Builders, with gumption.
Quoting software for builders, plus site diaries and stage payments
The building is the easy bit. It's the quotes, the variations, the stage payments and the "I thought that was included" that keep you up at night. We build builders the systems that get it all written down, and the marketing that brings in the jobs worth doing.
Sound familiar?
Variations agreed on the drive.
The customer asks for an extra socket, a wider opening, a different tile. You say yes on the drive, it costs you half a day and some materials, and nobody writes it down. At the final invoice, their memory and yours don't match. Most disputes on small jobs start exactly here, with a friendly chat and no paperwork.
Subcontractors and the order of things.
The plasterer can't start until the electrician's done first fix, and the electrician is on another job until Thursday. Keeping sparkies, plumbers, plasterers and the skip company in the right order across two or three sites is a full-time job done in snatched phone calls, and one slip leaves a gang standing around.
Photos everywhere, records nowhere.
You take photos of the footings, the steel going in and the insulation before it's boarded, because you know you might need them. They sit in your camera roll between your kids and a picture of a dodgy van. When building control or the customer asks, finding the right one takes half an hour.
Every course level. Every invoice sent.
Quoting software that follows the whole job.
Every system is built around how your building firm already works. Here are some of the things we'd build for builders. Job management. How our bespoke systems work.
Quotes and variations in writing.
Build a quote from your own rates and materials, broken into clear stages, and send it as a tidy PDF. When the customer asks for a change on site, add a variation on your phone with the price and a photo. They approve it by tapping a link, so there's a written record before the work is done.
Stage payments that chase themselves.
Set payment stages when the quote is accepted, such as a deposit, after foundations, at the roof and on completion. When you mark a stage done, the invoice goes out by email with photos of the finished work. One screen shows what's been paid, what's due and what's late.
A site diary with photos.
Each day, note who was on site, what got done, the weather, any deliveries and any problems, with photos attached. It takes a couple of minutes from your phone. Everything is filed by job and date, so if a question comes up in six months, the answer is already written down.
A subcontractor schedule everyone can see.
Plan which trade is on which site and when, on one screen. Subbies get a text with the address, dates and what needs doing before they arrive. Move a job back a day and everyone affected is told, rather than you ringing round from the van.
Snag lists for sign-off.
Walk round with the customer at the end and add each snag on your phone with a photo and a note. Assign each one to the right trade. As they're fixed, tick them off with a photo of the finished job. The customer gets the completed list by email for sign-off.
Where AI helps builders.
Most building rows start as a chat on the drive that nobody wrote down. AI is good at catching those chats in writing, and you read everything before the customer sees it. How we use AI.
- Variations while you're still on siteTalk through the extra work and snap the wall in question. A written variation with your price comes back for you to check, then the customer approves it before anyone picks up a trowel.
- A site diary you can say out loudA two-minute voice note at the end of the day becomes a dated diary entry with the photos attached. Deliveries, delays and who was on site, written down without an evening at the laptop.
- Enquiries while the mixer's runningNew enquiries get answered when you're up the scaffold, with the job, the address and the timescale noted. You get a short text and ring back the ones worth pricing.
Websites for builders that show off the work.
People looking for a builder search carefully and compare: "extension builders Bradford", "loft conversion near me", "builders for kitchen extension West Yorkshire". They want to see finished work, read reviews and get a feel for whether you'll turn up. We build a website with proper project pages for each job, set up your Google Business Profile with your services and area, and help you ask happy customers for reviews.
Your best advert is a finished job photographed well. We do the photography ourselves, so we can shoot completed extensions, kitchens and renovations properly, with before-and-after shots that show the scale of the work. Branding that looks the same on your van, site boards, quotes and website makes a small firm look organised, and in building, looking organised is half of winning the job.
An illustration, not a real client
Example: a small building firm juggling three sites.
An illustration rather than a real client, but it's typical of what we build. Imagine a builder with a small team and regular subcontractors, running an extension, a loft and a garage conversion at once. We'd give them quotes broken into stages, variations approved by text link, and a site diary with photos for each job. Subbies see the schedule on their phones. At handover, the snag list goes out by email and the final stage invoice follows once it's signed.
Questions builders ask.
What would a system like this cost for a building firm?
We don't have a price list, because a one-man band and a firm with a site manager need very different things. We talk through how you quote, schedule and get paid, then give you a fixed price for the build. Plenty of builders start with quotes and variations, then add the rest over time.
Can I use it on site from my phone?
Yes. It's built for phones first, with big buttons and a camera button on every screen, because that's how site notes actually get taken. Forms save as you go, so a poor signal doesn't lose anything. Quoting is comfier on a laptop in the evening, but works on a phone too.
Will variations stand up if there's a disagreement?
We're not solicitors, so we can't promise how any dispute would go. What the system does is make sure every variation has a description, a price, a date, a photo and a record of the customer approving it. That's a lot better than trying to remember a conversation on the drive.
Can my subcontractors use it without paying for anything?
Yes. Subbies don't need an account or an app. They get texts with the job details and a link to see their schedule and upload photos. You decide what each person can see, so the plasterer doesn't see your margins.
Do builders really need a website when it's all word of mouth?
Word of mouth gets you the name. Then people look you up. If they find nothing, or a page that hasn't changed in years, they wonder. A website with real projects, reviews and a way to get in touch backs up the recommendation and helps you pick the jobs you want.
Why not just use quoting software like Tradify or Buildxact?
Tools like Tradify and Buildxact suit plenty of builders, and if one fits the way you price and run jobs, keep it. A bespoke system makes sense when you keep working around your software rather than with it, whether that's how you break a job into stages, how you handle variations or what your subbies need to know. Then the system follows your jobs, not the other way round.
How do I get more building work without relying on lead sites?
Lead sites suit some builders, and that's fine. But plenty of people who hear your name will look you up before they ring. A website with proper project pages, a Google Business Profile listing your services and area, and a steady trickle of reviews means they find a firm that looks organised. We can't promise how much work comes in, but we can make you easy to check out.
Also with gumption.
Trades with a lot in common with builders. Or see everyone we help.
Let's sort your building firm out.
Tell us how things run now, paper, spreadsheets and all. We'll tell you honestly what we'd build for a builder like you, and what we wouldn't bother with.