uh have side jobs? What kind of stuff were you doing for work?

SPEAKER_01 1:04

No, so about the time I entered into the workforce, it was pretty slow coming out of what's been like 08, 09, and pretty much picked up a restaurant job, that's all there was in Kalispel, so hit some dishes and busted some tables. Cool.

SPEAKER_00 1:19

And what high school did you go to? Flathead. Okay. And then you moved out to Washington and what did you start doing out here?

SPEAKER_01 1:26

So I'd packed panels for six months until my back hurt, and then I then I went to TU and did structural concrete for a couple years and then moved into uh plumbing and office project management.

SPEAKER_00 1:39

Okay. So and you have some uh construction uh background that that's cool. Um and I went to uh at what point you you have a platform that we're gonna get into, but at what point did you realize hey there must be an easier way to handle this process? Was that did you use this like on your first one, your second one?

SPEAKER_01 2:00

No, so I did uh did a remodel, did a new build, and then did another new build. It was after that one, I was like, Yeah, there's gotta be a system when there wasn't.

SPEAKER_00 2:11

So Okay. And you started working on a platform, and no, I know if it was with uh Piper guy, we call him on the pod, but he kind of had an idea too, but then he said, Hey, whatever you're doing, it was uh further along or more advanced. He's like, Hey, run, run with it.

SPEAKER_01 2:26

So Yeah, I talked to him, uh see kind of who he used to develop his apps and stuff, because I knew nothing about app development. Okay. And uh he had already kind of had something roughly roughly built and wasn't quite what I had pictured, so I ended up just running with my own.

SPEAKER_00 2:45

Okay. And what have you learned about app development? Because I know nothing about it. So what's that like?

SPEAKER_01 2:51

Um I don't know anything about it either. I had to hire somebody, but um it's definitely super easy to get too convoluted. Like, might be a pretty good idea, and then you start going down that path, and it ends up just being way too complicated. So really try to go to keep it dumb.

SPEAKER_00 3:11

Right, right, especially for people like me. You gotta keep it, you gotta keep it dumb because I'm uh I'm a dummy. I like uh easy to use software. So tell me about explain to me exactly what LendLogic is. Because it has multiple different channels, you might say. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 3:27

Yeah, so it started off with um with the lending. It started off with the lending management side of it. So the private lenders, they're just on spreadsheets and stuff. Um so one side of it is so that they can manage all their projects and better invest their investors' money and then the other side of it is for the guys building. So everybody's got a budget template, place to put their plans, put progress photos, um, you can get quotes out of it now, you can put a build spec in there, and then draw a schedule too. That's one thing that a lot of people don't really know is how much money they need on their first draw, and they end up drawing too much money. So this kind of just lays it out there. You can select what you need money for, and it tells you how much.

SPEAKER_00 4:18

Okay. And there's a portion of this that is for contractors too, they can be involved. Yeah, like subcontractors.

SPEAKER_01 4:24

Yep, yeah, we got contractors we're partnered with, um, suppliers, lumber yards. So it's a great opportunity for advertising and uh get in front of the projects, get the lead up front.

SPEAKER_00 4:37

Okay, and I know we've had uh uh one of these uh mortgage companies on, but so private lending is kind of a unique, what do you call it, a niche, kind of a unique situation? So would a bank be able to use your platform?

SPEAKER_01 4:52

Yeah, the platform is more specifically for owner builders. Okay, banks out here don't really let you just get a loan and build yourself without a general contractor.

SPEAKER_00 5:03

Okay, so this is specifically for private lending and owner builders.

SPEAKER_01 5:08

Correct. Yeah, out in Calispell or Wyoming, it could be used by a bank, you could partner with a bank. Okay. Um but actually just recently we detached the need for having a lender on there. So if somebody's building and the lender doesn't want to use it for management, we can still they can still use it to manage their project.

SPEAKER_00 5:27

Okay. Well that's that's good. That's good info. So because that would uh because some of these people that are first time and even like myself, it's a um daunting task, you might say. Like even you said, a draw. Like there could be young couples out there building out, they're like, what's a draw? And how much are we gonna need? Who knows? You know, you got estimates, but until the invoices come in, and then and I've learned that if you take too much, now you're paying on that interest, even though and and I I'm I I have not figured it out, but sometimes you don't always get the invoice for the work until what the following month? Right.

SPEAKER_01 6:03

So yeah, I've I've had it happen recently to a guy that was on the app and he forgot that he had money set aside for I think it was sheetrockers or something, and he looked at his count, oh yeah, I got you know sixty, seventy grand in there, I don't need money this month. Well, and then the invoice has hit. Uh so I don't know, I let him put it on my card because I knew the money was coming next month.

SPEAKER_00 6:25

But okay, okay, okay. So how many uh projects or people like if you have numbers that you can share, like people that are using this, it's been tested. How long has it been out?

SPEAKER_01 6:36

So we rolled it out, it was user ready about a year ago. Okay. Um kind of slowly trickled people into it. We've probably had about 20 projects get uploaded in there. Okay. Um, some of them never ended up doing the whole thing. Um, but out of those, there's probably 10 of them that ended up closing out.

SPEAKER_00 6:57

So from start to finish. Well, that's that's really cool. And I think at one time you had mentioned as more and more people start using the program that there might be some intelligence built in to help budgeting.

SPEAKER_01 7:10

Yeah, I got a lot of crazy ideas. But I don't know. One idea is if um, like when you were building a house, how I mean, how did you know how much it was gonna cost?

SPEAKER_00 7:21

I I was working with uh Elevate Mortgage and we we winged it.

SPEAKER_01 7:26

Yeah, they said roughly right now, I don't know, 140 bucks a square foot, whatever. Um, but if we got say 30 users in here all the time, we got a six-month rolling data, we could have really accurate actual costs, um, just per square foot cost of every single item on there. So my I guess my vision for that portion would be if you go in, you're building a 2,000 square foot mid-grade house, you plug that in there, it tells you roughly what the last six months of data's telling you for cost.

SPEAKER_00 7:59

Right. I know that's that's cool to look forward to. And uh what kind of feedback have you got from some of the uh your trade partners that are part of it?

SPEAKER_01 8:08

So I've yeah, I've gotten good feedback. There's uh there's been a couple guys that were a little bit leery because they've never never received any value out of paying for a lead. Um so one of the guys I just gave him a couple free months and he ended up reaching out to me and telling me he wanted to start paying for it.

SPEAKER_00 8:25

So perfect. And uh on that, you only you have a a qu a limited number of subs. So like in the electrical trade, you have X, how many? Yeah, cat we cap it out at three. So for each each division or each uh subcontractor.

SPEAKER_01 8:42

Yeah, we don't want to dilute the we want it to be valuable for the contractor so they're not going up against ten people. Absolutely. Also, we we don't want the uh user to get flooded with 300 quotes right away. Right. Um to where it's overwhelming. Yeah. Kind of landed on that number of three because that's kind of general rule, I guess, as far as getting accurate pricing, is you know, if you got three quotes, you should have a pretty pretty level price.

SPEAKER_00 9:08

Okay, and you are it uh the so this couple or this uh person that's building the home, let's say they've got a buddy that's gonna help them plumb it. So there's a way for them to select that don't send me plumbing bids.

SPEAKER_01 9:22

Yep, yeah. So in order for that that lead to hit the contractor's email, at first they have to upload plans. They have to go through a build spec, and that helps it just answer random questions that help them get leveler bids. And then they have to go through and select what they don't need quotes on or what they're self-performing. So if you're signed up as a plumber, if the guy building selects he's doing his own plumbing, you don't get the quote, or you don't get the lead. So you're not paying for dead leads like some of these other sites. Um, and it's a fraction of the price, too.

SPEAKER_00 9:54

And you don't want for the subcontractors listen, you don't want this to be uh basically a bidding service. No. You know, just uh bidding with no, you know, just people searching for numbers, kicking tires are what you might say. They have no intent on using who there is on your platform, right? You're trying to avoid that.

SPEAKER_01 10:13

Yep. Yeah, and also trying to avoid uh bad subs too. If there's a sub on there, there's no contract or anything, so if you're not cutting it or we get bad feedback from the builders, you're we'll just drop you, we'll find somebody else.

SPEAKER_00 10:26

Okay, so you're you're that's that's awesome. So you're helping vet because like I said, a lot of these people have never done this before. And uh and you've been through it what twice now? Yeah, did did two new builds. Okay. And you're gonna do another one, you might say. Yeah, yeah, if somebody buys my house. Right. And how do they find your house that you have for sale? Uh go on Zillow. Where's it located? Uh it's in woodland. That's as deep as I'll give you. Oh, that's awesome. So what's uh if we can get the goal today is to uh educate people on this platform. Is this uh PC-based? Is this uh mobile-based? Like how how easy is it for let's say the like I said, these people have never done it before. They've never built the house. So what are they gonna do?

SPEAKER_01 11:13

Yeah, so it's a web-based app to get signed up, it's free. I used to have uh uh access for borrowers and charge them a one-time fee. Um, and just to gain traction, I want to just give it to everybody for free. They can go to lend-logic.com. There's a form to fill out there. And it's a web-based app, but you can install the application on your phone through the web browser. So it's right on your home screen. Okay. Um, works on iPads, PCs, phone. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 11:47

And they uh they upload their plans?

SPEAKER_01 11:50

Yep, yeah. So after they sign up, they'll get a welcome email with a three-step process to get them to get the ball rolling before um budgets are ready to start getting input. Um there's a video link there that is a full walkthrough, a five-minute video, um, walkthrough of the app. And yeah, I mean, the process is you upload plans, you go through a build spec, you select what you're self-performing, and then quotes start coming in, you build your budget. There's I think 40 budget line items that are pre-filled out, everything you need for a house line item, standard house. Um, and then once that budget's done, you can move on to the draw schedule and help figure out how much money you need.

SPEAKER_00 12:33

Okay, that's awesome. Helps people uh organize instead of uh uh writing it on piece of paper or spreadsheets or whatever. That that's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 12:42

Yeah, and some people I've found out some people aren't maybe they can't make it through the draw schedule, they're not numbers inclined or project management inclined a little bit or whatever. It's it is pretty easy, but even if you don't make it that far, there's still value um that you can gain from even just through the budget.

SPEAKER_00 12:59

Okay. Because like you said, that you you have experience in project management, but for some people that that don't, that that can be like you said, that the numbers can be daunting, so they need to rely on their their lender or get uh advice for that.

SPEAKER_01 13:12

Yeah, and if if they want, they can reach out and I'll help them.

SPEAKER_00 13:15

Okay. Here to help. That's awesome. Hey, I've seen uh a sign of yours at the construction project over there on Yeah, Dollars Corner. Yeah, that looks good. Nice work. What what what's that building there?

SPEAKER_01 13:26

Um so that's a gas station going in there. Okay. Um guy I plumbed some apartments for down in Portland. He's owned that for years and was just kind of kept in touch with him and nice he started building it, and so I reached out and said, Hey, can I throw some banners up? Absolutely, that's awesome. Good deal. Gotten quite a quite a few forms filled out from that banner.

SPEAKER_00 13:46

And uh what uh what subcontractors are you looking to fill right now on your program?

SPEAKER_01 13:52

So we're filled up on plumbers, electricians, um we've got a handful of dirt workers, we've got concrete guys. The ones that we need slots for is painting, um, drywall, insulation, and then yeah, just one or two more of every other trade, pretty much. Um, suppliers too. We've got we've got lumber yard, we got uh coverage on that. Um, but yeah, appliances, we got coverage on cabinets, need some appliances and plumbing fixtures, electrical fixtures, stuff like that. Nice. Connexes, whatever. I want it to be a one-stop shop, you'd quarter potties.

SPEAKER_00 14:32

There you go, there you go. No, that's awesome. What else would you like to educate people on your platform? What have we missed?

SPEAKER_01 14:40

So, yeah, I guess the main main goal is just to let everybody know it's out there and it's free, it's a useful tool. Uh, let contractors know it's a good way to get their foot in the door, especially if they're a newer contractor, um, up-and-coming plumber, whatever. Good way to get your name out. There is some advertising too on the budget line item. So if you're a plumber, your logo will be on the left side of the budget line item, hyperlinked to your website. So it's a little bit of free advertising there.

SPEAKER_00 15:08

No, that's awesome. That's look, I've seen that. That's that's good. Yep, very good. And like you said, especially for a new company that's got their branding and it's it's in front of people, it can definitely help them get their business out there and get some uh leads coming in.

SPEAKER_01 15:22

Yeah, and even if you don't end up landing that project, just even people knowing, oh yeah, I heard you know, reach out to that guy, he he was on my app or whatever, he gave me a quote.

SPEAKER_00 15:32

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 15:33

Or the guy did use, maybe he didn't cut it. I wish I would have used that guy.

SPEAKER_00 15:36

Right, right, right, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 15:39

Hey, that's all I've got. Yeah. Anything else? Uh I guess just uh real real brief touch on the uh lender side. Um yeah, it's uh if you need a management tool for lending and managing all your projects that you're private lending to, or if your private lender wants a little bit of insight into what their money's doing, it's a good app for that. Um currently also not charging for that.

SPEAKER_00 16:07

So okay, so I don't uh that the lending side of it or the investing side, that's something completely new to me. So with your program, would there be a like a portal where they're able to see all the projects they have going on? Yep.

SPEAKER_01 16:20

So yeah, if you gave somebody a million dollars to fund some projects, you can see um into each one of those projects and see what your money's doing.

SPEAKER_00 16:29

Okay. And do you know, um, I know you had uh you'd mentioned uh uploading progress photos. How many of these investors or lenders do they is that frequent that they ask for that?

SPEAKER_01 16:43

There's not too many now. There is there is a few that require it. Okay. Um I would think it would become a little bit more common. I think that's what something I would like to see.

SPEAKER_00 16:55

I would I would think so. I mean, I guess they're just uh the investors are really trusting these people that the project is happening. So I mean they they obviously haven't been burnt too many times, but it seems like it would be nice to be able to track progress as as the money's going and the project's moving forward. So I I do like that feature. Yeah, that's pretty much all I have. Okay, well, appreciate you taking the time and educated about this. And uh I will put your website in the notes, and do you also want a phone number or email? I can grab it off your website.

SPEAKER_01 17:29

Yeah, it's on the website, you can throw it all on there. Okay, and then if anybody's signing up uh as a user on the app, put uh in the message, put Trevor Buck in there. There you go. See who's coming from here.

SPEAKER_00 17:40

Nice, okay. Appreciate this. Yeah, this episode was edited and produced by Dave Media. Thank you.