The margin is made before you break ground.
Pre-Construction School is a six-week live program that walks the entire pre-construction process, from lead intake and discovery to design and drawings, Trades Day, a line-by-line estimate, and the signed contract and handoff to the field. And woven through every step, the part no one else teaches: how to keep the client informed, engaged, and genuinely heard. A real curriculum, taught by operators who run construction businesses every day, capped at ten owners so no one hides in the back.
Ten seats this fall · Begins November 6
You're not losing money in the field.
Your crews are good. The work is good. The bleed almost always happens earlier, in the decisions you made before the first truck showed up. And because it happens quietly, most owners never trace the lost profit back to where it actually started.
- The bid was a guess dressed up as a number, and the real cost showed up halfway through.
- The scope lived in your head, so every "I thought that was included" came straight out of your margin.
- The contract didn't protect you, so change orders turned into arguments instead of revenue.
- The client got nervous because nobody set expectations up front, and a good job still ended on a sour note.
None of that is a field problem. It's a pre-construction problem. And it's fixable.
Every job starts dialed in.
The bid is built on a system you trust. The scope is written down and agreed to. The contract has your back. The client knows exactly what's coming and feels good about it. That's not luck, and it's not a personality trait. It's a process, and it can be taught. That's the entire point of Pre-Construction School.
Most digital courses get bought and never finished.
So we didn’t record a course and walk away. Pre-Construction School is live, six weeks, one part of the business at a time, taught by people who run construction companies, not a video you buy and never finish.
Traditional digital courses
- Pre-recorded videos you watch alone
- Sits half-finished in your downloads
- Generic content, no trade context
- No one to ask when you get stuck
- You bought access, not results
Pre-Construction School
- A structured curriculum that builds week over week
- Systems and templates you use on the next job
- Built for construction, by construction owners
- You leave with a repeatable process, not a pep talk
- Ten owners max, with direct access to us
Six weeks, in order, on purpose.
Each week is a live 90-minute instructional session, not a lecture, and together they walk the real pre-construction process end to end, from the first lead to the handoff to the field. You bring your real jobs and leave with each piece built.
Lead intake, discovery, and the paid pre-construction agreement
Where every project starts: qualifying the lead, running a real discovery, and turning it into a signed, paid pre-construction agreement, so you are paid for the thinking instead of giving it away to win the job.
The client: From the first call they learn what pre-construction is and why it protects them, so signing the agreement feels like relief, not risk.
LiDAR scans, space plans, and conceptual design direction
Capture the existing conditions with a LiDAR scan, get accurate space plans on paper, and lock a clear conceptual design direction everyone agrees on before real money is committed.
The client: They watch their space get captured and help shape the direction, so they feel ownership from day one.
Elevations, structural and architectural drawings, and renderings
Turn that direction into real documents: elevations, structural and architectural drawings, and renderings the client can actually see, understand, and sign off on before you build.
The client: Renderings let them see it before it is built, so questions and changes happen on paper, not on site.
Trades Day
Get the builder, designer, architect, engineer, and every trade partner and vendor in one room to walk the project in detail, surface the problems early, and align on exactly how it gets built.
The client: They see the whole team aligned around their project, which builds a kind of trust you cannot fake.
The detailed project estimate
Build the estimate line by line, nothing skipped. This is where the real numbers live, not unreasonable allowances that blow up mid-project. Price it so the margin is in the number from day one.
The client: You walk them through the numbers line by line, so price becomes a conversation they trust, not a shock.
Contract, permits, takeoff, and the handoff to the field
Bring it home: a signed construction contract, permit files, a clean takeoff, and a project handoff that gets your field team building from the exact plan you sold.
The client: They sign already feeling informed and heard, so the build starts with confidence, not anxiety.
Live Q and A
A dedicated call after the series wraps. Bring the real jobs on your desk and we work through them together.
The weekly outline may shift slightly as we tailor the program to the owners in the room.
The process is public. Managing the client isn’t.
Anyone can look up a pre-construction process, or one close to it. What you cannot look up is how to keep the client calm, informed, and genuinely heard through every step of it. That is the hardest part of this business, it is where most jobs quietly go sideways, and it is exactly what we are great at. We teach you to run the work and the relationship at the same time, so the client feels like a partner in the build, not a spectator wondering what is going on.
What's included
- Six live working sessions — a full 90 minutes each, with the whole group and both of us in the room
- A seventh live Q and A call — your real jobs, worked through together after the series
- The full pre-construction curriculum — a structured path from lead to field handoff
- Templates and tools — estimating, scope, contract, and change-order tools you keep and reuse
- Direct access to Michael and Danielle — real answers about your business, not a comment thread
- A room of ten owners — peers to learn alongside, capped so everyone gets support
Six weeks from now.
Estimates you trust
A repeatable way to price work so the margin is in the bid, not a surprise at the end.
Scopes that hold
Clear scopes and contracts that head off the change-order fights before they start.
Clients who feel heard
A client experience that keeps them informed and engaged the whole way, so they trust you, say yes with confidence, and tell their friends.
Systems you keep
Templates and checklists you will use on every job after this one, not a binder that collects dust.
Who Pre-Construction School is for.
A fit if you're…
- A construction owner or a key person who helps run the business
- Doing good work but leaving margin on the table
- Tired of change-order fights and scope surprises
- Ready to put a real system behind how you sell and start jobs
- A custom builder, remodeler, or trade that's scaling up
Not a fit if you…
- Want a magic bullet with no work on your end
- Aren't willing to change how you bid and start jobs
- Are looking for field or trade-skills training
- Can't commit to showing up live for six weeks
Taught by operators, not consultants.
Michael and Danielle Gutelli have built and run construction businesses for years through Clark and Aldine. Danielle is an educator at heart. She left the classroom but never the calling, and it shows in how this is built, to genuinely teach, not just talk. Michael spent more than a decade serving Fortune 500 brands on the marketing side, where he learned that every successful business runs on the same fundamentals, and all of them come back to process. That’s exactly what Pre-Construction School puts to work on your bids.
And we teach it with radical transparency. The systems in this program came from our own unprofitable jobs, mis-hires, wrong investments, and lessons expensive enough that we still feel them, the stuff most owners in this industry treat as taboo. We talk about all of it, openly, because that’s how you avoid learning it the slow and costly way we did.
One cohort this fall.
The six-week program, capped at ten seats. Seats go in order, and once it fills, it’s closed.
$3,997 per seat
or 3 monthly payments of $1,332
Reserve a seatOne change order handled right, or one signed pre-construction agreement, can cover the seat. Every seat can be split into three monthly payments at checkout.
How much time does it take each week?
One live call a week, a full 90 minutes, for six weeks, plus a seventh Q and A call. Come ready to work on your own jobs and the time pays for itself.
Can I pay over time?
Yes. Every seat can be split into three monthly payments right at checkout, at no extra cost.
What if I can't make a call live?
Come live when you can. The calls are where the value is, and the seventh Q and A call is there to catch anything you missed.
Is this for me if I'm a trade, not a general contractor?
Yes. If you bid work, write scopes, and talk price with clients, the pre-construction system applies. Custom builders, remodelers, and scaling trades all belong in the room.
What if a group is full?
Grab a seat in the next group, or book a discovery call and we'll make sure you hear about the next round first.
Will there be other courses?
Pre-Construction School is the first. Branding and Storytelling and Developing Strong Trade Partner Relationships are on the way.
Not ready to commit?
Start with a free Pre-Construction webinar. It's a real taste of the coursework and the best way to see if we're the right fit.
Ten seats. Then it’s closed.
The next few jobs will start whether your pre-construction process is dialed in or not. Give yourself the version where the margin is already in the bid.