How we help
Take on more work without taking on more admin.
The limit on how much work a business can take on is usually the administration around it, rather than the work itself. We automate the repetitive parts, so the same people get more done and fewer things get missed. Four steps below, and the first one is free.
Quote faster. Get paid sooner. Stop doing everything twice.
The Map
See where the time and money leak out of your business, and what to deal with first.
- What you get
- A map of your business in eight areas, each marked holding up, patchy or costing you, what the weak spots cost worked out from your own numbers, and the one thing to deal with first. A copy comes to you by email.
- What it asks of you
- About ten minutes on your own, and a few rough numbers you will know without looking up.
What happens in this stepHide
- A few numbers about the business, then two factual questions on each of eight areas, from winning the work to after it is done. Nothing asks you to rate yourself.
- Where an area is weak, you say roughly how many and how long each takes, and the Map works out what that time costs today. Where you give no pay figure of your own, it uses published typical pay and says so.
- Giving your email subscribes you to The Wayfinder; unsubscribe anytime. We keep your result with your email for up to 24 months, and you can ask us to delete it sooner. We only email you about your result if you tick the box to say so, and we only call you if you ask us to.
The Survey
Know which jobs are worth automating, and what each one is worth.
- What you get
- A plan you could act on without us: what to automate, in what order, what each one gives back and what it costs to build.
- What it asks of you
- Half a day of your time, and a look at how quotes, jobs and invoices really move - not how the manual says they do.
Firms at the larger end sometimes need a separate decision document before they build, with the options costed side by side. The Survey tells you if you are one of them.
The Survey fee comes off The Build in full.
What happens in this stepHide
- We sit with the people who do the work and follow a few real jobs from first enquiry to paid invoice, including the ones that went wrong.
- Every candidate gets the same three numbers: what it would cost to build, what it gives back, and how long before it has paid for itself.
- The list includes the ones we would leave alone. Something done twice a month rarely repays automating, and saying so is most of what the Survey is for.
The Build
The work stops being done by hand.
- What you get
- The job done the same way every time, with the people who rely on it using it from the first day.
- What it asks of you
- Time from whoever owns the process it changes, and your sign-off before it goes live.
What happens in this stepHide
- One thing at a time, starting with whichever pays for itself soonest.
- It runs alongside the current way of working until you are satisfied it is right, so nothing depends on it before you trust it.
- What we build is yours. The people who rely on it are shown how it works before it goes live, not afterwards.
The Upkeep
It keeps working when the business changes.
- What you get
- Something still running a year from now, rather than something that quietly stopped when a supplier changed.
- What it asks of you
- A message when something changes. That is the whole commitment.
What happens in this stepHide
- We watch it, and fix it when something it depends on changes - a supplier, a price list, a form, a piece of software updating underneath it.
- As the business changes, it changes with it. That is usually the difference between something that lasts and something that quietly stops being used.
- Monthly, and you can stop whenever you like.
What this costs, and how we handle it
Engagements are fixed-scope and priced per firm - sized to your business, not sold by the day.
- The first conversation is free. We do not bill for the call, for a proposal, or for the time it takes to work out what you need.
- The number is agreed in writing before any work starts. It is a price for a piece of work, not a day rate with a meter running.
- Nothing outside that happens without you agreeing the change and the cost first. If the work turns out smaller than we thought, the price comes down.
- The Survey fee comes off The Build in full, so paying to find out what is worth doing does not mean paying twice.
“From” is the starting figure for a straightforward firm - one site, standard systems, nothing unusual in the way you work. Anything more involved is quoted before the work begins, never after. All figures exclude VAT.
What it takes from your side
Four things, and none of them is preparation. There is nothing to write up, tidy or get straight before we start - the mess is the thing we came to look at.
- One person who can say yes or no without convening anybody. That is the single biggest reason this moves quickly, and it is rarely the part that holds things up.
- A few hours with whoever handles the quoting, the invoicing or the scheduling day to day. In most cases that includes you.
- A look at the systems already in use. Nothing new to set up first, and no reports to produce for our benefit.
- An answer inside a week or so when something needs deciding. A fixed price only stays fixed while the work keeps moving, and we would rather say that now than bill for a delay later.
Where to start
A 30-minute call is free and commits you to nothing. A written recommendation on which step fits, what it covers and what it costs.