What’s in the 15-mission curriculum behind Gold certification?
Written by Andy Kruger
BuildSOS CEO4 min read
The short answer
The BuildSOS Certified Resilient Contractor curriculum covers everything from building client trust in a crisis to navigating insurance, mastering your trade technically, and leading your community’s recovery. Each mission runs about 3 hours: read the chapter, work the exercises, take a practice quiz, then pass the official test in the app. All 15 completed, plus the comprehensive Certification Review, earns your Gold credential.
What each mission covers
The 15 missions span three books, each building on the last:
Foundations covers the fundamentals: building trust with clients (The Trust Economy), building a resilient team, the proactive advantage, and the green advantage of sustainable construction.
The Working Builder moves into operations: insurance advocacy, the efficiency advantage of smart tools, the scale of the resilience market opportunity, regional playbooks for your specific hazard exposure, and the code evolution reshaping construction standards.
The Resilient Future covers leadership: the control advantage, community leadership, the empowerment advantage, and building a resilient future for your business and your community.
Every mission is written to be useful on Monday morning, not theoretical. Each one ends with worksheets you fill in yourself and a practice quiz to self-check before the official, open-book test in the BuildSOS Resilience app.
How the curriculum is structured
- Work through the missions in order. Each one runs about 3 hours and builds on the last.
- Complete the worksheets as you go. They’re built to produce something you actually use, not just busywork.
- Self-check with the practice quiz before moving to the official test.
- Take the official mission test in the BuildSOS RESILIENCE app, which is what actually counts toward your credential.
- After all 15 missions, pass the comprehensive Certification Review, also open-book, in the app.
Frequently asked
Can I complete the missions out of order?
The curriculum is designed to build progressively, so working through them in order gets you the most out of each one, though the app tracks your progress regardless of pace.
Is the test difficult?
It’s open-book, and each mission includes a practice quiz beforehand, so it’s designed to confirm you’ve absorbed the material, not to trip you up.
How much time should I budget total?
At roughly 3 hours per mission across 15 missions, plan for a meaningful time investment, most contractors spread it across several weeks rather than doing it all at once.
About the author
Andy Kruger
Andy Kruger is CEO of BuildSOS, author of When the Storm Comes, and sits on multiple boards and advisory groups shaping disaster resilience policy and research.
About Andy