When a company initially contacts us to have a look at our software, the most common reason is something along the lines of “We want to move away from Excel”.
Whether it’s because they have too many spreadsheets or they can’t perform the work as efficiently as they want to, it’s an all too common theme among many construction businesses across the UK.
Continue reading below to discover why this company has chosen Construction Manager to replace their manual processes and spreadsheets.
Bill Kear Plant and Agricultural Contractors LTD and the challenges they were facing
Bill Kear Plant and Agricultural Contractors Ltd is a family-run business established in 1972. They have evolved over 43 years to provide first-class services to diverse market sectors as Housing, Education, Leisure, Transport, Agriculture, Equestrian and Environmental.
Before Eque2, Bill Kear was using spreadsheets and paper documents alongside Xero accounts to manage their construction accounting processes. However, spreadsheets were extremely overbearing, and paired with paper documents, it was impossible to manage so many data silos whilst keeping accurate.
Therefore, Bill Kear Plant and Agriculture entered the market, looking for a solution which:
- Integrated with their existing Xero Accounts.
- Managed both their construction works and small/maintenance works.
- Removed the need for paper documentation, allowing them to become a paper-free business.
- Connected their on-site and back-office team.
- Produced live, detailed reports of their financials, on-hire plant and more.
Bill Kear Plant and Agriculture Contractors LTD and Eque2
Soon after discovering Eque2, an online demonstration was arranged where Bill Kear Plant and Agriculture was shown Construction Manager and Maintenance Manager.
When viewing Construction Manager, Bill Kear saw how it’s powerful integration with Xero meant they could stay with the accounting system they know and love, adding industry-specific functionality that allows for seamless data exchange, removing the need for spreadsheets, and collaboration between the two systems, streamlining financial processes and improving efficiency for construction businesses.
Then they saw how they could manage their onsite plant with automated tracking, assess the materials they had as well as provide transparency to the entire company through real-time reports including WIP, Costs vs Budgets and Subcontractor Payments. Furthermore, they found out how they could create custom live reports which would allow them to see the financial position of any process they needed in real-time.
When viewing Maintenance Manager, Bill Kear saw how they could raise an initial quote and schedule it with an available engineer through a mobile app. They also saw how they could allocate both planned and reactive maintenance works across their engineers. They were shown that once the job was completed, the client would be able to sign off and the engineer could return back to the office or carry on to the next job.
They saw how they could remove the need for paper documents by digitising their job sheets and distributing them directly to their field engineer’s phones. This would allow them to remove paperwork from processes such as timekeeping, payroll, and other documents.
Not only does this reduce the amount of paper being used, but it also makes it much easier to manage and track jobs. With digital job sheets, they could instantly update the status of a job, allocate tasks to specific engineers, and track the progress of each job in real-time. This would help them to streamline their workflow and reduce the time and resources needed to complete each job.
By being cloud-based, their engineers can access their schedules, job sheets, and other important documents from anywhere with an internet connection. This means that they don’t need to travel to the office to collect paperwork or receive instructions.
After the Demo
After the demonstration, Bill Kear Plant and Agricultural Contractors LTD purchased Construction Manager Premium for Xero, Maintenance Manager for Xero, alongside Mobile Engineer and Timesheet apps.
To find out more about how cloud-based software can benefit your business, click here.
Alternatively, you can register here for a free live online webinar to see Construction Manager and Maintenance Manager in action by clicking here.