Why I'm Asking

Hey — I'm Justyn Rook. I've spent 24 years in construction. Renovations, new builds, managing subtrades, pulling permits. The usual.

A couple years ago I started building something different — a network of construction directories across Canada. Not a VC-backed startup. Not a tech company. Just me, building this between real jobs.

It started with Ottawa, then Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, and New Brunswick. Five directories, a Construction Brain AI that answers real building questions, and thousands of contractor listings — all free for contractors to be listed.

The problem is — free for contractors isn't free for me. Servers, AI, email, domains — it adds up. I pay for everything out of pocket alongside my regular work. If you've found this useful, even a small contribution helps keep it going.

Where the Money Goes

Total transparency. Here's what it costs to run this every month:

Production Server 8 vCPU, 32GB RAM — hosts 13 sites ~$50/mo
Backup Server Offsite backups + national site ~$18/mo
AI Development Tools Claude Code — builds, maintains, and ships features across all 13 sites ~$320/mo
AI API Construction Brain answers via Claude API ~$40/mo
Email Delivery Postmark — transactional email, bounces, deliverability ~$50/mo
Domains & SSL 12+ domains across the network ~$15/mo
Payment Processing & Tools Square fees, monitoring, verification services ~$25/mo
Monthly Total Everything to keep the lights on ~$500–550/mo

What You're Supporting

  • Construction Brain AI — real answers to construction questions, across 5 cities
  • ~2,000 contractor listings — researched and verified, free to be listed
  • 5,500+ indexed pages — areas, categories, questions, listings
  • 5 city networks — Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, New Brunswick
  • Free for contractors — every contractor gets a listing at no cost
  • No VC money — independent, built by one person between real jobs

No Pressure

This network will stay free for contractors regardless. Directory upgrades and paid tiers cover some of the costs. Donations just help bridge the gap — and let me spend more time building features instead of worrying about the bill.

Even $5 helps. Seriously.