Case study · civils contractor, south east
Eighteen sketches on paper, drawn by the people who do the work.
A civils contractor running crews across the south east. Every
job lived on a paper sheet: the gang filled it in on site, photographed the work on their own phones, and the
office typed it all back into a spreadsheet at the end of the week. Photos went missing between the two. Nobody
could see what was actually happening today.
What they gave us
Eighteen screens drawn on paper by their own team and sent over WhatsApp, plus the spreadsheet the office
had been keeping by hand.
What we built
One system. A phone app for the operatives and the supervisor, an office board for the people planning the
week, and the same job record coming out the other end.
What it changed
A job cannot be closed with a gap in it. The photos, the measurements and the signature arrive together,
and the office sees it the moment it happens.
13 AugustFirst meeting. They had already drawn the screens.
16 AugustGo-ahead.Day 0
18 AugustFirst working version live, on real URLs, on their phones.Day 2
26 AugustThey asked for one screen to work differently. Rebuilt and live the same day.Day 10
27 AugustWhole team on it, running practice jobs. Promised for the 28th.A day early
2 SeptemberTheir own risk assessment questions sent at 10am, in the app before lunch.Same morning
Their sketchBuilt
The way inThree doors, one for each kind of person in the business. Exactly where they drew them.
Their sketchBuilt
The gang's dayToday's jobs, in order. The one you are on, in full; the ones after it, held back until you get there.
Their sketchBuilt
Risk, before a spade goes inTheir own questions, their own wording, signed with a PIN on the phone. No signature, no job.
Their sketchBuilt
Six photos, every timeTaken before work starts, and used as the checklist at the end so nothing can be quietly skipped.
Their sketchBuilt
Measurements that add themselves upThe sheet the customer signs, filled in on site, totalled without anyone reaching for a calculator.
Their sketchBuilt
Shutting down honestlyFinished, or coming back tomorrow. Either answer is fine. Pretending is what the app will not let you do.
And in the office
the office board · this week
The week at a glance, in the colours they already used on the whiteboard. Orange while a job is
open, green once it is completed and signed off, red for urgent. A job that runs over stays orange on every day
until it is closed. Customer names anonymised here.
