The extra work was done but never recorded. At the final account it’s your word against the customer’s.
In construction, margin leaks away in places nobody keeps track of. Extra work agreed verbally that never makes it onto paper. An old drawing someone is working from. Hours on a scrap of paper in a trouser pocket. The work itself usually goes well; the recording around it doesn’t. Simple automation can claw back a lot there, without anyone having to build any differently.
A contractor or fit-out company with its own people and regular subcontractors, running several projects at once from one office.
Sound familiar?
- Extra work is agreed on site and only raised at the final account. Then it’s an argument.
- There are three versions of the same drawing; someone works from the wrong one and it has to be redone.
- Subcontractors submit their hours and invoices in as many formats as there are subcontractors.
- The daily report is a chat message with four photos in a group nobody reads back.
- Materials are at the wrong site or were ordered too early and are in the way.
- A handover with a snag list on paper; two weeks later nobody knows what’s still open.
- When the job costing is done, a project turns out to have made a loss, and nobody can point to where it went wrong.
What usually runs here
That does not have to go. We build in between and around it.
Where the gains are
Recording extra work on site
The site manager records an agreement with photo, location and a short description. That automatically produces a variation order the customer approves digitally.
no more arguments at the final account about what was and wasn’t agreedAlways the latest drawing
Every task is linked to the latest released version of the drawing. Old versions can still be viewed, but no longer used.
less rework from work based on outdated informationProcessing subcontractor invoices automatically
Incoming invoices and timesheets are read, linked to the right project and the right cost item and set up for approval.
project costs are up to date, instead of months laterDaily report from what happens anyway
Photos, booked hours and material deliveries are summarised into a daily report per project, with what’s done and what’s blocking.
the site manager spends less time on reports and management sees the real pictureSnag items that chase themselves
Items are recorded on the spot with a photo, assigned to a party and tracked until they’re signed off.
handovers drag on less and the final instalment comes in soonerThe honest bit
- On site, the only thing that works is what you can operate with one hand and dirty fingers. Any screen that asks for twenty fields gets skipped. We deliberately keep it minimal.
- Automatic processing of subcontractor invoices and hours only works once your project coding is right. If it’s a mess, that’s the first job, and that’s manual work.
- Season and weather disrupt every schedule. A system can calculate what shifts when it freezes, but it doesn’t solve the delay.
- Many builders think the gain is in smarter planning. In practice it’s more often in extra work you currently don’t invoice.
How we start
A core session of one half-day, four hours for €596 excluding VAT and travel costs, with the site manager and project administration present. We go through one completed project and look for where the margin leaked away: extra work, rework, waiting time or invoices passed on too late. Then we build the part with the shortest payback time, usually recording extra work. Only once that’s running do we look at the rest.
Further reading
From our insights
Most businesses start with the tool and then get stuck. It is better to start with one piece of work that comes back every week and nobody enjoys.
The build costs are usually the easiest part of the bill. The surprises are in the clean-up beforehand, the monthly usage and the maintenance afterwards.