Taking An Inside Look At BuildOps' Software With Co-Founder Alok Chanani

BuildOps co-founder and CEO Alok Chanani describes serving as an Army officer, running a 12B combat engineering unit, and spending 2006–2007 overseas in Iraq. He later managed a military unit responsible for transporting large amounts of U.S. currency around Iraq, work that exposed him to contractors and large construction projects. After returning to Los Angeles and completing business school in Philadelphia, he founded a real estate development and general contracting firm focused on multifamily buildings, condos, retail facilities, and hotels.

While operating his contracting business, Chanani repeatedly saw successful mechanical, electrical, plumbing, fire-sprinkler, and similar contractors working without software suited to complex commercial service and project work. Existing products tended to target large general contractors, quick residential jobs, or outdated on-premises workflows; some platforms still originated in the 1980s. He partnered with two co-founders to launch BuildOps as a modern, intuitive, all-inclusive platform, saying its purpose is to help profitable businesses scale and put time and money back into customers’ pockets.

Chanani says BuildOps customers often combine Excel, Word, texting, accounting software, forms tools, and paper, creating inefficiency in both the back office and field. BuildOps aims to reduce paperwork, optimize technicians’ time, and make the mobile app usable quickly: most technicians can become about 80% functional within an hour. A new feature, described by customers as “TikTok for BuildOps,” attaches short training and coaching videos to specific assets, so technicians can see prior work and relevant instruction while servicing equipment.

Asked about a major pain point for field-service companies, Chanani focuses on scheduling and dispatch. BuildOps’ drag-and-drop interface can reduce the time needed to assign a job, provide customer and site information, and notify a technician from a reported five to 12–15 minutes to less than a minute when the necessary information is available. The system supports crews and larger groups, sends push notifications, and includes GPS-enabled maps for potential live tracking. Chanani says the company is also exploring AI-related improvements later in the year.

BuildOps helps companies accelerate payment through customizable notifications, embedded reporting via MetaBase, and a follow-up page that puts unfinished or outstanding invoices in front of staff. Costs are automatically captured and entered into invoices, allowing users to verify purchasing and billing information with a few clicks before sending. Chanani argues that quicker billing improves cash flow because delayed invoices are less likely to be paid promptly. He also says customer success managers, many with industry experience, coach companies on handoffs and process improvements.

Chanani says users most appreciate having quoting, invoicing, job photos, data capture, reporting, and workflows under one roof, along with BuildOps’ responsive implementation team. He rejects a fixed learning-curve estimate because implementation varies with company size, complexity, and seasonal conditions. BuildOps configures data, accounts, training, and field and back-office workflows before rollout, aiming to minimize downtime. Because the platform touches the whole business and connects operational information to the general ledger, Chanani describes adoption as a substantial trust-based investment. He adds that BuildOps’ product and engineering team is its largest area of investment.