Services
Cost engineering and commercial reporting for complex projects, plus practical business improvement for smaller organisations — Lean and Kaizen thinking applied to everyday processes.
Core Specialisms
Seven related disciplines, all built around the same idea: taking messy real-world data and turning it into something you can actually rely on.
Outturn Cost & Forecasting
Building reliable cost models and forecasts based on the data you actually have, managing variances, and keeping financial surprises to a minimum.
Custom Data & Automation Tools
Developing robust, bespoke Excel/VBA solutions built around back-office data exported from enterprise systems such as SAP — automating complex multi-currency calculations, bridging data gaps, and speeding up reporting.
Commercial Reporting & BI Dashboards
Assist in designing dashboards and base data for Power BI and Qlik and Excel to help visualise critical data without the clutter.
Staffing & Resource Planning
Building sophisticated manpower models and operational frameworks that dynamically distribute overhead and labour costs across multiple portfolios without needing year-end true-ups, alongside controlled timesheet and cost-code tracking templates.
Business Improvement — Lean & Kaizen (Non-Certified)
Helping smaller businesses and local enterprises align internal structures, resolve internal bottlenecks, and streamline workflows through practical continuous improvement — including rebuilding and automating the Excel spreadsheets many businesses still rely on to run. On-site visits are simplest close to home across Shropshire and the Marches, but most of this work — spreadsheet rebuilds, process reviews — travels well, so it's just as available further afield, in person or remotely.
- Process and workflow reviews (Lean / Kaizen approach, non-certified)
- Excel spreadsheet revamp and automation
- Excel and PowerPoint support and training for staff, to build in-house skills rather than ongoing dependency
- General business administration support
Digitising Business Processes
Most business websites are a digital brochure — useful for being found, but not something staff actually use day to day. There's often an opportunity to take that further: where it makes sense, simple secure staff-login tools built into your existing website to replace paper-based processes — timesheets, vehicle-maintenance and compliance reminders, and similar everyday admin. What's achievable depends on your current hosting and domain setup; where it doesn't currently allow this, moving to one that does is usually straightforward.
- Simple, secure staff-login web tools to replace paper processes — e.g. timesheets or vehicle-maintenance reminders
- Working within your existing website, hosting and domain where possible, or advising on a suitable setup if it isn't
- Built on straightforward, well-supported technology, not locked to a single supplier
Document Digitisation & Admin Support
The paperwork side of running a business — the shoebox of receipts, unfiled invoices, and general admin — has a habit of eating into evenings, weekends and time that should be going to family and other pursuits. This is exactly that kind of practical support: turning disorganised paper records into something properly filed, consistently named and easy to find, plus handling the everyday admin tasks that pile up around it.
- Digitising and organising paper receipts, invoices and records into consistently named digital files
- Summarising and categorising receipts and expenses, ready for your bookkeeper or accountant
- General business administration support for the day-to-day tasks that eat into your time
- One-off catch-up projects or ongoing support, whichever suits
A Straight Note on Expectations
Improvement work doesn't automatically mean fewer hours or lower cost. If a process is already running efficiently, changes may make little practical difference. Sometimes the opposite happens: adding transparency, or the level of detail needed for proper analysis, means the time or cost involved actually goes up, not down. The aim is always a system that gives you accurate, reliable visibility — not a promise that it will automatically be cheaper or faster.
Where This Applies
Capital project cost engineering work has included general construction, UK water and wastewater infrastructure, and oil & gas mega-projects (including over a decade across Shell and Petroleum Development Oman) — see About for the fuller background. Work is carried out remotely or on-site, UK-wide and internationally.
