INTRODUCTION TO FABCON STRUCTURAL
Fabcon pride themselves on delivering the most challenging structural steel and architectural metalwork projects in the industry, from high-end architectural staircases and cantilevered entrance canopies, to precision surgical operating theatres where a cotton gloves approach to structural steel is required.
Fabcon stands out from the crowd in providing not just a product, but an unrivalled service to match.
We caught up with Hamish Christie, Managing Director for Fabcon, to understand why he is rolling out Payapps across all his jobs.
LIFE BEFORE PAYAPPS
Hamish describes his claims process prior to using Payapps as being pretty old school.
He prepared progress claims in Microsoft Word, then recorded financials in Xero once approved values were confirmed and kept a separate spreadsheet for tracking all his outstanding retention monies.
GETTING STARTED
Hamish’s first introduction to Payapps was when he was invited to use it for a contract with Buildcorp Group. As someone that is constantly on the lookout for ways technology can improve his business, he was immediately impressed.
“My initial reaction was, ‘Wow. Easy.’ It is ridiculously easy to use.
Hamish Christie, Managing Director, Fabcon Structural
EASE OF USE
“I really like that as soon as you submit a claim it is emailed to all the relevant people and is instantly visible within the system. It isn’t just sitting in someone’s email inbox. It is really clearly laid out and you know the format of your claim is consistent with every other subcontractor on the job, so you know the builder knows what they are looking at.
From a subcontractor’s perspective, you can get your PMs to use it for preparing claims without having to give them access to your financial system. It is easy to invite people to and lets me monitor and control all our jobs. And because it automatically creates invoices in Xero, you don’t have to allocate the work to a bookkeeper.
MORE PROJECTS, MORE BENEFITS
Hamish has also started using Payapps even for those contracts with builders that are not yet Payapps users. Managing contracts through Payapps makes it easier to see where each job is at in terms of completion and reduces the administrative tasks. I’m keen to use it for all our contracts. It keeps the process really fluid and simple and it is easier for tracking retentions.
I’d happily refer other subcontractors to use it, it’s great. I’ve already suggested to some of the other builders I work with that they should use it. It makes life easier for both the builder and subbies.
ABOUT PAYAPPS + XERO
Payapps creates invoices automatically on claim submission or approval, with the PDF document attached to the Xero invoice. Each line item claimed against is listed on the Xero invoice, as well as retention and tax, with claim values and retention tracked in the relevant account codes. This keeps your contractual claims correspondence consistent with your accounting records, reducing data entry, eliminating mistakes and giving you the confidence that your cashflow will match your bookkeeping.
