Blueprint Capital

Blueprint was founded in 2009 by Seattle real estate veterans Mark Knoll and Dan Duffus to help local builders develop and finance small-scale residential housing. The simple idea was to create a better lending model—along with a technology platform and trusted brand—to serve the Seattle market. The first part of our thesis was clear: that community banks have significant challenges lending to small-scale builders due in large part to constraints under Dodd-Frank and stricter FDIC regulations—a trend that is likely to continue. The second part of our thesis was that helping local builders with more than just financing would produce better results for them as well as our investors. This new ‘value-added’ approach, applied to the entire project lifecycle, is the differentiating feature of Blueprint. Building on our early success, we converted the company to a real estate investment trust (REIT) in 2013 to facilitate loan growth and develop rental property for our portfolio. In 2018, Brighton Jones acquired a majority interest in Blueprint’s external manager, Blueprint Capital Services, LLC. As the largest Registered Investment Advisor in Washington State, Brighton Jones provides wealth management services to executives, entrepreneurs, and other individuals and families. After getting its start as a two-person shop 20 years ago, the firm now has more than 180 employees and has opened additional offices in Austin, Portland, San Francisco, Scottsdale, and Washington, D.C. Brighton Jones serves over 2,000 clients and advises on over $8 billion in assets. Seattle is one of the most active real estate markets in the country. It provides key requirements for housing demand such as strong population, job and income growth. Within the Seattle market, we focus on urban “in-fill” development rather than suburban “tract” development. Urban housing is in high demand and more resilient to market cycles. And, recycling land in established neighborhoods reduces suburban sprawl—a much more environmentally-sustainable solution to growth. In-fill development is dominated by small-scale, local builders. Blueprint’s innovative lending model serves this market by combining construction financing—which by itself is a commodity product—with value-added development services for an end-to-end builder solution. Specifically, we support our customers through all four phases of the project lifecycle:  Blueprint sources projects through our agent referral network, provides competitive financing, completes the plans and permits and helps market the project during construction. This integrated, co-operative approach increases builder productivity and, in turn, reduces risk for our shareholders.