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Civalent

Regulatory intelligence before the first line is drawn.

Strategic Overview | SaaS Platform | Replaces $6K–$24K/project consulting
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Regulatory research is the most expensive
bottleneck in preconstruction

Construction firms spend 40% of preconstruction time cross-referencing PDFs, agency websites, and spreadsheets. Every project repeats this research from scratch. Regulatory misses discovered at plan review or inspection cost $200K–$50M to remedy.

Time per project

Code research
5–8 weeks
Compliance matrix
2–3 weeks
Feasibility report
1–2 weeks
Monitoring changes
Ongoing

Cost impact

$16K–$54K
Per-project regulatory consulting cost
40–80 hrs/project at $150–$300/hr
$200K–$50M
Cost of regulatory misses
Discovered at plan review or inspection
0K+
Local US jurisdictions
Each with independent code amendments

$3.5B TAM with zero SaaS penetration
in preconstruction services

The $2–$3B annual preconstruction consulting market has no SaaS leader. Every firm reinvents regulatory research from scratch on every project.

TAM $3.5B 301K US construction firms
SAM $780M 65K SaaS-ready firms
SOM (Y3) $9.1M 350 target firms · 1.2% of SAM
Segment Firms TAM
General contractors 125,000 $1.50B
Architects / Engineers 150,000 $1.20B
Design-build firms 15,000 $540M
Project developers 10,000 $180M
Precon services firms 1,000 $72M
Total 301,000 $3.49B

The upper-right quadrant is uncontested white space

Every competitor is either post-design (CodeComply, CivCheck, Trunk Tools), code-research-only (UpCodes, ICC), or general construction AI without regulatory depth (MeltPlan, Document Crunch).

Pre-Design (Proactive) Post-Design (Reactive) Code Lookup Full Intelligence
Civalent
InQI
MeltPlan
UpCodes
ICC Digital
CodeComply
CivCheck
Trunk Tools
Doc Crunch

Civalent is the only full-column solution

12 capabilities mapped across 8 competitors. No other platform covers all three differentiators: multi-jurisdictional mapping, regulatory monitoring, and feasibility automation.

Capability Civalent CodeComply InQI CivCheck Trunk Doc Crunch MeltPlan UpCodes ICC
Code research automation
Multi-jurisdictional mapping
Compliance matrix generation
Feasibility report automation
Regulatory change monitoring
Preconstruction phase focus
Risk / impact scoring
Industry-specific codes
Document generation
Contract / spec analysis
AI-powered insights
Pricing $499–5K/mo ~$250/mo Credits Free* Ent. Ent. Ent. $45–68 Sub.

Three things no competitor does

The only platform combining all three capabilities. Each alone is a product. Together, they define a new category.

Multi-Jurisdictional Compliance Mapping
Federal, state, local, and industry codes mapped to a single project context with conflict detection across 44,000+ US jurisdictions.
Proactive Regulatory Change Monitoring
Daily automated polling of eCFR and Federal Register. AI-generated impact assessments against active project matrices with severity-scored alerts.
Automated Feasibility Report Generation
Compiles regulatory landscape, risk assessment, and compliance matrix into audit-ready reports with full citations. Under 2 minutes vs. 2+ hours manually.

Four converging tailwinds make this the right moment

0%
AI Adoption = Early Mover Window
Only 27% of AEC firms use AI today. The remaining 73% are evaluating. First-mover in preconstruction regulatory AI captures the category before incumbents wake up.
$16B → $45B
ConTech SaaS Explosion
Construction technology SaaS growing from $16.3B (2025) to $45.5B by 2035. The spend is happening; the question is which category captures it.
$2–$3B
Zero SaaS Penetration in Precon
The preconstruction consulting market is $2–$3B annually. Every dollar is spent on manual research. No SaaS product serves this workflow today.
0K+
Regulatory Complexity Accelerating
44,000+ US jurisdictions, increasing local amendments, and new federal regulations (eCFR updates daily). Complexity makes manual research increasingly untenable.

Two credible threats. One clear moat.

HIGH MeltPlan
$14M Bessemer seed. Construction-native AI scoring 95%+ on building inspector exams. Broad construction platform expanding into preconstruction.
Their strengths
  • $14M VC backing (Bessemer)
  • Construction-native AI training
  • 95%+ on professional exams
  • Expanding feature set rapidly
Our moat
  • 12–18 month head start on regulatory depth
  • Multi-jurisdictional mapping (they lack)
  • Regulatory change monitoring (they lack)
  • Feasibility report automation (they lack)
MEDIUM UpCodes
Broadest code coverage (1,400+ codes, 5M+ sections) with AI Copilot. Code lookup tool, not intelligence platform. Potential integration partner.
Their strengths
  • 1,400+ codes, 5M+ sections
  • Strong AI Copilot for lookup
  • $45–$68/mo price point
Our advantage
  • Lookup only — no compliance matrices
  • No change monitoring
  • No feasibility reports
  • Complementary, not competing

Platform costs 8–33% of manual consulting

Here's what happens when we launch: every firm currently paying a consultant $6K–$24K per project can switch to Civalent for a flat monthly fee. They get the same regulatory intelligence, faster, at a fraction of the cost. That gap between what they pay now and what we charge is why this business works.

Starter
$499/mo
Small architecture firms, specialty contractors. 2–4 projects/year. One subscription replaces one $6K consultant engagement.
  • 1–5 users
  • 3 active projects
  • 5 states
  • 500 RAG queries/mo
  • Federal monitoring
Enterprise
$4,999/mo
ENR 400 firms, multi-office operations. 20+ simultaneous projects. For firms spending $100K+/yr on consultants today.
  • 25+ users
  • Unlimited projects
  • All US jurisdictions
  • Unlimited queries
  • 2 vertical packs + dedicated CSM

Put simply: for every dollar a firm spends on Civalent, they save three to twelve dollars they would have paid a consultant. That math sells itself.

Manual Consulting
$6K–$24K
per project
Civalent Platform
$499–$5K
per month (unlimited projects)
ROI
$1 → $3–$12
returned in saved costs

$126K → $860K → $4.4M over three years

Here's how we grow. Year 1 is about proving the product works and landing our first 15 paying customers. Year 2 is about word-of-mouth and scaling into adjacent verticals. Year 3 is where compounding kicks in — existing customers expand their usage, and new customers arrive faster because the reputation is established.

$0K
Year 1 ARR: $270K Prove it works
$0K
Year 2 ARR: $1.4M Scale what works
$0M
Year 3 ARR: $7.0M Compounding takes over
0
Y1 Customers
Enough to validate and iterate
0
Y2 Customers
Referrals + second vertical kick in
0
Y3 Customers
Category leadership territory
583% → 407%
YoY Growth
Decelerating is normal — the base gets bigger

SaaS-best metrics driven by vertical focus

Here's what keeps us healthy. These four numbers are how investors (and we) judge whether a subscription business is built to last. The short version: customers cost little to acquire, they stay a long time, they pay us more each year, and we keep most of every dollar they spend.

LTV:CAC Ratio
21.9x → 72.8x
Y1: 21.9x · Y2: 38.2x · Y3: 72.8x
Far exceeds 3x benchmark
Every $1 we spend finding a customer returns $22–$73 over their lifetime. Healthy is 3x. We are wildly above that.
CAC Payback
2.4 months
Starter: 5.0mo · Pro: 2.7mo · Ent: 1.6mo
vs. 12–18mo SaaS avg
We earn back the cost of acquiring a customer in under 3 months. Most SaaS companies take 12–18.
Gross Margin
78–95%
Early: 94.7% (low COGS) · At scale: 78%
Normalizes with support staff
Of every dollar customers pay, we keep 78–95 cents. The rest goes to AI compute and infrastructure.
Net Revenue Retention
125% → 135%
Y2: 125% NRR · Y3: 135% NRR
Expansion from upgrades + packs
Existing customers spend 25–35% more each year as they upgrade tiers and add vertical packs. We grow even without new sales.

Four scenarios stress-tested

Here's what could go wrong and how we handle it. We deliberately modeled the worst versions of each risk. The headline: even under pessimistic assumptions, the business stays alive and profitable. That's the advantage of selling compliance software — firms can't simply stop complying.

2x Churn (20–25% annual) High Impact
Y3 revenue drops 35% ($2.8M vs $4.4M). LTV drops from $133K to $67K. LTV:CAC still 19x (healthy).
What if double the customers leave each year? We still clear $2.8M in Y3 and the economics remain strong. It hurts, but it doesn't break us.
Mitigation: Invest in onboarding, dedicate CSM earlier, usage analytics for at-risk detection.
3x AI Costs Med Impact
Gross margin drops 78% → 72%. Y3 AI costs $180K → $540K. Operating margin 61–78% → 53–70%.
What if the AI models we use triple in price? Margins shrink a few points, but we're still keeping 70+ cents of every dollar. AI costs are trending down, so this is a conservative worst case.
Mitigation: Cache common queries, open-source models for low-stakes, volume pricing negotiation.
MeltPlan Captures Market High Impact
$14M funding = faster feature builds. 12–18 months before comparable regulatory features. Broad construction AI vs. our depth advantage.
The biggest competitive threat has $14M and is moving fast. But they're building broad, not deep. Our 12–18 month head start on regulatory depth is the window we execute in.
Mitigation: Execute fast on aviation beachhead, lock 50+ customers before competition, build switching costs.
Slow Sales Cycle (12wk avg) Low Impact
Y1 customers: 8–10 instead of 15. Y1 revenue: $65K–$80K instead of $126K. Cash flow still positive (bootstrapped).
What if enterprise sales take longer than expected? We land fewer customers in Y1 but remain cash-flow positive because we're bootstrapped. No burn rate pressure — we just grow slower.
Mitigation: 30-day free trials, pre-loaded demo environment, ROI calculator for prospects.

Profitable from Month 1. Series A optional at Year 3.

Here's how we stay lean. This business doesn't need venture capital to survive — it's designed to be cash-flow positive from the first paying customer. We start with personal savings, let revenue fund the team, and only raise outside money if the growth opportunity justifies acceleration. Taking investment is a strategic choice, not a survival requirement.

Pre-Revenue (Mo 1–3)
Personal savings. Infrastructure + initial marketing.
Skin in the game — founder funds the start
$5–$10K
Early Revenue (Mo 4–12)
Revenue covers operating costs. Cash-flow positive.
The product pays for itself from here
$0
Growth (Year 2)
Revenue covers first sales hire + infrastructure.
Revenue funds the team — no outside money needed
$0
Optional Series A (Year 3)
$5–$7M ARR. 400%+ YoY growth. 10–15x ARR valuation.
Raise only if accelerating makes strategic sense
$50–$100M

Team Ramp

Year 1
1 (founder)
Solo build — ship fast, stay focused
Year 2
3–4
First hires: sales + customer success
Year 3
10–12
Full team only when revenue justifies it

If Raising

$5–$10M
Target raise
Fuel for enterprise sales + engineering
$50–$100M
Implied valuation
Based on 10–15x ARR at $5–$7M revenue

36-week build. Flughafen PM as aviation beachhead.

Five implementation phases from foundation to enterprise features. First paying customer at Week 8.

W1 W8 W16 W22 W28 W36
Phase 1: Foundation
W1–8
Phase 2: Reg. Corpus
W9–16
Phase 3: Core Features
W17–22
Phase 4: Monitoring
W23–28
Phase 5: Enterprise
W29–36
Milestones
First Customer Core Complete v1 Launch
Aviation Beachhead
Flughafen PM as free launch partner. Aviation vertical pack. Case study + testimonials.
Regulatory Corpus
IBC, NFPA, ADA, OSHA, eCFR titles. 5+ model code families across federal + 5 states.
First 15 Customers
Design-build firms in aviation, healthcare, hazmat. Founder-led sales. 6-week sales cycle.