Set up in 2018, Whitespace Construction completes new build and renovation projects across Suffolk and Cambridgeshire and, for the past three years, has worked with Build Aviator, using its services to streamline admin and maximise efficiency. Bradley Guest from the firm tells us how Build Aviator supports his business day-to-day.
Monday:
Monday morning begins at 7am as usual and first job of the day is looking over an estimate we’ve had through from Mark Henwood our estimator at Build Aviator. We’re currently tendering for a job in Ipswich converting a commercial building to six flats and Mark has put together a report for us.
I look over the estimate checking the scope and the margins we agreed. I’ve got a couple of quick changes so I give Mark a call on my way to site.
Having worked with Mark for the past few years, we’ve got a great relationship. He knows how we work and, while it sounds cheesy, he really is like another member of our team. We just submit our plans, have a chat about the job once he’s looked through the drawings, and then we leave him to do the hard work of working out quantities and costing it up. Given that material prices are changing quickly at the moment, it’s great that Mark can base it on live costs and make our estimates as realistic a price as possible.
As we’ve worked with Build Aviator a while, we’ve been trialling their new subscription service, Fast Track. This is a monthly fee that gives us a set number of estimates per year, at a fixed cost and gives us other benefits such as software to make quick changes to quotes as needed.
We really like Fast Track because we go from initial plans to estimate quicker. Usually, you’d submit a job to the estimator, they’ll tell you the price to do the report and then you give the go ahead. But as we’ve got a set number of estimates in our subscription, we skip a step and therefore get our reports back faster. By the time I’ve spoken to Mark, I’ve arrived on site ready for a day on the tools. At the moment we’re finishing off an extension so it’s full steam ahead to get it over the line.
Wednesday:
After a couple of busy days on site, it’s time for something different today! We’re an Executive Class member of Build Aviator and, as part of our membership, the marketing team at Build Aviator help us with our social media profiles. When you’re busy on site and doing all the back office stuff, it’s easy to forget about or put off promoting your business for the next load of work.
We spend a bit of time this morning taking photos of our live job at Westgate Street so the team from Build Aviator can turn these into social media posts and help get our name out there to new customers. The team’s also created Whitespace Construction branded reports for our estimates that really help us stand out when we quote. We’ve had amazing feedback from customers on these reports. Rather than handing over a simple letter and a figure with terms and conditions, it feels great to present a designed report, with a clear overview of what’s in the estimate (and what isn’t!) and give a schedule of works.
I’m sure we’re not alone in finding that more and more customers want this timeline, so having that extra bit of work done for you really helps. It’s also helpful for us when planning jobs. Once we’ve got a start date, our estimator, Mark will re-run our report, making sure we’ve got the latest material prices and lead times for products. This Build Kick-Off service spits out a report that shows us any changes in prices, so we can have an upfront conversation with the customer about what’s changed.
Build Kick-Off also feeds into Build Aviator Click to Build which does actually what it says on the tin! The detailed materials list is uploaded, our branch rep clicks on what we need and the merchant can order products in line with the build schedule to make sure it’s delivered on site for when we need it. At 3pm, I head to the office to go through our latest Click to Build report for a job starting in a few weeks as well box off payroll for the month. A builder’s work is never done!
Friday:
Finally, the weekend is approaching! While I work long hours in the week – usually from 7am til 7pm/8pm doing admin like contracts, VAT returns etc in the evening, I make sure my weekends are my own.
Before I started working with Build Aviator, I would be working on estimates here and there around other stuff, and would probably spend at least half a day on each quote over a four day period. When you’re quoting for four jobs a month, it’s easy to see how that time can build up. I already spend an extra three or four hours each day on paperwork, so cutting that down to a ten minute call with Mark is a massive help and means I can spend quality time with my family.
