Valley Home / Ed Lane
Vertical
Signed — founder pricing, family flagshipValley Home Construction (Ed Lane) is the flagship client for BBE Playbook #5 (Service Businesses), the service-pro vertical. Ed is family, and the engagement is explicitly structured as a founder-priced flagship: Andrew gets a real before-and-after to point to when pitching other contractors, Ed gets his business upgraded regardless of whether the bigger vertical ever scales.
The business
- 30+ years in business, A+ BBB rating, real Sacramento-area reputation, existing organic Google traffic.
- The problem isn’t visibility, it’s leak: leads come in through a phone number that goes unanswered on job sites, or a basic form landing in a Yahoo inbox. No reviews surfaced on-site, no online booking, no financing offer, no after-hours response.
- AI-visibility scan result: scored 27/100 on “do AI tools recommend you.” When asked directly, ChatGPT/Gemini/Google AI currently name Ed’s competitors, not Valley Home, not because the work is worse but because the competitors’ sites are structured to be machine-readable and his isn’t.
What’s being built
Website rebuild
Fast, conversion-focused, project gallery, service-area map, reviews surfaced on-page, financing offer, and a structure built to be readable by AI assistants, not just humans.
Speed-to-lead
AI-handled fast response to every inquiry, day or night, plus a daily follow-up dashboard (new leads, sent estimates, past clients) with drafted messages Ed just approves.
Review engine
Automated review requests after every completed job, existing reviews pulled onto the site.
Systems migration
Lead capture and follow-up moved off a personal Yahoo inbox onto a real, trackable system.
Phase 2 (scoped separately, after the core is live): a referral-partner network (realtors, designers, property managers, restoration/insurance contacts, paid a fair per-close cut) and a sales-handoff system that routes a hot lead straight to a salesperson’s phone with a text ping, adapted from a system already built for another client.
Timeline
Week 1-2
Week 3-6
Week 6-10
Week 10-12
After 90 days
The numbers
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Comparable agency build (before founder pricing) | $25,000-$35,000 up front, plus monthly management |
| Actual price | $2,500/month, done-for-you, build included |
| Initial term | 3 months, then month-to-month |
| Cancellation | Full refund within 7 days of signing, or full refund if first session reveals it’s not a fit |
| Late payment | 4%/day late fee, capped at 30 days, then Design Hacker may terminate |
| AI-visibility baseline score | 27/100 |