Our History
My career in Construction began in 1998 working for J Murphy, initially as a Tenant Liaison Officer and then as a Buyer. I was responsible for buying the parts for over 50 mechanics and this was a real training ground when it came to Products and Buying. The concept seemed simple – Best Product, Best Price, Immediate Delivery. Although I was provided with a computer a lot of the processes involved manual order books, handwritten requisitions, and a Fax Machine. It was clear to me early on that this process (as was commonplace in the industry) worked in theory, but in reality time and demand pressures meant that important information was written on a scrap piece of paper and put into the order book. Sound familiar? This meant that later down the line, with the Accounts Team looking for the details and approval for the Invoices, delays occurred. I started to wonder – there must be an easier process to all of this?
After some time with J Murphy, I worked with Mitchellson and found identical processes and challenges. Later, I moved to PC Harrington and found they would use a computer system. However, we found that more complicated orders still stayed in the order book and not entered onto the computer resulting in the same challenges when the Accounts Team were chasing for information.
At this stage, I started looking at better ways of getting information from the Project to the Office. I began some initial designs – designing paper templates whereby the Teams on the Projects could tick a box to say what they need and then develop a piece of Software to rip this data, create a Purchase Order and send directly to the Supplier. I could see potential in this design, but a major drawback meaning there would be a huge number of different templates that would be needed. Lessons learned – I wanted to utilise Technology and the uptake in the use of e-mail, whilst making a product that was so user friendly that anybody (regardless of their experience using software) could use.
Whilst considering my options in 2009, I had an interview with a similar company. I found there that they were using a Market Leading software package designed for the Construction Industry. After listening to their pros and cons, it turned out that they had to heavily invest to adapt the software to get it close to where they needed it to be. At this stage, they planned to invest further to accomplish the outcome the first round of investment didn’t achieve. By this stage, I had designed a system in principle that could do everything they needed it to – and this gave me the spark to bring my ideas from theory into reality.
I developed the product, alongside installing accreditation systems like ISO & CHAS which gave me experience in Quality Control. I continued to develop the software alongside my Business Partner, who brought experience as a Project Manager. After a number of coffees and cakes, we developed the software together from a Purchasing System to an all-round Purchasing & Labour Management system. We designed the complete build from scratch, with all of our experience in the Construction Industry to produce something bespoke that we knew the Industry needed.
Fast forward to today – we have a dedicated inhouse Development Team at our Head Office in Hertfordshire. We have over 10 000 users across our Customer Base. Our customers range in sizes – from one-man bands right through to £900M Turnover. We have developed a pricing structure, so our system is financially accessible to every customer – regardless of size. We actively seek Customer Feedback and many of the developments that the system has had is the result of the feedback we have received.
Using our Biometric Software, our customers use this to clock in, generate timesheets and complete Payroll. Our system stores all the Training Documentation and Right-to-Work information. It is used to generate purchase orders, manage requisitions and automatically match up invoices with zero data entry.
I entered the Software Market as I knew I had a product that could improve and streamline the processes. We don’t claim to have a “percentage of the top 100 Contractors” – but we do know we have significantly reduced the countless hours spent on admin, processing wages and managing invoices.
We work for you – the Customer.
We offer a software product that works for you – to build the future of your construction.
– Paul Downey, Managing Director
