The new capability allows production homebuilders to see where they are overpaying before they rebid and protect margins in a volatile materials market.
Tampa, Florida – November 18, 2025 – sa.global today announced a new AI-powered material cost intelligence capability inside its HomebuilderONE platform, introduced this month at the annual HomebuilderONE User Group conference in the United States. The event brought together leaders from production builders across the U.S. and Canada, where Thomas James Homes (TJH) shared how this capability has already helped them identify and act on cost savings across their divisions over the past few months of internal use.
Construction materials account for up to 45% of the total cost of a home, meaning even a modest 10% reduction in purchase cost can increase a builder’s net margin by more than four percentage points. Yet most builders still negotiate material pricing based on instinct, historic quotes, and periodic rebids, not live cost intelligence.
At a time when construction material costs continue to fluctuate, many homebuilders are still forced to negotiate based on estimates, instinct, or historical quotes rather than real-time price insight. The homebuilding sector has traditionally invested less in digital systems than most other major industries; not from lack of need, but because procurement processes have long depended on experience and relationships.
As the market becomes more data-driven, builders are now looking for ways to pair that expertise with live, fact-based cost visibility. The new AI capability in HomebuilderONE is designed to close that gap, automatically benchmarking internal purchase prices against live market data and surfacing savings opportunities down to the division, plan, elevation, and material level.
“Technology doesn’t replace the expertise of a seasoned builder – but it gives them a data advantage they’ve never had,” said Heather Hall, Managing Director, HomebuilderONE at sa.global. “Margins in homebuilding are won or lost long before a house goes vertical. With AI doing the analysis in the background, teams can rebid smarter, negotiate with certainty, and protect profitability even when prices shift week to week.”
As an early adopter, Thomas J Homes used the capability to evaluate purchase prices across regions and discovered a divergence they were not expecting.
“We were preparing to rebid a major category in one of our divisions, assuming we were above market. AI showed we were already well under benchmark there – yet significantly over in another region we believed was priced correctly. That single insight changed our negotiation strategy and prevented us from unintentionally increasing cost.”
– Derek Sifre, VP of Business Applications at Thomas James Homes
TJH shared their experience with the audience at the user conference, outlining how the system has already helped them redirect procurement focus, uncover savings, and avoid unnecessary rebids. They also shared the low cost of ownership associated with the solution as well as lessons learned in being an early adopter for others to benefit from.
Whether a builder has 10% cost savings in their building materials spend or 30% or more, this capability enables builders to negotiate from fact instead of gut, confirming or challenging supplier pricing across regions and divisions. By connecting live market benchmarks with internal purchase data, HomebuilderONE provides a clearer picture of where money is being spent, and where it can be saved.
Availability
The AI-powered cost intelligence capability is available now to select HomebuilderONE clients and will be rolled out more broadly starting next month. Builders interested in a briefing or early access can request details at http://www.wearehomebuilderone.com.
4830 W. Kennedy Blvd, Suite 600, Tampa, FL 33609
About HomebuilderONE by sa.global
HomebuilderONE is the only end-to-end business platform built exclusively for production homebuilders on the Microsoft Cloud. It unifies every stage of the homebuilding lifecycle-land development, sales, estimating, purchasing, construction, service, and financials-on one connected platform. By bringing together teams and data in real time, it reduces delays, miscommunication, and rework while improving cycle times and controlling costs.
AI-powered capabilities embedded throughout the platform deliver intelligent cost forecasting, procurement insights, and real-time project intelligence. This helps builders optimize margins, accelerate cycle times, and make data-driven decisions across every phase of construction. With unified data across operations and a foundation that continuously evolves, HomebuilderONE enables builders to scale with confidence. Find out more at http://www.wearehomebuilderone.com.
sa.global is an Inner Circle Microsoft partner with more than 800,000 users in 80 countries, sa.global boasts over 30 years of implementation and consulting experience. The company has won the Microsoft Dynamics Partner of the Year Award 11 times and has been part of Microsoft’s elite Inner Circle for 13 consecutive years. The global team of 1,000 professionals operates in 25 countries. Visit http://www.saglobal.com for more information.
This release was published on openPR.
