After a few difficult years, the construction sector is finally bouncing back and things are busy again! Having necessary systems in place to cope with an increased workload means you won’t be caught unprepared. Just think, in a few months, you might be too busy to dedicate any time towards finding a solution. Now is better than later.
Have a look at some of the top problems faced by busy businesses and see how our software can help you to overcome them.
Lack of time – rushing around but not feeling any of the benefits?
Professionalism – no time to deliver that extra panache?
Cash flow issues – problems with late payers?
Disorganisation – struggling to keep up with your increased workload?
Health & safety lapses – finding it difficult to deal with health and safety paperwork?
Burn-out – are you feeling stressed and worn out?
Lack of time
After rushing through work because you’re busy often leads to mistakes - missing important materials off quotes, not using up-to-date price lists or forgetting to schedule material deliveries.All of these errors can be costly to a business, whether it’s monetary loss or lack of customer confidence.
EstimatorXpress is a great business tool that not only cuts down the time it takes for you to write an estimate, but it also:
* Factors in VAT, wastage, profit and even wear and tear, so no costs are missed off the quote
* Produces a materials schedule along with the estimate so you can organise your materials, along with the job
Rising costs present one of the biggest challenges for the construction sector. Brian Berry, Chief Executive of the Federation of Master Builders (FMB) commented that, ‘Rising building costs and material prices are generally around 10% higher across the board’. These rising costs are one of the biggest current challenges for the construction sector, and they could even hinder business growth. EstimatorXpress gives you access to live material prices and merchant links from popular builders merchants’ to make sure that price rises won’t affect your costing or your bank balance.
EstimatorXpress helps you to keep more of what you earn and gives you that extra time to concentrate on other important areas of your business.
Professionalism
You might think you’ve got enough customers to see you through the whole year, or even too many to handle, but making a good impression is great for your business reputation and could give you that competitive edge.PlansXpress is CAD design software for builders. It produces professional building plans that will really impress your potential customers and the CAD software is easy to use, even if you have no design experience.
* Trace over existing plans and check calculations
* Create new plans for all types of domestic or commercial jobs
* Use the plans for Building Regulations and planning submission
* No need to pay any architect fees
* Quick to draw, simple to use.
Even if you are booked up, PlansXpress keeps the customers interested –they might hold out and wait until you’re quieter. You never know what’s around the corner.
Cashflow issues
Late payment remains a massive problem for small and medium sized businesses, across the UK. With expensive materials and staggered delivery schedules, late payment could delay your job, lose you money or even spell disaster for building firms.ContractsXpert produces standard building contracts for domestic, commercial and industrial building jobs – they’ve been written by the Federation of Master Builders (FMB) and are Crystal Mark approved so they’re easy to understand.
Along with the contracts, the software includes:
* Notice of Right to Cancel form
* Start Work Now form
* Changing Work form – great for customers who change the job details part way through
* Cancellation form.
If you’re faced with a late paying customer, or worse, one that never pays, you’ve got a legally binding contract on your side.
Disorganisation
As your workload increases, it can be difficult to stay in full control, especially if you have limited resources.ProjectXpert is the perfect business assistant it helps you to run your business projects smoothly, on time and on budget.
The software allows you to create tasks, sub-tasks and build phases, as well as assign resources and other costs to different parts of each job.
You can run more than one project at the same time, so multiple jobs are no longer a problem!
ProjectXpert also produces:
* Reports to monitor and compare planned and actual progress on a job
* Charts to show cash flow, revenue and allocation or resources
* Project calendar to manage jobs – can be imported to MS Outlook or Google Calendar
* Baselines that will track any amends that are made on the project.
ProjectXpert is simple to use, lets you plan ahead and stay on top of all your projects. The reports mean you’ll be able to recognise potential problems early on – it keeps you in complete control!
Health and safety lapses
Reports from the HSE show that construction market upturns and industry expansion usually means increased injuries and fatalities in the sector.Ms Bryant, chief inspector of construction in HSE has warned that there is ‘definitely a risk that injuries and fatalities will increase as workloads rise’ and said that it was important not to ‘let history repeat itself’, whilst ‘pressure to build, build, build’ was put on contractors.
Health and safety applies to everyone, regardless of the size of your site or company. Many smaller firms struggle to deal with the extra burden of complying but HBXL have a solution.
Health & Safety Xpert generates comprehensive health and safety paperwork, straight from your job details. It saves you time sifting through endless paperwork and makes sure nothing is missed out.
The software is written with leading industry experts and produces:
* Company Health & Safety Policy
* COSHH and Risk Assessments
* Site inspections
* Method statements
* Customer Duties document
* Pre-construction info pack
* Site audit sheets
* Site induction checklist
* F10 form
* Site rules
With fines and Fees for Intervention (FFI) being levied for those who don’t comply and the increased vigilance of HSE regarding the construction upturn, it pays to make sure you’re prepared in case of a site inspection!
Burn-out
A healthy business is dependent on clear thinking and fresh perspective. Too many hours spent working can be detrimental to both your health and your business.Our Premium Project Toolkit comprises of all the above HBXL products. This comprehensive kit will help you with every stage of building administration – streamlining your processes and giving you more time and energy – great for reducing stress levels!
What’s more, HBXL use X-Connex technology, so all of these products work seamlessly together, without the need for double handling data.
* EstimatorXpress – cuts down estimating time by 60%
* PlansXpress – breeze through planning applications and Building Regulations with easy to draw, architect quality plans
* Health & Safety Xpert – saves hours sifting through health and safety documents
* ContractsXpert – create a legally binding contract in minutes
* ProjectXpert – the perfect assistant for project managing your jobs.
If you’d like to have a chat about any of the products above, please give our sales team a call on 0845 1234 065.
