Your crews aren't the problem.
Your systems are.

We build the back end of construction companies. JobTread set up end to end, AI that actually knows your business, and the coaching to make both hold after we leave.

Built with blood, sweat & spreadsheets

The GUIDE Method

A good guide doesn't carry you up the mountain. They know the country, pick the line, and make sure you get where you set out to go. Every engagement runs on the same five parts.

  1. Growth

    We start with where you want to be in three years — revenue, crew size, how many hours you're still working — and build backward from there.

  2. Understanding

    Job walks, ride-alongs, and a hard look at your numbers. We learn how the company actually runs before we touch anything.

  3. Implementation

    JobTread configured, AI loaded with your business, SOPs written. The systems get built and put in your team's hands.

  4. Direction

    Clear priorities and the few numbers that matter, so your leadership team knows where to aim when we're not in the room.

  5. Execution

    Accountability every week until the new way of working is just how you work. We don't disappear at the handoff.

Whether you hire us for a single JobTread build or a full year of coaching, you get the whole method — not a slice of it.

Start a conversation

Three ways we fix the back end

Every one of them runs on the GUIDE Method. Pick where you need the most help and we'll start there.

JobTread builds

Full implementations, migrations, and rescue work on accounts that got rushed the first time. Configured around your cost codes and your crews instead of a generic template.

How a build runs

AI context engineering

Most contractors tried AI and quietly stopped. We load your pricing, standards, and process into it so the answers come back specific enough to actually use.

What that means

Operations coaching

Remote when that's enough, on-site when it isn't, anywhere in the country. We stay in it with you until the systems hold on their own.

See the levels

Certified where it counts

Four JobTread certifications, earned on the parts of the platform most builds get wrong.

JobTread Bookkeeper Certified

Bookkeeper

Job costing, time tracking, and clean QuickBooks and Gusto syncing, so your numbers tie out.

JobTread Field Employee Certified

Field Employee

Crews logging hours, photos, receipts, and daily logs from the phone in their pocket.

JobTread Workflow Certified

Workflow

Automated triggers and task assignment that move jobs along without the chase-down texts.

JobTread API Certified

API

Custom integrations tying JobTread to your other software, cutting out double entry.

Built around how you actually build

JobTread pays for itself only when it mirrors your real process — your cost codes, your crews, your approval steps. We configure the account end to end so the office and the field both get something they'll use.

01

Discovery

We walk your current process end to end — job types, cost codes, who touches what, where things fall through.

02

Configuration

Account structure built to match: cost codes, catalog, templates, roles, permissions.

03

Migration

Customers, vendors, pricing, and active jobs brought over and checked against your records.

04

Automation

Workflows and integrations that strip out the manual follow-up and the double entry.

05

Training

Separate hands-on sessions for office and field, recorded so new hires can catch up.

06

Handoff

Written SOPs for your team, plus a support window while everyone finds their footing.

Already on JobTread and only using a fraction of it? We also do audits and targeted rebuilds — estimating and catalog cleanup, workflow automation, or a single integration — without starting your account over.

Talk through your setup

Your AI doesn't know your business yet

Most contractors have already tried AI and quietly stopped. Not because the tools are weak, but because they don't know your pricing, your crews, your standards, or how you talk to a client. Context engineering is the work of loading all of that in.

Out of the box
“What should we charge to frame the addition on the Kellers' job?”

Framing for a residential addition typically runs somewhere between $7 and $16 per square foot, depending on your region, material costs, and the complexity of the design. You'll want to factor in local labor rates and current lumber pricing.

Technically correct, and useless. You already knew this, and you still have to go build the number yourself.

With your business loaded in
“What should we charge to frame the addition on the Kellers' job?”

Pulling from your framing assembly and current supplier pricing: 412 sq ft at your loaded crew rate comes to roughly $14,800 before markup. That's tracking about 9% above the Ostrander addition you closed in March, which is lumber. Your standard 18% margin puts the line at $17,464. Want it written up as a JobTread budget line?

Same model. The difference is everything it was given first.

What we actually build

Context engineering isn't a subscription or a plug-in. It's a documented layer of your business that AI tools read from — built once, maintained as you grow, owned entirely by you. Most of it can be done remotely, and none of it requires handing over your logins.

  • Knowledge baseHow your business actually operates, written down: pricing logic, standard scopes, build standards, warranty terms, and the answers you give the same way every time.
  • Persistent memoryStructured so the tool carries your context between sessions instead of making you re-explain the company every time you open it.
  • Job templatesReady-made prompts for the work you do daily — estimates, change orders, subcontractor scopes, client updates, collections follow-ups.
  • GuardrailsClear rules for what the AI drafts versus what it never decides alone, and where a human signs off before anything reaches a client.
  • Team trainingYour people taught when to reach for it and when not to, so adoption holds after we leave instead of fading in a month.

We don't hand you a plan and leave

Strategy only works when it gets executed. Four levels of ongoing support, from a monthly call to boots on your floor.

Level 01

Foundation

Remote · light touch

For owners who know the direction and want a steady expert in their corner. Monthly check-ins keep momentum up and catch course corrections early.

  • Monthly one-on-one strategy call
  • Email and message support
  • Quarterly progress review
  • Resource and template library
Level 02

Growth Track

Remote · regular cadence

For companies actively scaling or working through change. Frequent touchpoints turn strategy into action week over week, with accountability built in.

  • Bi-weekly coaching sessions
  • Priority response support
  • Goal and KPI tracking
  • Team leader coaching included
  • Monthly written action plan
Level 03 · Most chosen

Embedded Partner

Hybrid · remote + site visits

Consistent remote coaching paired with scheduled visits to your location, working directly with your team and troubleshooting in real time.

  • Weekly coaching and check-ins
  • Scheduled on-site visits nationwide
  • In-person team workshops
  • Full leadership team access
  • Live implementation support
  • Strategic planning facilitation
Level 04

Full Immersion

On-site · hands-on

The deepest engagement. We travel to you and embed with your team, working floor-level to install systems, train staff, and drive change from the inside.

  • Extended on-site presence
  • Floor-level operations coaching
  • Staff and management training
  • Live system implementation
  • Dedicated consultant assigned
  • Post-visit remote follow-through

We come to you — anywhere in the USA

Not sure which level fits? Every engagement starts with a conversation. We'll figure out where you are, where you're headed, and which path gets you there.

Let's talk
Shane Balliet

Who you're actually hiring

Jack of all trades. Master of more than a few.

Most of my working life has been spent behind the wheel of a truck and out in the oilfield. First I did the work, then I managed it, then I figured out how to scale it without it falling apart. That's where I learned that growth doesn't break companies. Bad systems do.

On the construction side, I've done a little of everything, from underwater tree removal to roofing and plenty in between. I've been the guy on the roof, the guy in the water, and the guy trying to make the numbers work when the job was done. That range is the point. I know what the field needs from the office because I've stood on both sides of it.

Hard Country builds systems that assume your crew is busy, your phone is ringing, and nobody has time for a forty-page SOP that never gets opened. If something I build doesn't get used, it didn't work, and that's the only measure I care about.

The name comes from home. Western North Dakota is hard country: long winters, big distances, and people who get the work done anyway. That's who I build for: builders, remodelers, and specialty trades anywhere in the country. Remote when that's enough. On your jobsite when it isn't.

Shane Balliet · Founder
Built with blood, sweat & spreadsheets.

Let's talk

Tell me what's broken. If it's not something I can help with, I'll say so and point you at someone who can.

Phone
(417) 527-2011Text is the fastest way to reach me
Coverage
Based in western North DakotaWorking nationwide, remote and on-site