HBXL BUILDING SOFTWARE FOR START-UPS – MEET CALLUM
Start-ups are what make the construction industry thrive. Thank goodness for Callum and everyone like him. He’s pretty typical of the many new businesses using HBXL Building Software. After years working for other builders, learning the trade, putting in a good shift, Callum wanted to spread his wings and feather his own nest.
He knew it wouldn’t be easy. Starting any business, construction or not, takes time, money, energy and lots of learning. He doesn’t just do the physical work now, he also has to manage the business end: the customer quotations; customer service; the building programme; the health and safety; building control; the material orders; paying the bills; the invoicing, etc. etc.
That’s a lot to take on in good times, let alone in the state we find the UK currently. It’s never been more important to be on the front foot. With financial pressures being felt by both the industry and the homeowners, no one wants to run into trouble early on.
And that’s where we come in. HBXL wants to give start-ups the firm foundations on which to build a sustainable, profitable business. And we do it with a set of admin type building blocks.
BUILDING BLOCK 1: ESTIMATING SOFTWARE
EstimatorXpress has literally hundreds of project templates to choose from. Every last brick and nail is already included in the job, making it easy for the more inexperienced builder (and anyone else for that matter) to quote the full cost of the job, accurately. Every step of the estimate process is logical, with lots of visual prompts and written tips. Prefer taking off? Add our Take-off software to EstimatorXpress and you’ll arrive at the same conclusion via an onscreen tracing of the plan.
BUILDING BLOCK 2: SUPPORT AND TRAINING
There’s no one else offering the UK building community the level of help we provide. And if you feel you need it, we’re here for you with eight free hours of software training and a free 1-2-1 onboarding session. Some users like it. Some users just go for it! Whatever, over-the-phone support is available 9am-5pm Mon-Fri (included in the Support & Updates package) for any question big or small. Getting started videos and all kinds of help videos are available in the online library. No one wants builders to get to grips with managing a business more than we do. That’s why we invest so much time and money in it.
BUILDING BLOCK 3: PROJECT MANAGEMENT
EstimatorXpress has a clever, intuitive dashboard that shows the jobs being quoted on, jobs in progress, what’s coming up next and so on. You can see what jobs are profitable and what aren’t. And there’s a whole library of reports created automatically from each estimate. Download the build programme, material schedule, cash flow forecast… and let HBXL help you manage your jobs.
BUILDING BLOCK 4: HEALTH & SAFETY
We recommend new businesses start as they mean to go on – safely and on the right side of the law. Establish good practises from the get go and it will become second nature. With our Health & Safety Xpert software, you just tell the software about the job (automatic if you have EstimatorXpress) and it will select the relevant documents both required by law, and recommended. The premium version will tell you when to use them.
BUILDING BLOCK 5: BINDING CUSTOMER AND SUBBIE CONTRACTS
The last thing any business wants is to wind up with a customer who wriggles out of paying the full amount. Our ContractsXpert software gets it all down in writing – automatically if you have EstimatorXpress. The same applies to sub-contractors – no awkwardness between mates or anyone for that matter.
There’s more… our PlansXpress software is great for start-ups wanting to offer more – drawing someone else’s sketches or even designing projects from scratch.
Before HBXL jumped out at Callum in an online search, he was finding that his estimates were taking ages to produce, that he was losing out to competitors all the time, and when he won a job it didn’t bring him the return he needed.
The same story applies to Nick, Daniel, Gavin, Chloe, Luke, Yury, Tim, Lee, Gary, Jordan, Stefan, Ali, Rachel, Manjit, Terry, Steve, Craig, Sean… we could go on. Whatever your story is, we can help.
WHAT NEXT FOR START-UPS?
Give us a call on 0117 916 7898 and we can have a quick chat and set up a short 1-2-1 online demonstration. Or go straight to the booking page on the website.
And then there’s our HBXL Estimating Service for when you’re too busy to estimate building projects yourself and when you want the support of experienced professionals on an important project. Find out more here.