Adopting effective systems and continuing to innovate are essential for remaining competitive in the fast-paced construction industry. In this article, we explore how three leading companies DB Building Contracts, Dimension Engineering, and William Pye Ltd. are adopting Eque2's Construct and EValuate software. By moving away from manual processes and embracing modern solutions, these businesses are gaining full visibility into costs, improving profit control, streamlining processes, and enhancing collaboration between teams.
D B Building Contracts Chose Construct for Sage and EValuate Software to Enhances Efficiency and Profitability
Since its founding in 1999, DB Building Contracts has expanded to rank among the biggest private home builders in Northern Ireland, with a focus on both new construction and renovation. The company discovered flaws in its current systems, which couldn’t accommodate its level of growth. It relied on manual job management methods and spreadsheets while using Sage 50 for accounting which was no longer effective.
DB Contracts realised that a more efficient approach was needed to track expenses and manage budgets, as their crucial data was spread across multiple systems which was leading to inefficiencies. Important data, such subcontractor insurance information, was manually entered into Excel with no in-built reminders. DB Building Contracts sought greater automation, including alerts for insurance renewals, retention deadlines, and measures to prevent overpayments to subcontractors. Additionally, they needed better visibility of supplier and subcontractor invoices to prevent duplicates, along with more streamlined timesheet processes to reduce manual duplication both on-site and in the office.
To support their business overcome these challenges DB Building Contracts chose Construct for Sage 50 construction-specific accounting software and EValuate estimating software. These systems will centralise all key project cost data, reducing duplication and minimising risk.
Key benefits include:
Streamlined data entry: Construct for Sage will help DB Contracts streamline admin by ensuring that information is captured only once, reducing the chance of errors. The system’s Approvals Module will enhance subcontractor management by tracking applications and payments and notifying users of any duplicate supplier invoices.
Managing critical information: Construct allows to record important details such as subcontractor insurance expiry dates, generate alerts, and reports when action is required. This will helps the business stay on top of critical information to avoid potential issues.
Real-time visibility of costs: With a dedicated accounting software, DB Building Contracts can monitor and control budgets more effectively, enabling them to identify issues early. This proactive approach will facilitate faster decision-making and more effective financial management.
An integrated estimating and construction accounting system: EValuate, with integration into Construct, will help connect the estimators, commercial, and accounts teams more effectively. It will help to streamline bill production, manage subcontractor enquiries, and provide a clear snapshot of budget versus actual costs. Additionally, EValuate will generate the Bill of Quantities (BoQ), allowing DB Building Contracts to track project costs seamlessly and identify areas that may impact profit margins, ensuring better collaboration across departments.
Dimension Engineering to Streamline Project and Service Management with Construct for Sage and ServiceStream
Dimension Engineering was established in 2018 with head offices in Billericay, Essex. The business is part of the Dimension Group and was established to close the gap between smart building deployments and on-site BMS services. Dimension Engineering keeps up with the latest developments in smart building technology, providing clients with a complete solution for smart building implementation as well as continuous support for sustainability and ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) activities.
Initially, Dimension Engineering relied on Zoho, spreadsheets, and manual processes to manage projects and service engagements. However, quickly they realised that while Zoho was effective as a CRM, it didn’t offer the construction-specific accounting capabilities they needed. The company needed a more robust and integrated system to better support their operations and business growth. The lack of seamless integration between their existing tools created challenges in managing project costs, handling retentions, variations, approvals, and subcontractor CIS. Additionally, procurement, invoicing, and reporting processes required greater visibility and streamlined workflows to improve efficiency.
To address these issues, Dimension Engineering identified the need for a comprehensive, industry-specific solution for project costing and service management. The business required a single system to manage procurement, invoicing, and reporting with full visibility of costs versus budget. Additionally, managing remote and onsite service work with engineers and complex SLA’s presented further challenges in job tracking and client billing.
After evaluating various solutions, Dimension Engineering chose Construct for Sage 50 and ServiceStream to meet their specific needs. Construct, a construction-specific accounting solution, offers the flexibility to manage retentions, reverse charges, and procurement effectively. It enables easy creation and modification of budget structures, giving Dimension Engineering maximum control and visibility for analysis both now and in the future.
Key summary of benefits for Dimension Engineering:
Easy cost management: With Construct, the company can raise purchase orders for materials, plant, and subcontractors, providing a live cost commitment versus the budget. This will enable seamless matching of deliveries, either in the package or from the site, using the Mobile App. Real-time updates and automatic invoice matching will keep everything aligned.
Full cost visibility and seamless reporting: Construct offers complete visibility into committed, accrued, and actual costs compared to the budget, all in real time. One of the key advantages is the ability to directly export this data into an Excel spreadsheet, allowing teams to easily analyse and manipulate financial information with minimal effort. The system also provides extensive reporting capabilities that simplify retention tracking, manage variations, and streamline workflows—saving both time and resources. With unlimited document storage for projects, Construct ensures that all project documentation is securely stored in an organised, easily accessible space, improving document management and collaboration across teams.
Enhanced service and maintenance: ServiceStream, integrated with Construct, will provide a dedicated solution for managing planned and reactive service and maintenance work. It will facilitate job scheduling, diary planning, and recurring jobs, while the mobile app will ensure engineers receive real-time updates.
Improving document management: Construct provides a centralised point for all information and enhances invoicing by supporting a faster and more accurate process. With features such as automated approvals, insurance tracking, and skills monitoring, it will help Dimension Engineering avoid potential issues before they arise.
With this implementation, Dimension Engineering aims to streamline job management and service operations, driving greater efficiency, minimising duplication, and enhancing cost visibility, empowering the business to make more informed, data-driven decisions.
William Pye Chooses Construct and EValuate Solutions to Enhance Efficiency and Accuracy
With more than 50 years of experience in civil engineering and groundworks throughout England and North Wales, William Pye Limited is a family-run business with its headquarters in Lancashire. They have established solid bonds with both public and private sector customers, including some of the leading businesses and governmental organisations in the area. William Pye determined it was time to stop depending on Excel and Sage 50 after realising they needed to update their systems to remain competitive and support future expansion. Instead, they decided to support their activities with more centralised, effective platforms.
William Pye faced several operational challenges due to their reliance on manual processes and outdated systems. Tender creation was slow, cumbersome, and prone to error, as everything was done manually. The lack of digital tools made take-offs particularly time-consuming, as plans had to be printed to A1 size and manually measured. Procurement and goods received were not linked to invoicing, which led to a lack of visibility and difficulties in managing project costs. Retentions were often calculated incorrectly, and trust in the data was low, as it was often spread across Excel sheets, leading to delays in understanding project performance until the projects were completed. This put the business at risk, as mistakes with retentions could lead to financial losses. In addition, there was no link between project tendering and accounting, and timesheets had to be re-entered manually, creating inefficiencies and more chances for errors.
To address these challenges, William Pye chose Eque2's EValuate and Construct for Sage 50 to streamline their operations and improve accuracy moving forward.
Eque2's EValuate estimating solution, with its integrated digital take-off tool, will simplify the tendering process, enabling faster and more accurate creation of tenders. By allowing the team to collaborate, reuse previous tenders, and link measurements directly to drawings with version control, the system will reduce the time spent on tender creation and improve the accuracy of outputs, ultimately helping to protect margins.
The subcontractor enquiry portal in EValuate is set to simplify communications with subcontractors, making it easier to request quotes, share information, and track responses. This will greatly reduce the time and complexity involved in managing subcontractor pricing, allowing William Pye Ltd to focus on more strategic activities.
With Construct for Sage 50, all data will be integrated, eliminating the duplication and manual tracking of project costs. The system will allow for accurate job costing and enable William Pye Ltd to link tender budgets directly to project delivery. This connection between tendering and accounting will help track variations, monitor live project progress, and manage retentions correctly. Additionally, the system will provide visibility of committed costs versus actual costs, streamlining invoicing and ensuring that the team can make data-driven decisions in real time.
The timesheet process will also be greatly improved. Instead of re-keying paper timesheets into Excel and sending them to a payroll provider, William Pye Ltd will be able to use Construct for Sage 50's Timesheet App. This will allow employees to enter their hours directly into the system, automatically updating labour costs and exporting data to payroll providers, eliminating duplication and saving time.
Summary of key benefits
- Streamlined processes: Faster tendering, estimating, and project delivery with integrated systems.
- Improved data visibility: Real-time insights for informed decision-making.
- Enhanced collaboration: Cloud-based environment ensuring professional outputs without manual Excel tracking.
- Simplified procurement and invoicing: Streamlined approval process for clearer cost tracking.
- Accurate budgeting and margin protection: Better project budgets and effective variation tracking.
- Efficient timesheet management: Automated data entry to save time and reduce errors.
By choosing Eque2's EValuate and Construct for Sage 50, William Pye is positioning itself to significantly improve the efficiency and accuracy of their project management, from tender creation to project delivery. The company will continue to grow and maintain its competitiveness in a rapidly evolving field thanks to this modernisation.
Curious to know more about our construction accounting software, Construct for Sage?
To discover our range of job costing, construction accounting, maintenance and estimating solutions, you can watch a short demo or book a free-discovery session with our team by following these links:
Watch a personalised demo: www.eque2-construction.co.uk/construction-software/medium-contractor/
Book a discovery call: www.eque2-construction.co.uk/contact/
