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Career Builder Guide: Best Picks for an optimal Solo Start
By Singlain
The latest update brought the Career Builder feature from PS5 and Xbox Series X/S to PC. In this guide I will break down the best options for an optimal start as a new player. Whether you're beginning your adventure in this world or just decided to start anew with the update, this guide will be useful to you!
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Created by
Singlain
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Category: Characters, Classes, Game Modes, Gameplay Basics, Multiplayer, Walkthroughs
Posted
Updated
4 Mar @ 4:05am
4 Mar @ 9:00am
3,075 Unique Visitors
51 Current Favorites
Guide Index
Overview
Introduction 
Executive 
Gunrunner 
Nightclub Owner 
Biker 
Best Picks 
Final Thoughts 
Comments
Introduction
Be advised!
You can only use the Career Builder once. Either by creating a new character on a migrated account or creating your first character on a new one. You WON'T be able to use GTA$4,000,000 given you by the game again if you change your mind on your picks.

There are 4 baseline options available for the start
  • Executive
  • Gunrunner
  • Nightclub Owner
  • Biker
As you start, you are given GTA$4,000,000 to "kick-start" your first Criminal Career in GTA Online

Once you spend GTA$3,000,000 and picked an option in each category, you can take the rest of the money with you to spend on something else after the introductory missions.

I will quickly run down every option and summarise each career start, writing down the best options for each career and tell you the best picks for each one at the end.
Executive


«Lead a skyscraping criminal empire. Enjoy other players as Bodyguards and jund your opulent lifestyle by trading contraband.»
A very profitable business if you are patient and have a lot of spare time. Partially solo-friendly, sale missions better be done with a help of friends.
This career option grants you an active business, which means you'll have to take a part in most of it's activities in order to gain profit.

You will choose two types of property - your office, which can be your safehouse, garage and many more conveniences, and the warehouse you'll bring crates to and where from you'll sell them for profit.

Both the office locations and warehouse locations don't matter, except for the warehouse's storage capacity, which will determine the amount of crates you can store at the time.


Office
You can pick one of two:

Arcadius Business Center
Price:
GTA$2,250,000


Maze Bank West
Price:


There also a few upgrades available, but they won't serve you much purpose as a new player.


Warehouse

Now, when picking a starter warehouse, there are 8 options, of which you can pick only 1:

Warehouse
Cost
Derriere Lingerie Backlot (42 crates)
GTA$902,000
Gee Warehouse (42 crates)
GTA$880,000
Foreclosed Garage (16 crates)
GTA$400,000
Pier 400 Utility Building (16 crates)
GTA$392,000
Pacific Bait Storage (16 crates)
GTA$376,000
White Widow Garage (16 crates)
GTA$376,000
Celltowa Unit (16 crates)
GTA$318,000
onvenience Store Lockup (16 crates)
GTA$250,000

As I've stated before - locations don't matter, only the price and storage capacity does, so go with Derriere Lingerie Backlot or Gee Warehouse.


There is also great video by GTA Series Videos that covers the whole business in-depth and how to make the most profit out of it, I'll link it here.



Vehicles
This category is up to personal preference. If you don't go crazy on previous sections, you should have about a million GTA$ left, which will be enough to buy any car you want. Though, in my opinion, the only car you should buy in the beginning is Karin Kuruma (Armored).



Karin Kuruma (Armored)
Price:
GTA$698,250
Not only looks good, but it can shield you from up to 85% of bullets raining your way.


Weapons
After expenses you should have about 100 to 200 thousand GTA$ left, which will be enough to buy any weapons you want. There are no "bad" weapons in this game, all do damage and all of them kill.
Gunrunner


«Make your fortune in the illegal arms trade, manufacturing military-grade weapons from your underground Bunker.»
The most profitable business you can pick in terms of time spent per money earned. Partially solo-friendly, sale missions better be done with a help of friends.
This career option grants you a passive business, which means you can do other activities and check on this business once in a while to keep it running and collect your revenue.

This time, for a property you choose a location for your bunker, and the location matters a lot this time. All the sell missions for this business will lead you to the city, so picking the one further from one will make your life harder, to say the least.


Bunker
You can pick one of seven offered to you, but the most cost-effective one is:

Chumash

Price:
GTA$1,650,000


Upgrade

Next, you are offered 4 upgrade packs and a few separate upgrades to choose from.

Upgrade packs include:
  • Upgrade pack A: GTA$1,420,000 - Equipment Upgrade, Personal Quarters
  • Upgrade pack B: GTA$1,405,000 - Shooting Range, Gun Locker, Personal Quarters, Caddy 2
  • Upgrade pack C: GTA$1,265,000 - Shooting Range, Gun Locker Personal Quarters, Caddy 1
  • Upgrade pack D: GTA$1,214,500 - Staff Upgrade, Security Upgrade, Personal Quarters
The most expensive Bunker upgrade is the equipment upgrade, costing you GTA$1,155,000, so the wisest thing would be to go with an Upgrade pack A, giving you a place to stay in the bunker and the Equipment Upgrade which will give you a significant boost in the quality of guns manufactured, therefore, increasing their price.

Once you make some money, you can purchase the next most necessary upgrade: the Staff Upgrade, which will boost the manufacturing and research speed of your business. Costing you only GTA$598,500, you'll reach it fast.

After that, if you'll have a few more spare GTA$ laying around, you can buy the last upgrade: the Security Upgrade, which will cost you even less, GTA$351,000. This upgrade will significantly reduce the risk of raids on your establishment.


There is also a great video by GTA Series Videos that covers the whole business in-depth and how to make the most profit out of it, I'll link it here.



Vehicles
This category is up to personal preference. If you don't go crazy on previous sections, you should have about a million GTA$ left, which will be enough to buy any car you want. Though, in my opinion, the only car you should buy in the beginning is Karin Kuruma (Armored).



Karin Kuruma (Armored)
Price:
GTA$698,250
Not only looks good, but it can shield you from up to 85% of bullets raining your way.


Weapons
After expenses you should have about 100 to 200 thousand GTA$ left, which will be enough to buy any weapons you want. There are no "bad" weapons in this game, all do damage and all of them kill.
Nightclub Owner


«Open a nightclub and turn it into the hottest party in town, while using it as a front for managing your shadier income sources. Ideal for anyone looking to expand their business empire in the future.»
The best passive solo business in the game, especially after it got buffed in The Criminal Enterprises update.
This career option grants you a passive business, which means you can do other activities and check on this business once in a while to keep it running and collect your revenue.

Like with the Executive, the location for your Nightclub doesn't matter, as long as it personally convenient to you. Or go with the cheapest option if you're desperate for the most expensive upgrades and vehicles.


Nightclub
You can pick one of ten offered to you. Pick the one you like the most:

West Vinewood Nightclub

Price:
GTA$1,700,000

Downtown Vinewood Nightclub

Price:
GTA$1,670,000

Del Perro Nightclub

Price:
GTA$1,645,000

Strawberry Nightclub

Price:
GTA$1,525,000

La Mesa Nightclub

Price:
GTA$1,500,000

Mission Row Nightclub

Price:
GTA$1,440,000

Cypress Flats Nightclub

Price:
GTA$1,370,000

Vespucci Canals Nightclub

Price:
GTA$1,320,000

LSIA Nightclub

Price:
GTA$1,135,000

Elysian Island Nightclub

Price:
GTA$1,080,000


Upgrade

You can pick whichever upgrade pack you like, but the ones that influence your nightclub are:
  • Tony's Fun House Interior: GTA$$1,668,500 - Staff Upgrade, NSFW Style, Dazzle Lighting Rig, Transgressive Outfits, Male Dancers, Dry Ice
  • Omega Interior: GTA$563,000 - Staff Upgrade, Bare Naked Style, Cathedral Lighting Rig
The Staff Upgrade included in these packs reduce the daily popularity drop of your nightclub, making you generate more profit while visiting your business less.

About the profits - there are two ways the nightclub can make you money - both are passive, but I only mention one, since the other requires you to have at least one other business beside the nightclub, which you obviously won't have at the start of the game.

The first one involves keeping your nightclub popularity level at maximum, earning you GTA$50,000 once every one in-game day, which is 48 minutes of real time. Max safe capacity is GTA$250,000.

Once you get your hands on another business, you can assign one of your warehouse workers to passively generate product, which you will then sell.


There is also a great video by GTA Series Videos that covers the whole business in-depth and how to make the most profit out of it, I'll link it here.



Vehicles
This category is up to personal preference. If you don't go crazy on previous sections, you should have about a million GTA$ left, which will be enough to buy any car you want. Though, in my opinion, the only car you should buy in the beginning is Karin Kuruma (Armored).



Karin Kuruma (Armored)
Price:
GTA$698,250
Not only looks good, but it can shield you from up to 85% of bullets raining your way.


Weapons
After expenses you should have about 100 to 200 thousand GTA$ left, which will be enough to buy any weapons you want.
Biker

«Form a motorcycle club with up to seven other players. Hit the road, carry out deadly contracts and run black market businesses statewide.»
The most profitable business you can pick in terms of time spent per money earned. Sale missions are HELL without the help of friends.
This career option grants you a passive business, which means you can do other activities and check on this business once in a while to keep it running and collect your revenue.

You will choose two types of property - your clubhouse, which can be your safehouse, garage, and place to buy product factories to invest in your first factory, which will serve you as your first source of income.

Clubhouse location don't matter, but the factory location does. Depending on the location of your factory, you will either ship your product in the city or outside the city. Both options are viable, but DO NOT pick any locations close to Paleto Bay, since this will only make things more complicated and more time consuming.

Also, you have an option to not invest in your factories, but to invest in your clubhouse upgrades, which can give you an upgrade shop business that gives you an active type of income by repairing and upgrading bikes of your clients and then delivering them.


Clubhouse
Not counting upgraded options, you can pick one of six clubhouses:
Downtown Vinewood Clubhouse
Price:
GTA$472,000


La Mesa Clubhouse
Price:
GTA$449,000


Vespucci Beach Clubhouse
Price:
GTA$395,000


Grapeseed Clubhouse + Upgrade
Price:
GTA$755,000


Paleto Bay Clubhouse + Upgrade
Price:
GTA$562,000


Great Chaparral Clubhouse + Upgrade
Price:
GTA$520,000

Last two are sold as only upgraded ones, but the money they cost are better spent on your product factory.


Factories

Here you can pick 1 factory of 10 that are offered:

City Factories
Factory
Cost
Morningwood Cocaine Lockup + Upgrade
GTA$2,242,500
C. Flats Counterfeit Factory + Upgrade
GTA$2,147,500
Terminal Meth Lab + Upgrade
GTA$1,696,500
Elysian Island Forgery Office + Upgrade
GTA$1,525,000

County Factories
Factory
Cost
Mount Chiliad Weed Farm + Upgrade
GTA$1,118,700
Alamo Sea Cocaine Lockup
GTA$975,000
Paleto Bay Counterfeit Factory
GTA$951,600
Paleto Bay Forgery Office
GTA$732,000
Sab Chianski Weed Farm
GTA$715,000

The most profitable factories are cocaine and meth, but it's good to acquire all the business in a long run, since they all are pretty profitable (except for forgery and maybe counterfeit cash), but for now, just go with cocaine factory if you don't mind spending too much or get yourself a meth factory if you want to save some money.


There is also great video by GTA Series Videos that covers the whole business in-depth and how to make the most profit out of it, I'll link it here.



Vehicles
This category is up to personal preference. If you don't go crazy on previous sections, you should have about a million GTA$ left, which will be enough to buy any car you want. Though, in my opinion, the only car you should buy in the beginning is Karin Kuruma (Armored).



Karin Kuruma (Armored)
Price:
GTA$698,250
Not only looks good, but it can shield you from up to 85% of bullets raining your way.


Weapons
After expenses you should have about 100 to 200 thousand GTA$ left, which will be enough to buy any weapons you want. There are no "bad" weapons in this game, all do damage and all of them kill.
Best Picks
These are my personal picks that I think are the best, you don't have to necessarily follow any of these. I'll go from the worst to best careers. (for a total beginner)

Executive

Office
Maze Bank West with Accommodation or Garage Upgrade. Take Arcadius Business Center. if you don't want neither. This way you'll spent up to GTA$2,150,000 of your money.
Warehouse
Derriere Lingerie Backlot (42 crates) or Gee Warehouse (42 crates), plain and simple. Now you should have about GTA$3,000,000 spent.
Vehicles and Weapons
It's up to you, but once again, go with Kuruma (Armored), if you're not sure.



Biker

Clubhouse
The best option here is Vespucci Beach Clubhouse + Upgrade, costing GTA$925,000, this will give you a two-story, good-looking clubhouse with a good location, but you can go with a cheaper one.
Business
You can safely pick a Morningwood Cocaine Lockup + Upgrade here and this will have you GTA$3,167,500 spent.
Vehicles and Weapons
Once again, It's up to you, but yet again, go with Kuruma (Armored) for your first car, if you're not sure.



Nightclub Owner

Nightclub
Up to your preference, but be advised, if you buy the most expensive nightclub and the most expensive upgrade pack, you'll have less than GTA$600,000 left to your name, therefore, you won't be able to buy Kuruma (Armored).
Upgrades
Again, up to you, but don't go crazy.
Vehicles and Weapons
Once again, It's up to you, but yet again, go with Kuruma (Armored) for your first car, if you're not sure.



Gunrunner

Bunker
Chumash Bunker or a Lago Zancudo one if you're desperate.
Upgrades
Pick an Upgrade pack A, you won't regret it.
Vehicles and Weapons
And yet, yet again, all up to you, but once again, go with Kuruma (Armored) for your first car, if you're not sure.
Final Thoughts
I hope my guide helped you get settled on this fun and long adventure in GTA Online. I played this game for 1,800 hours on the Legacy version and the only thing that kept me playing is not thinking about the money, but the genuine fun I'll have.

Don't pick only what is best just because it's best and don't play only to make money. Please let me know in the comments if you have any questions regarding this topic. See you soon!
9 Comments
< >
Singlain  [author] 7 Mar @ 8:37pm 
@GruntOfAction, no, the career builder is mainly a feature for new players, you can still make a new character and theoretically have a career builder available to you, but you'll have to spend 3 mil on property before the game lets you out, so once again, theoretically, it's not worth the hustle for just one million, especially if you migrated an account that has a few businesses already set up and working
GruntOfAction 7 Mar @ 4:29pm 
I have a dumb and oddly specific question. I migrated my GTA5 Legacy online profile to enhanced, but never did any of the job stuff, if I make another character on that profile and it gives me the 4 mil to start can I then go on my main character and use the money to do one of the four things?
Singlain  [author] 5 Mar @ 7:29pm 
@Matisal2, No, you cant :steamdeadpan:
Matisal2 5 Mar @ 6:12pm 
Thanks for summarizing the options in this post.
If I choose one of these options and then i regret it, can I choose again or not?
Singlain  [author] 5 Mar @ 7:59am 
@sepac gtaweb.eu
sepac 5 Mar @ 7:02am 
what is that site with maps? i never seen that one lol
Singlain  [author] 4 Mar @ 8:35am 
@Sex Defender
I'm glad to be of help! :spiffo:
Necmi 4 Mar @ 4:51am 
holy guacamole thanks for this guide man!:steamhappy:
Singlain  [author] 4 Mar @ 4:27am 
@bongo The most "active" businesses is the Executive.

Nightclub generates you profit without doing absolutely nothing besides keeping your popularity at higher levels, but the Gunrunning and Bikers require either sourcing your supplies for the business or buying them, the rest is passive.