Is Datum Line Construction a real licensed contractor?

No. Datum Line Construction, LLC is a sample company used on camera, based in Iowa / Calcasieu Parish for teaching. Confirm any name on the Louisiana Commercial Database before you film or file. Do not copy the sample and try to start a company from it.

Can I copy the HERC Construction business plan?

No. HERC was researched and written as an investor-ready example and was never launched. It shows depth. It is not your market, your risk, or your numbers. Plan Builder will not paste HERC figures into your company.

Does Plan Builder look up my parish budget for me?

No. You open this year's adopted budget, bid tabs, and license search. You type the figure and paste the citation. If you cannot cite it, it does not belong in the plan.

Is this legal or financial advice?

No. It is educational demonstration. Retain your own attorney and CPA. For Louisiana contracting, use the Louisiana State Licensing Board for Contractors as the license authority.

Where do I book a call?

This series does not use the 15-minute operations diagnostic. That call is for firms already evaluating BalanceBuild Pro. For planning help, use the premium consult link. Rate is quoted on purpose.

From Scratch Series

From Scratch: Building a Commercial GC in Louisiana

Published September 11, 2026

from scratch
business planning
louisiana
plan builder
commercial gc

Consultants reviewing a construction business plan during a funding strategy meeting

Start a commercial GC plan by doing your own research, then format it. Do not copy a sample company, skip the attorney, or let software invent your market. This series teaches the work. Plan Builder formats your answers. A premium consult is for people who want Casy in the room. BalanceBuild Pro is for live commercial jobs.

Who this series is for

From Scratch: Building a Commercial GC is for people building a commercial general contractor from zero, and for existing firms that never wrote a real plan. It is a different audience than the Lafayette how-to series, which sells BalanceBuild Pro to operating GCs.

The brand posture is quality contractor, not cheapest bidder. Public low-bid work can still be year-one training. The name, logo, domain, email, jobsite appearance, attorney, and CPA are how upscale private and industrial clients decide you belong in the room.

What we will and will not do on camera

Part 1 films name, professional team, and niche inside Plan Builder. We search the Louisiana Commercial Database without typing LLC or Inc. We show USPTO Trademark Search as a preliminary check. We demo a logo in Zarla because Casy has used it, including for Balance & Build. We are not a Zarla partner.

We will not complete a real LLC filing, EIN, or trademark filing on camera. We will not walk through Articles of Organization. At that point, send the work to an attorney. We will not demo Word or Excel as the product. The plan lives in Plan Builder.

The CTA stack (education, then product, then consult, then software)

Watch and read first. Then use Plan Builder if you want a guided workspace that refuses to invent research. If you want Casy to write or rebuild a HERC-depth plan with you, that is a premium consult, quoted before the hold is treated as confirmed. When you have live commercial work, the destination is BalanceBuild Pro on the homepage, not a leftover register URL.

Plan Builder: $397 one-time for one company plan and PDF export
Premium 90-minute working session: $750 to $1,000, quoted
Full custom plan at HERC depth: $6,500 to $12,000, quoted
BalanceBuild Pro: for teams putting software on live jobs

Part 1 companion posts

Video 1 is name, availability, and a quality logo. Video 2 is attorney, CPA, entity concepts, and the LSLBC wall. Video 3 is niche, citations, and Generate on Industry and Market. Each post goes deeper than the runtime.

Do the research. We will format the plan.

Plan Builder asks the questions a fundable plan needs. Gemini may polish your words. It will not invent your parish budget. This is not a 15-minute free diagnostic.

Open Plan Builder Premium planning consult