A Custom CRM Built in 7 Days Saves $26,400 a Year
By Keith Brown · October 19, 2026
On the evening of October 19, 2026, Grayson Gladu posted his first day with a custom CRM his team built. I replied: "What was your old CRM? Feels like a huge win assuming you didn't have to spend a ton to build internally." Then I asked if there was a cost savings too, or just efficiency and productivity.
He answered both. His team built its own CRM in 7 days, and it saves about $2,200 a month: $700 in software fees and $1,500 in staff time. Here is how he did it, what it cost, and what we still don't know.
Key facts
- Built in 7 days at about 15 hours a day, about 105 hours in total.
- Saves $700 a month in software fees, as reported by Grayson Gladu.
- Saves $1,500 a month in staff time, as reported.
- Frees about 7 hours a week for the production admin through automatic job costing.
- Runs 7 AI agents around the clock on top of DripJobs, GoHighLevel, Zapier, QuickBooks Online, Quo and Gusto.
- Combined savings: $2,200 a month, about $26,400 a year (our math on his numbers).
This is happening faster than most owners expect. In March 2025, Y Combinator managing partner Jared Friedman said a quarter of its winter batch had codebases that were 95% written by AI (TechCrunch). "A year ago, they would have built their product from scratch, but now 95% of it is built by an AI," he said. Grayson runs a service business, and he built the system his team runs on. If you're weighing the same move, start with our guide to building a custom CRM.
First day with our new system & custom CRM live. Leads: 19 Speed to lead: 28s Contact rate: 79% Set rate: 47% Cost/lead: $14.77 Cost/appt: $31.18 Great numbers for a business with a $7,500 avg ticket, anticipate close rate to be >35%. Highly optimistic for the near future.
Grayson Gladu (@GraysonGladu) October 19, 2026
What Did the Old Setup Look Like?
In his words: "Old CRM was Dripjobs + GHL + a lot of excel." DripJobs is estimating software built for home service contractors. GHL is GoHighLevel, a marketing and CRM platform. The Excel part is where most of the hidden work lived.
| Before | After |
|---|---|
| DripJobs and GoHighLevel, used side by side | One system that ties together DripJobs (production-rate estimates), GoHighLevel, Zapier, QuickBooks Online, Quo and Gusto |
| Admins matched supplier invoices to jobs by hand in a spreadsheet | Supplier invoices flow into the CRM and a job costing agent matches them to jobs |
| Job costs updated when someone had time | Job costing stays current around the clock |
| People doing the follow-up | 7 AI agents running in the background, 24/7 |
How Long Did It Take to Build?
"It took 7 days straight of 15 hours a day to build but will be well worth the time & effort." That's about 105 hours of his own work. He didn't share a dollar build cost, which tools he built with, or whether anyone helped.
Owners should count those hours as a cost. The chart below puts a price on them at two hourly rates we chose, $100 and $200. Those rates are our estimate; he didn't share one.
At $2,200 a Month, 105 Hours Pays Back in 5 to 10 Months
What Does It Save?
When I asked about savings, he wrote: "$700/mo cost savings, $1,500/mo labor savings, increased efficiency across all employees."
The math: $700 + $1,500 = $2,200 a month, or about $26,400 a year. The single clearest example is job costing. Matching supplier invoices to jobs used to be manual, and it now frees about 7 hours a week for his production admin.
Most of the Savings Is Staff Time
Most savings calculators, including ours until recently, count only the subscription. Here the staff time is more than twice the fees.
Day One Numbers
His first day live: 19 leads, 28 seconds to first contact, a 79% contact rate, 47% of leads booked, $14.77 per lead and $31.18 per appointment, on a $7,500 average job.
The numbers hold together. At $14.77 a lead, 19 leads cost about $281. At $31.18 an appointment, that's about 9 appointments, which matches 47% of 19. One day and 19 leads is a small sample, so treat these as a start.
Day One: 19 Leads, 9 Appointments Booked
His forecast for the next 3 months
Grayson expects a close rate above 35%, customer acquisition cost down 30%, gross profit up 5%, and growth doubling over the next 3 months. We'll check back and report what happened.
What He Kept Paying For
He kept every major tool. DripJobs, GoHighLevel, Zapier, QuickBooks Online, Quo and Gusto are all still part of the new system. He built the layer that ties them together around how his team works. On our scale, that's "Build part of it."
That choice makes sense. Payroll stays in Gusto and the books stay in QuickBooks, where mistakes are expensive and the vendors carry the compliance work. The custom part handles leads, follow-up and job costing, where his process is his edge.
What We Still Don't Know
- Which subscriptions or plans make up the $700 a month in fees saved.
- What it costs to run: hosting, AI usage for 7 agents running 24/7, and who fixes it when something breaks.
- What he built it with, and whether he had help.
- How the numbers look after 90 days instead of one.
If he shares more, we'll update this story.
When This Won't Work for You
- No one on your team can own the system after launch. A tool with no owner turns into the next spreadsheet.
- Your process changes every month. Build after the way you work has settled.
- The tool holds regulated data, like payroll, tax or audits. Grayson kept Gusto and QuickBooks in place.
- Your bill is small. If you pay $100 a month, 105 hours won't pay back for years.
Does This Apply to You?
Run this check on your own business:
- Count the tools your team logs into to finish one job.
- Find the spreadsheet that holds them together, and ask who updates it and how many hours a week it takes.
- Add your monthly fees for the tools that overlap.
- If hours times pay plus overlapping fees beats $1,000 a month, building the layer on top is worth a look.
See what other teams have built on our build stories page, or compare costs for field service software.