Gaul’s path to real estate technology began far from construction sites. After graduating from West Point and serving as a helicopter pilot, he transitioned to the corporate world before recognizing an opportunity to help military veterans find civilian employment. “I looked around and saw that even though they only hired Harvard MBAs, which I’m not, I knew a lot of people in the military that could do those jobs,” he recalls.

That first venture, focused on military-to-civilian career transitions, earned him recognition from major media outlets and even dinner with the President. After selling to private equity, Gaul continued building companies across diverse sectors, including one acquired by the Weather Channel’s owners and another by Lucasfilm.

His approach to entrepreneurship centers on solving problems he personally experiences. “I always like to do things that I don’t know anything about, so I don’t know what’s not possible. I also like to solve problems that I have,” Gaul explains. The problem that led to Builders Update was his frustration with finding new construction properties as an investor.

“I love new construction. Absolutely love it. But it was hard to find, I’d have to go website to website, or go to the supermarket and find a magazine to see what developments are coming. I tended to know more than agents knew.”

Building Solutions Through Customer Feedback

Rather than developing solutions in isolation, Gaul’s strategy involves extensive market validation. “My best R&D team is my customer,” he says. “I ask them what they want. If a customer comes to us and says, ‘Boy, I really would love this,’ and it makes sense to me, I’ll start asking around to see if other people want it as well.”

This customer-centric approach led to Builders Update’s patented software platform, which now serves as the foundation for partnerships with major players like Roofstock. “Roofstock came to us and said they were thinking about building this functionality, but we already built it. Can we license it from you? I said, ‘Sure, I’d love to get more eyeballs on our properties.'”

The platform’s key innovation lies in its transparency and real-time data accuracy. “One part of our patent is that we time and date stamp all of our data,” Gaul explains. “When a person looks at a detailed page of a home, up in the right-hand corner, it’ll indicate exactly how fresh that data was, usually within hours.”

Addressing the Agent Knowledge Gap

Despite the platform’s success, Gaul identified another market need: agent education. “A lot of agents didn’t have the knowledge or expertise to sell new construction,” he observed. This insight led to Builders Update’s latest initiative, a comprehensive training program launching with a free introductory module.

The training addresses fundamental misconceptions about new construction sales. “They think they’re just an Uber driver, they’re going to drive from house to house and wait for the buyer to say, ‘This is the one I want,'” Gaul explains. “What a true professional will do is understand the needs versus the wants of a buyer, understand their budget, and do the research ahead of time.”

The program emphasizes strategic preparation and relationship management. Agents learn to pre-visit properties, understand both benefits and potential drawbacks, and most importantly, use the platform’s pre-registration system to protect their commissions. “If that buyer goes out ahead of time to the builder without you as the agent, you will not be compensated for all the work that you’ve done,” Gaul warns.

Technology’s Role in Accelerating the Process

The evolution of technology has fundamentally changed how buyers approach new construction. “Buyers will go online initially and do their own research, see what’s out there,” Gaul notes. However, this creates new challenges when outdated information leads to disappointment.

“Unfortunately, a lot of sites have old inventory that hasn’t been updated. They fall in love with something, contact an agent, and say, ‘I want to see this house.’ The agent goes, ‘Oh, that house sold six months ago.’ You’ve built mistrust with this new agent.”

Builders Update addresses this through its AI-powered tool, HomeScout, which provides real-time, multilingual support. “You can actually talk to the site as you’re driving down the road, tell it you need a three-bedroom, two-bath home in this zip code. If you talk to it in English, it will respond in English. If you talk to it in Spanish, it will respond in real Spanish.”

Market Predictions and Opportunities

Looking ahead, Gaul predicts significant rate reductions that will unlock pent-up demand. “I predict we’re going to start seeing rate cuts over and over again. We’re right now at about 7%, and I think we’re going to see that go down to maybe five and a half percent by next spring.”

This rate environment should trigger movement from homeowners currently locked into low-rate mortgages. “People like me sitting on a home at 3% or 2.75% will finally get off their butts and start looking at purchasing new homes, whether they’re downsizing,” he explains. “We have a lot of baby boomers with three-bedroom, two-bath houses. The kids are gone. They’d like to get into a two-bedroom home or condo, and they’ve been sitting on the sidelines.”

This demographic shift, combined with the current inventory surplus, creates what Gaul sees as a generational buying opportunity. “This is the chance for buyers to come in and purchase new construction for the first time in decades.”

International Expansion and Future Vision

Builders Update’s growth strategy extends well beyond domestic markets, already expanding to 21 countries and converted to nine languages. “I want to remove the boundaries of doing business around the world,” Gaul states. His immediate goal is reaching one million agents by fall, supported by expansion into Europe, South America, Canada, and Asia. The company is also pursuing continuing education credits for its training programs, adding professional certification value for agents.

The training program will evolve into advanced offerings, including a master’s course focused on negotiation strategies. Gaul insists on practical experience as a prerequisite: “We don’t want them to take that course until after they’ve sold one or two homes themselves and experienced it firsthand.”

Lessons for Real Estate Professionals

For industry professionals, Gaul’s experience offers key insights: solve real problems, seek extensive customer feedback, and provide transparency and real-time accuracy in an information-driven market.

Most importantly, his success demonstrates the ongoing need for professional expertise even in an increasingly automated world. While technology can accelerate processes, the human element, understanding client needs, building relationships, and providing strategic guidance, remains irreplaceable.

As the new construction market enters this period of significant opportunity, platforms like Builders Update and its training program are positioning real estate professionals to capitalize on changing conditions while serving their clients more effectively.