Our History
We know how much organization, time, and stress building a house takes—because we’ve built one ourselves. POCASIO was born out of our own experiences: software that makes the process much easier for homeowners.
Building a House: More Stress Than I First Thought
When we built our own house, we realized that the biggest challenges weren’t the foundation or the structural work, but rather the organization.
Comparing quotes, keeping track of costs, organizing documents: All of this takes an enormous amount of time and can be very stressful, especially if you don’t have any experience yet. We realized just how little you know when building your first house and how easy it is to lose track of everything.
We also know from our own experience that you have to respond to additional costs—in our case, by doing the work ourselves 😅
From Building My Own House to POCASIO
In 2014, we began exploring the idea of homeownership. Since we couldn’t find an existing home that we liked 100%, we started looking into building a house.
Back then, we started by defining a rough framework. How much money did we have, and what kind of house could we afford? We created our first little Excel spreadsheet…
From Building My Own House to POCASIO
The more concrete our plans became, the longer our Excel list grew. Those initial rough notes soon turned into detailed spreadsheets with dozens of entries. Suddenly, we had over 50 items—from the lot and the structural framework to the windows, doors, and the heating system.
Every new decision meant another line; every change required several adjustments. What had started as a simple overview had become an increasingly complex structure.
From Building Our Own House to POCASIO
Then things went the same way for us as they probably did for a lot of people: We paid the first 5, 6, or 7 bills and immediately started wondering what the current status of each loan was.
That’s why we then added our financing framework—or financing plan (equity, KfW loan, amortizing loan)—to the Excel spreadsheet and began assigning each expense to a specific loan.
From Building My Own House to POCASIO
While building our house, we realized that we needed various tools to stay organized. For example, we were constantly checking our emails for the list of contractors so we could follow up with a particular trade or clarify things.
Then there are the various to-dos that arise during construction: Having contracts checked, choosing a washbasin or asking the site manager about the scratch on the window frame – you don’t want to forget anything.
From Building My Own House to POCASIO
After many exhausting months, the time had finally come: We were able to move into our house. But we also came away with an important lesson—building a house was much more stressful and chaotic than it needed to be. And it’s not over yet…
After the house handover, things got really intense again—we must have sent our construction manager at least 20 emails listing defects. Mostly nothing major, but we still lost track of everything. We can’t even count how many times we’ve gone through the emails to check which issues have been fixed and which are still pending…
From Building My Own House to POCASIO
After we built our house, we found ourselves thinking a few times, “Surely there must be a more elegant way to do this.” And then, a few months later, the idea for POCASIO was born.
Inspired by our own experiences, we developed an initial concept: a digital platform that helps homeowners keep track of their finances.
From Building My Own House to POCASIO
As is always the case with “We should really do that”: Nothing happened for three years 😅
We revisited the idea, refined the concept, and came up with some initial ideas for what it might look like. In addition to cost control, we wanted to offer a comprehensive solution for construction projects—by builders, for builders. In other words, one specifically tailored to the needs of private individuals.
From Building My Own House to POCASIO
The time had finally come: The first version of POCASIO went live. For the first time, building owners were able not only to record their construction costs digitally, but also to analyze them in a structured way.
That was the starting signal. The first 100 homeowners were quick to adopt POCASIO and helped us optimize the platform with their feedback. In addition to new construction, the topic of renovation in particular became more relevant in the years that followed.
From Building My Own House to POCASIO
Today, more than 4,000 homeowners use POCASIO to plan their projects more effectively, keep costs under control, and build with less stress.
What once began as a simple Excel list has since become a well-established platform—and we are proud to support building owners every day as they tackle their biggest projects.
POCASIO today: Thousands of users. A tool for every construction project.
Based on our own experiences, we’ve developed software that provides clarity and structure for homebuilders. POCASIO brings together costs, documents, deadlines, tasks, and defects all in one place. And with user feedback, we’re constantly improving POCASIO!
