Real estate brokerage Compass is partnering with Chapter, a full-service design-build firm, to give buyers and sellers easy access to design services by integrating renovation planning into the sales process. The services are offered across all Chapter markets, including New York, Florida, Connecticut and New Jersey, and there are plans to expand them to other regions in the future. “Buyers want turnkey potential, and sellers need help showcasing what’s possible,” says Gordon Golub, vice president of Compass’s tristate region. “Chapter’s model helps us meet both needs in today’s market, where speed, clarity and flexibility matter more than ever.”

Founded in 2022, Chapter is a tech-forward company with around 60 employees that provides clients a one-stop-shop for renovations, connecting buyers to its in-house interior designers, general contractors and project managers. (For some projects, the company partners with third-party architecture firms.) It’s all organized under RenoTech, Chapter’s proprietary AI-driven software that offers streamlined communication, project tracking and interactive client tools all in one platform.

Chapter had worked with Compass brokers before the deal, offering advice to agents whose clients were unsure about what to expect from a renovation, but never in a formalized partnership. “We understood from the get-go the important relationship with the brokers, because they are the ones that have contact with the clients before they buy their [homes],” says Eli Moyal, founder and chief operating officer of Chapter. “As soon as [buyers] put an offer in on a property, they’re already looking for possible GCs, architects or designers, so we saw the opportunity in the relationship. We created a great relationship [with Compass brokers] before even thinking about an [official] partnership. It was very natural.”

This collaboration will see Chapter representatives involved at every step of the homebuying journey, starting right after a listing agreement is signed. When a walkthrough is scheduled, Chapter will provide the Compass agent with a complimentary renovation estimate, design consultation and floor plan for each listing, as well as alternate floor plans for all listings more than $1.5 million and renderings for listings more than $3 million. “If [the agents are] going with the clients to walk through, they want to understand how much a renovation is going to cost. Sometimes you don’t even see the potential in the property—but here are the steps, the process, the turnaround time that you should expect, and the cost of construction,” says Moyal. Also included: an estimate for the cost and timeline of a proposed renovation, which aims to help agents make the sale faster. “People might come to see the [property] and think that it’s such a headache, so we give a full detail [on] how much it’s going to cost.”

All of this is done with the hope that once a deal is closed, the clients will decide to move forward with Chapter’s proposed plans. In that case, the firm will handle all aspects of the project from start to finish, and the clients will receive a 5 percent discount on the total construction price, not including the finished materials (though the company also accesses those materials for clients at a trade-discounted price). “We’re involved from the very beginning,” says Moyal. “We have a better chance to create the relationship with the clients, create the trust, and then eventually do the projects.”

For Compass, this partnership reinforces their commitment to innovation and agent support, according to Golub. For Chapter, it is a way to reach a broader audience and help a wider net of brokers and homeowners alike. “We face a lot of clients that already have full architecture plans submitted to the [New York City] Department of Buildings, and already bought the apartment under one impression—maybe because they were not aware—and all of a sudden their renovation costs are 100 and sometimes even 200 percent more than expected. It’s happening on a monthly basis,” says Moyal. “The goal is to create meaningful partnerships that will eventually give us the strength to continue and open more locations and grow.”