With around 50 staff, 22 vehicles and over 300 jobs on the go at any given time, Upright Scaffolding relies on technology provided via 2IQ’s TradeIQ platform to effectively manage job scheduling and management.
Upright Scaffolding business development and labour utilisation manager Daniel Rispin discusses scheduling requirements with contract manager George Davis and director Nick Pfahlert.
“With multiple teams of people working on various jobs you need to have a clear and efficient system to keep things running smoothly and on schedule. The online tool has really helped us to see the big picture at a glance while also being able to home in on the intricate details.”
Upright Scaffolding director Nick Pfahlert says having an online scheduling tool provides a seamless system for organising jobs. The scheduling tool is easy to use and is a prominent feature in the office with projects, teams and resources displayed on an 80-inch screen that the business has dedicated to the scheduler.
The business started using Workflow Max to manage their projects several years ago and Nick says being able to link this software into the TradeIQ platform provided by 2IQ has accelerated their vision of eventually becoming a paperless workplace.
“We have replaced an entire wall of whiteboards with this scheduling tool. It is simple for the team to book jobs by dragging cards onto the days they plan to be on-site. Once the job is scheduled, we can move the people and trucks needed onto the job card with the click of a mouse.
“Having everything in one place avoids duplication, helps with efficiency and because it is stored in the cloud everyone has access to the same information which reduces the amount of time we spend on paperwork. Minimising the amount of time spent in the office and having clarity around each task makes us much more effective while also empowering the team to adopt new ways of working.”
Simultaneously running hundreds of scaffolding jobs at the same time means multiple teams are working on different jobs at one time. The TradeIQ platform has made daily management of the growing scaffolding business much more intuitive and streamlined.
“With multiple teams of people working on various jobs you need to have a clear and efficient system to keep things running smoothly and on schedule. The online tool has really helped us to see the big picture at a glance while also being able to home in on the intricate details.”
Nick says once the team is on site, they can enter the time spent on each job into the system which then feeds into the work utilisation calculation. By capturing data on site and funnelling this back into a central system, the business is reducing labour intensity and ensuring that the correct information is logged for each project at the right time.
Being able to review the daily work utilisation data in a dashboard format is a stand-out feature for Nick when it comes to business management.
“It really helps manage budget analysis which is a key part of our business model. We are known for being able to deliver projects on time and on budget and technology helps us to constantly refine our processes.”
Working with 2IQ’s chief operating officer Craig O’Loughlin and the 2IQ team has been a positive experience for Nick. He says their ability to listen to business requirements while understanding the future vision for Upright Scaffolding has translated into an excellent technology solution which will continue to evolve as the company grows.
“[2IQ] .. really understands what we are trying to achieve as a business. We already had a vision, but we didn’t know what it would look like and the 2IQ team have bought it to life for us.
“They came out on site with us so they could see what our daily work processes are like. This helped us to build a positive relationship and gave 2IQ a deeper insight into how we operate.”
Upright Scaffolding contract manager George Davis, business development and labour utilisation manager Daniel Rispin, and director Nick Pfahlert review project requirements before heading out to a job.