Build report
for
Online Guard Cards by Whitestar
Online Guard Cards by Whitestar
Build Cost Report forOwner: Mark Adams · Full Go scenario · 10-week build
Build Cost Report · 2026-05-05 · Confidential

$145,000. Every dollar accounted for.
Fixed price, Bonsai eats the overruns.

A transparent line-item breakdown of the Full Go build — engineering hours, video production, design, programmatic SEO, legal, and managed PM/QA. No retail-agency markup, no hourly billing creep. What you see is what you pay.

Project Full Go · Online Guard Cards by Whitestar
Owner Mark Adams
Built by Bonsai Marketing
Timeline 10 weeks to live
Type Fixed-price
$145K
Fixed-price build
704
Engineering hours
10 wks
To live
6
Workstreams
BONSAI MARKETING · CONFIDENTIAL
onlineguardcards.com
2026-05-05
Section 01 · Summary

Where every dollar actually goes.

$145,000 buys a custom multi-tenant SB 652-native California guard card platform — owned IP, white-label-ready, employer SaaS shipped — delivered fixed-price in 10 weeks. ~65% of the spend is engineering on the platform itself, ~11% is video production, the rest is design, content, legal, and managed PM/QA.

A · Engineering
$94K
65%
B · Video
$16K
11%
C · Design
$8K
5.5%
D · SEO
$6.5K
4.5%
E · Legal
$3.5K
2.5%
F · PM & QA
$17K
11.5%
SectionSubtotal% of build
A · Engineering — LMS, multi-tenant, employer SaaS, integrations$94,00065%
B · Content + Video — curriculum re-shoot + 3 cert modules$16,00011%
C · Design + UX — Whitestar brand extension + LMS + dashboard UI$8,0005.5%
D · Programmatic SEO — 50 city pages + 5 pillars + schema$6,5004.5%
E · Legal + Compliance — attorney package + E&O insurance prepaid$3,5002.5%
F · PM + QA + AM — 10-week run rate$17,00011.5%
TOTAL FIXED-PRICE BUILD$145,000100%
Fixed price means Bonsai absorbs overruns. You pay $145,000 regardless of how many hours we end up putting in. The numbers below are our actual delivery cost — engineering hours, production hours, vendor pass-throughs, and managed PM/QA — not retail-agency markup.
Section A · Engineering · $94,000

The platform itself. 704 hours. 65% of the build.

Custom Next.js + Supabase stack, multi-tenant from day one, all components production-grade. This is the line that delivers owned IP and the white-label revenue stream.

LineDeliverableHoursRateSubtotal
A1Custom Next.js + Supabase LMS core — lessons, video player w/ progress tracking, quizzes with question banks, completion certs, student dashboard, instructor admin320$135$43,200
A2Multi-tenant scaffolding — tenant-aware data model, white-label theming engine, per-tenant subdomain routing, isolated student data per tenant. This is what makes white-label revenue possible.80$135$10,800
A3Employer SaaS dashboard — bulk CSV enrollment, compliance heatmap, branded portal subdomain per employer, BSIS-ready reporting export90$130$11,700
A4Stripe + Stripe Connect — checkout, customer portal, refund flow, partner payout routing for white-label, subscription billing for employer SaaS, retry/dunning logic36$135$4,860
A5Cal.com self-hosted + proctor portal — appointment booking for the in-person 4-hour SB 652 component, proctor partner login, capacity rules, automatic confirmations40$130$5,200
A6BSIS reporting + cert generation — student-facing PDF certs with QR/verifiable URL, BSIS submission prep export (CSV), audit log of all cert issuances30$130$3,900
A7Email + SMS automation cascade — Customer.io + Twilio + Resend wired up: enrollment confirmation, class reminders, Live Scan reminder, completion → cert delivery, 60/30/14-day renewal cascade, win-back sequence32$125$4,000
A8Auth + tenant-aware accounts — Supabase Auth integration, role permissions (student / instructor / admin / proctor / employer), session management24$130$3,120
A9AI chatbot — Claude API integration, RAG over BSIS regulation corpus + Whitestar curriculum, on-site widget + WhatsApp-ready, intent-aware enrollment hand-off36$140$5,040
A10Hosting + CI/CD + observability — Netlify + Supabase production setup, GitHub Actions, Sentry error tracking, Plausible analytics, log aggregation16$125$2,000
A · Subtotal704 hrs$93,820
Why $135 blended: Mix of senior full-stack ($145/hr) on the LMS core and AI work, mid-level ($125–130/hr) on integrations and infra. All US- or Eastern-Europe-based engineers we've worked with on Voice Bonsai, BonsaiX.ai, and dash.bonsaix.ai. The blended rate beats anyone you'd find independently and includes management of the team.
Section B · Content + Video · $16,000

Compliance-grade curriculum. Not a screen recording.

BSIS expects a real product. Mobile-optimized, captioned, professionally lit. This budget delivers a full re-shoot of the 8-hour Powers-to-Arrest course plus three slide-based specialty modules.

LineDeliverableDetailSubtotal
B1Powers-to-Arrest 8-hour course — pro re-shootTwo-camera production day, professional lighting, on-screen graphics, mobile-optimized encoding, full closed captions, scenario reenactments where required by BSIS$9,000
B2Renewal CE 8-hour moduleSlide-based with pro voice-over, screen captures of key BSIS forms, captioned, chapter-marked, mobile-optimized$2,500
B3Baton Permit 8-hour moduleSlide-based with pro voice-over, demonstration b-roll for techniques, captioned, mobile-optimized$2,500
B4Pepper Spray 4-hour moduleSlide-based with pro voice-over, decontamination + safety segments, captioned$2,000
B · Subtotal$16,000
Variance note: If Whitestar already has SB 652-current curriculum that BSIS will accept as-is, B1 ($9,000) drops to ~$2,000 for a re-edit/captioning pass. Confirm before kickoff and we credit the difference. Excluded from B: the Exposed Firearm 14-hour curriculum (live range component required, partner-instructor model better suited; can be added Phase 2 at ~$8,500 if needed).
Section C · Design + UX · $8,000

Whitestar brand extended into a system.

LineDeliverableHoursRateSubtotal
C1Whitestar brand system extension — palette, type system, component library, OG cards, email templates, white-label theming variables24$115$2,760
C2LMS UX — student journey wireframes, lesson player, quiz UI, dashboard, certs, instructor admin30$115$3,450
C3Employer SaaS dashboard UI — admin views, compliance heatmap, bulk enroll flow, branded portal16$115$1,840
C · Subtotal70 hrs$8,050

The marketing site design (the homepage MVP at onlineguardcards-site.bonsaimarketing.co) is already built — that work is excluded from this number.

Section D · Programmatic SEO + Content · $6,500

50 cities. 5 pillars. One schema stack.

LineDeliverableDetailSubtotal
D150 California city pagesProgrammatic generation via Content Genius + DKN, then human cleanup — H1/meta optimization, local proctor location box, city-specific FAQs, schema$3,200
D25 pillar pages — SB 652, cost breakdown, timeline, requirements, renewal~2,000 words each, 30+ FAQ schema items per page on the SB 652 + cost pillars$2,000
D3Schema stack + AEO foundationCourse schema, FAQPage, LocalBusiness, Organization, BreadcrumbList, HowTo, dateModified, llms.txt, entity-clarity prose blocks$1,380
D · Subtotal$6,580

Excluded from D: Ongoing content engine (8 SEO articles/month, authority lift, press releases, paid acquisition). All of that is in the monthly retainer, not the one-time build.

Section E · Legal + Compliance · $3,500

The paperwork that protects the asset.

LineDeliverableDetailSubtotal
E1Attorney packageTerms of Service, Privacy Policy, Data Processing Agreement, FTC-compliant disclosures, instructor-partner MSA template, employer SaaS subscription terms$2,500
E2E&O insurance — first 6 months prepaidProfessional liability for training provider; you continue at month 7$1,000
E · Subtotal$3,500
Section F · Project Mgmt + QA + Account Mgmt · $17,000

The work that makes fixed-price actually ship.

Without this layer, contractor-managed builds slip. With it, the launch date is real and the scope is guarded.

LineDeliverableDetailSubtotal
F1Senior project manager12 hrs/week × 10 weeks = 120 hrs. Sprint planning, stand-ups, vendor coordination, scope guarding, dependency unblocking, deploy choreography$13,800
F2QA / test engineeringCross-browser + mobile QA on the funnel, Stripe sandbox transaction testing, Cal.com proctor flow testing, multi-tenant data isolation testing, BSIS PDF cert validation$2,760
F3Account managementWeekly client call, written status reports, kickoff alignment, mid-build review, launch QA walkthrough, post-launch handoff documentation$4,050
F · Subtotal · 174 hrs$20,610
Note on F. Subtotal lands at $20,610 against a $17,000 budget line. The $3,610 difference is absorbed into Bonsai's contingency reserve — included in the fixed-price commitment, not billed separately.
Section 02 · What's NOT in the $145,000

Build budget vs retainer budget.

Anything ongoing — content production, authority lift, press releases, paid ads, market monitoring — lives in the $12,500/mo retainer, not the one-time build.

In the retainer ($12,500/mo)
  • 8 SEO articles + 4 city-page expansions / month.
  • Authority lift quarterly: Wildfire backlinks, LinkLab placements, DKN entity reinforcement, Cloud Stack.
  • BonsaiX PR releases every 60 days.
  • Google Search Ads management + Display + retargeting.
  • Heatmap monitoring across 5 priority California metros.
  • LLMV citation tracking across ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude.
  • B2B sales support for the employer SaaS line.
  • Monthly executive review + cohort financial dashboard.
Phase 2+ add-ons
  • Exposed Firearm 14-hour curriculum production — ~$8,500.
  • Texas + Florida cert content production — ~$14,000.
  • Multi-state employer SaaS expansion — separately scoped.
  • Native mobile app (iOS + Android) — separately scoped.
  • SCORM/xAPI export for B2B compliance integrations — separately scoped.
Section 03 · Variance Scenarios

What can move the number. Both directions.

ScenarioEffect on price
Whitestar's existing Powers-to-Arrest curriculum is BSIS-current and acceptable as-is−$7,000
BSIS API not available → manual reporting export only$0 (already scoped that way)
Multi-tenant scaffolding deferred (white-label revenue stream off the table)−$10,800
Add Exposed Firearm 14-hour curriculum to Phase 1+$8,500
Add Texas + Florida cert content production to Phase 1+$14,000
Bonsai will memo all credits / adds against the fixed price during kickoff so you know the exact number before signing. Default committed scope = $145,000.
Section 04 · Payment Schedule

Milestone-based. No surprise invoices.

30%
$43,500
KickoffContract sign + BSIS license verified
25%
$36,250
Week 4Internal demo of student journey
25%
$36,250
Week 7Internal demo of multi-tenant + employer SaaS
20%
$29,000
Week 10 — LaunchPublic site live, first paid enrollment confirmed

Plus monthly retainer of $12,500/mo starting at Week 1 (kickoff).

Section 05 · Versus the Alternatives

Why $145K is the honest number.

PathBuild costTime to liveOwned IPMulti-tenantRisk
Bonsai Full Go$145,00010 weeksYesYesFixed-price, Bonsai eats overruns
DIY via Upwork / Toptal~$87,500 vendor-quoted (often $115K+ realized)14–18 weeks (longer in practice)YesDepends on coordinationMark eats overruns + management overhead
LearnDash MVP (Tip Toe path)$32,5005 weeksPartial (LearnDash limits)NoRe-platform tax in 18 months
Thinkific / Teachable rental~$15K config3 weeksNo (data hostage)No~5–10% revenue tax forever
The Bonsai delta over DIY contractor management (~$57K) buys (a) the fixed-price guarantee, (b) coordinated PM/QA/AM that a solo founder can't run alongside instructor work, (c) a build that ships when promised because we already have reusable scaffolding from Voice Bonsai / BonsaiX.ai / dash.bonsaix.ai, and (d) the ongoing growth-engine relationship through the retainer.
— A Bonsai Marketing Build Report —

Every dollar accounted for.
Now sign or revise.

Kickoff call this week. Contract + BSIS license verification. Then 10 weeks to a live, BSIS-compliant, multi-tenant, white-label-ready California guard card platform — owned by Whitestar.

Approve & kick off Re-read the proposal