Lochlie Construction Group were established in 2014 and are an experienced and trusted family-owned and run building contractor working across a wide range of commercial and residential projects in Glasgow and the west. Offering the full package from building a house from the ground up, to wiring, electric, and project management advice, they also offer steel building solutions to the commercial market in partnership with the UK’s leading steel and cladding suppliers.
The Challenges
On-site managers and employees were using a manual timesheets process which was both cumbersome and time consuming. Processing weekly timesheets for between 10-15 employees would often take up to 4 days to finalise, with submissions, approval process, error corrections and manual input in Eque2 Construct all using up valuable time and resources.
As employee number grew in line with business growth, their existing manual process was clearly no longer fit for purpose.
The pain of delayed or missing timesheets, coupled with the risk of missed employee payments meant a new process was needed to help them to cope with, and further enable, the growth they were experiencing.
Managing Director Douglas Aitken explained, “Our staff numbers were growing and we needed to speed things up or it was going to really hold us back. Our process was manual and at risk of errors, duplication, and was very time consuming.”
In late 2019 Lochlie Construction spoke to Eque2 about their Mobile Timesheets App, as solution which enables multiple employees or individual site managers to enter and submit timesheet data from their own mobile devices.
The Solutions
Eque2 Mobile Timesheets involved an initial bedding-in period, which wasn’t always easy. Douglas commented, “We had employees of all ages and abilities in the business. Some were less tech-savvy than others and would use old mobile devices not entirely compatible with our new tech.”
Once all employees were up-and-running though, the benefits of an automated timesheets process were significant. Douglas added, “What once took us an entire week to complete is now all finalised within a day.”
Streamlining and automation of processes using Eque2 Mobile Apps and Modules have been key elements in helping to enable their business to grow aspirations.
In addition to timesheets, Lochlie Construction were also able to make further timesaving efficiencies by adopting Eque2’s Mobile Purchase Orders and Approvals Apps, allowing their on-site managers to raise POs, have them approved remotely and then submitted directly to Construct, all carried out directly from within the App.
Business Impact
As Lochlie Construction continued to grow as a business it became more apparent just how big an impact their newly adopted Eque2 solutions were having.
In addition to helping enable them to scale though improved operational efficiency, the change also brought on some unexpected improvements. Douglas explained, “It wasn’t just the time and cost-saving improvements that these solutions brought, which were fantastic, but it was the whole professionalism of how we do things as a business that has also really made a big impact right across the company.”
Douglas added, “We have our younger tech-savvy apprentices taking to the solutions with ease, helping older tradesmen get to grips with how to use the mobile apps etc, which has really improved working practices and professionalism. It really has brought the business into the 21st century.”
