Dan Pollard
The Customer
Lyndsay Davis is the account administrator for Progress Plumbing, a New Zealand-based plumbing company. The business specialises in both residential and commercial projects, offering services ranging from large-scale builds to smaller maintenance jobs. With a team size that fluctuates between seven and thirteen employees, depending on the demands of the business, Progress Plumbing required an efficient system to manage the complexities of their work.
The Challenge
Before using Fergus, Progress Plumbing faced several challenges in managing their projects and finances. The primary issues included:
- Tracking Large Commercial Jobs: Managing multi-phase, long-term projects was cumbersome. The company struggled to keep track of the progress of each phase, leading to potential disorganisation and inefficiencies in invoicing and record-keeping.
- Manual Invoicing and Financial Management: The invoicing process was largely manual and prone to errors, requiring significant time to ensure accuracy. This manual process also made it difficult to keep up with financial tracking, potentially affecting profitability.
- Lack of Integration and Automation: Prior to Fergus, the company used a payroll admin system, Zambian, which lacked the necessary job management features. This meant that tasks like payroll and financial tracking were managed separately from job tracking, leading to inefficiencies.
The Outcome
Fergus provided Progress Plumbing with a comprehensive job management system that addressed their core challenges:
- Effective Project Management: Fergus allowed the company to manage large commercial jobs by breaking them down into phases. Each phase could be tracked separately, with automated invoicing based on the completion of each phase. This eliminated confusion and ensured accurate billing, without the need for manual calculations.
"It’s really easy to keep track of everything”
- Streamlined Invoicing and Financial Tracking: The automated invoicing system in Fergus drastically reduced the time spent on financial management. By automatically generating invoices and keeping track of payments, Fergus allowed the team to maintain accurate financial records and improved overall profitability. The staff overview feature helped monitor non-chargeable versus chargeable hours, further aiding in financial management.
"You don’t have to work out any figures, all done for you."
- User-Friendly Interface with Integrated Support: Despite initial concerns about the complexity of the system, Lyndsay and the team quickly adapted to Fergus, thanks to its user-friendly design. The built-in chatbot provided instant support, making it easy to navigate the system and find answers to any questions. Additionally, resources like YouTube tutorials further facilitated the learning process.
- Seamless Integration: Fergus's integration with other systems, such as Smartly for payroll and Xero for accounting, allowed Progress Plumbing to manage their entire operation from a single platform. This integration saved time and reduced the risk of errors associated with manual data entry.
Fergus has become an indispensable tool for Progress Plumbing, helping them manage their projects more effectively, streamline their invoicing process, and improve financial management. By breaking down complex jobs into manageable phases and automating key processes, Fergus has enabled Progress Plumbing to maintain profitability and efficiency in their operations.
Whether for a one-man band or a larger team, Fergus’s flexibility and user-friendliness make it an ideal solution for plumbing businesses of all sizes.
