RedSky’s construction software is enabling a 101-year old family business to drive efficiencies across the organisation. Last week the company gained an accurate, real-time view of its retentions liabilities for the first time ever.
Norwich-based building contractor H Smith & Sons (Honingham) Limited signed up with RedSky in December. This was the starting point for its comprehensive, company-wide digital transformation programme, which was part-funded by the New Anglia Small Grant Scheme.
Director Jonathan Smith said: “From the moment when RedSky’s Anthony Puma came in to give us a demo, we could see the benefits of moving to a construction-specific system. And the more we learned about it, the more convinced we were that we should go for the whole package.
“We started our implementation in January. It’s been really good, with just the right level of project management. The timescales have turned out to be very accurate. The same is true for the estimated number of days’ training required – I do believe it’s a false economy to spend on the software and then scrimp on the training.”
The implementation has been an eye-opener for Jonathan: “With RedSky’s Core Financials bundle, we can take the high-level cost figures and really drill down into the system to find out what and where the various expenditures are. Having that level of detail will inform our business decisions and give us an early warning on jobs.
“We were blinkered before, but now we have complete visibility. This is especially true of retentions, which were always arduous to unpick: until last week, we had no idea how much our clients are holding on us and how much we are holding on our subcontractors, but now we just click a button and all the information is there on screen for us to see.”
Running the Payroll used to be a complex and time-consuming process, but Jonathan’s team can now produce and post reports at the touch of a button. And monthly billing for the company’s rental properties is now a piece of cake. “We used to spend hours working from Excel spreadsheets, printing and scanning, but the whole process can now be done in three minutes and all the invoices are emailed out automatically,” said Jonathan.
This is just the start of the company’s digital transformation journey, which will also include RedSky’s Invoice Register, Business Analytics, Document Management, Forms, Alerts and Email Archiving. Inspired by what his company has achieved so far, Jonathan intends to keep up the momentum.
H Smith & Sons (Honingham) Limited operates in Norfolk and North Suffolk and specialises in a wide range of building projects, including residential developments, bespoke homes, commercial and design-and-build properties, refurbishments and alterations.
