The odds are the same wether it is a male or female that you get the visual of. If you buy the het females and raise them that gives you time to save for a visual male. That said, Once you get the male you can grow him up and add him into you dom/co-dom projects. And the project grows from there.
Ex:...Ill go with pieds since thats what your shooting for...Get your 2 het pied females and start growing them. Save for a pied male. If you pick up some older females along the way plug him in. Pastel females are fairly cheap now. Next season you can breed the pied x pastel and make pastel het pieds. Start growing them up and the following season your hets should be ready. Now plug him into those two and the project keeps growing...
Hope thats not too confusing for you. Good luck!