I have 7 products and $0 in revenue. This is the second one I'm forcing myself to actually sell.
Raken charges $49-200/month for construction daily reporting. Most small contractors use WhatsApp and paper.
I built ConstruTrack in one week. I designed the data model and the business model.
The hardest part wasn't the code. It was knowing when to stop building.
I had to actively resist adding features. No weather API. No Excel import. No progress tracking. Every time I wanted to add something, I asked: does a contractor need this on day 1, or am I just building to avoid selling?
The positioning is simple: if you're using Excel or WhatsApp to track daily work, this is the step up that doesn't cost $50/month.
What I shipped:
- Each trade submits their own daily report from the field
- The GC sees all reports from all trades in one dashboard
- Auto PDF + email to stakeholders on submission
- Client portal — read-only link for your client, no login required
- Team invitations, role-based access, photo upload
Stack:
- Next.js 15 + Hono + Prisma on Railway
- Spec-driven development with CLAUDE.md files as agent contracts
Where I am:
- Live at construtrack.com
- $19/mo Pro plan, payments working
- $0 MRR, 0 paying customers
The product is built. Now I need to find contractors who are done with Excel.
If you work in construction or know someone who does, I'd love feedback. Happy to offer a discounted Pro trial to anyone willing to give it a real test.
The question you're using as a filter ("does a contractor need this on day 1, or am I just building to avoid selling?") is exactly right. Most founders get there much later if at all.
The distribution problem with B2B targeting offline buyers is that they're not where you are. Small contractors don't read IH or browse Product Hunt. They're in WhatsApp group chats, local contractor Facebook groups, and on job sites. "Raken alternative" is a search term that only exists for someone who already tried Raken.
The fastest path to a first paying contractor is often not online at all. Local trade associations have monthly meetings. A few GCs in your city who will tell you within 10 minutes whether the pitch lands. That feedback loop is harder to ignore than a 0 on your analytics dashboard.
One thing in your feature list that jumped out: the read-only client portal. GCs get asked "where are we on the project?" every other day by clients who don't want to log into anything. That might be the actual selling point in the conversation, not the daily reports or the dashboard. Worth testing whether leading with that line changes how contractors react.
This hit hard. I’ve been optimizing the product while assuming the channel would figure itself out — classic mistake.
The client portal angle is something I’m testing immediately. I built it as a secondary feature but “where are we on the project?” being the daily question GCs deal with makes me think it might be the actual door-opener. Lead with the portal, not the dashboard.
On local associations — I’m in Argentina so job sites in Austin aren’t an option, but cold-calling the number on contractor websites might get me to that same 10-minute feedback loop remotely.
Thanks for the reality check.