Use cases

The situations that bring us in

Six problems we meet in construction SMEs. If you recognize one of them, that is probably where to start.

01

Between the bid and the invoice, information goes missing

“We bid, we win the contract, and then nobody knows exactly what was promised. Quantities change, extras get agreed verbally on site, and at invoicing time we fight to work out what is actually billable.”

What we look at

The real path information takes between estimating, dispatch, the site and invoicing. Where it gets entered, how many times, and at what point it stops being reliable.

The deliverable

A map of the real flow — not of the org chart — with the break points identified and quantified in lost time and unbilled amounts.

What changes

What was promised to the client stays traceable all the way to the invoice, and extras stop evaporating between the site and the back office.

02

“I don't know what each job actually earns me”

“The year-end financials say the company is profitable. But I could not tell you which job made money and which one lost it.”

What we look at

How hours, materials and purchases are attributed — or not — to a specific job. And the gap between the price bid and the cost actually incurred.

The deliverable

A job-level profitability method that works with the tools already in place, along with a read of your most recently completed jobs.

What changes

The next bid rests on real costs rather than habit, and the jobs that are losing money become visible before year end.

03

The same information entered three times

“The supplier invoice arrives by email. Someone enters it in the job tracking spreadsheet, then someone else re-enters it in accounting. Timesheets take the same route.”

What we look at

Where your data actually lives: which documents circulate, in what form, and how many times the same information is retyped each week.

The deliverable

A count of the re-entry hours, and the places where they can disappear — sometimes through a simple setting, sometimes through a bridge between two existing tools.

What changes

Administrative hours recovered, in a sector where job vacancies have more than doubled since 2018.

04

The software bought, then abandoned

“We bought a management system two years ago. Two people half use it, the others went back to the spreadsheet. And we are still paying for the licence.”

What we look at

What the tool actually does, what the company needs, and why the gap widened. It is almost always a process and rollout problem, rarely a tool problem.

The deliverable

A clear verdict: put order into what you already have, or replace it. With the rollout plan in the first case.

What changes

You stop paying for a tool nobody uses. That is our basic principle: order before tools.

05

Public contracts: documentation becomes mandatory

“We work on public contracts. The mandated payment schedule and documentation force us to produce records we are not used to producing, on tight deadlines.”

What we look at

The requirements that actually apply to your contracts, what the company already produces, and the precise gap between the two.

The deliverable

The documentation process that meets the deadlines without adding a person to the back office.

What changes

Regulatory deadlines stop being a risk, and access to public contracts stops being held back by paperwork.

06

The extras that end up in dispute

“Subcontractors move ahead, changes get decided on site, and six months later we are still arguing about who was supposed to pay for what.”

What we look at

How changes are requested, approved and documented — and exactly when the written trace disappears.

The deliverable

A change management process, and the minimum documentation that holds up in a disagreement.

What changes

Fewer end-of-project arguments, and a defensible position when they happen anyway.

An honest note

The situations described above are the ones we meet in construction SMEs and related sectors. They are not completed engagements presented as results. Aplomb is a young firm: we will publish the gains achieved at our clients once they have been measured, with their agreement — not before.

Recognize one of these?

The first conversation exists to state your problem in one sentence. Nothing else.

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