Bespoke software
Built around the way
Built around the way
your firm already works.
Unibuild is bespoke business software for UK trades and specialist contractors: a platform in daily production since 2016, shaped to the way each firm already works. When you need something new, we build it. Changes asked for after go-live are included in the monthly fee rather than charged at a day rate.
What bespoke means here
Your process stays.
Your process stays.
The software moves.
Most packaged software asks a firm to adopt the vendor's way of working. Unibuild starts from yours, and the platform is set up and extended until it matches.
- Your forms and fields
- Timesheets, permits, day work sheets, site surveys and valuations carry your fields, in your order, in the words your people already use. An operative fills in a form he recognises.
- Your approval routes
- Who approves an order, a timesheet, a holiday or a subcontract payment, and up to what value, follows your authority levels. A director sees the decisions that are theirs to make.
- Your documents
- Fifty-eight document types generate on your letterhead from the records captured on site, laid out the way your clients already expect to receive them.
- Your reports
- Reports are built around the figures your directors already run the business on, rather than a standard dashboard somebody has to translate every month.
- Anything that does not exist yet
- A module, a register, an integration or a document you need is specified with you, built, tested in a sandbox copy of your own data and released to your system.
A mature core
Ten years in daily production
Ten years in daily production
before your build begins.
A bespoke system commissioned from scratch starts from an empty screen. Yours starts from a platform that has run a UK contracting business every working day for a decade, with 30+ modules on the web, 25+ in the app, and new features shipped every month.
- Since 2016
- Unibuild was written inside Electrical & Mechanical Services (UK) Ltd, a temporary site services provider supplying power, water and welfare to construction sites. It has run that business every working day since, and grew module by module as each real problem was solved. Read the case study.
- Since 2023
- SME Building Services, an M&E and building contractor in Croydon, runs on the same core in a different shape. Its site teams have a field app and its clients a portal, across 48 active users and 120 projects. Read the case study.
- Featured firms, different shapes
- Each of those businesses uses modules the other has never switched on. Same platform, same database design, two entirely different working days. That is what bespoke on a proven core looks like in practice.
- A separate bespoke build
- C&G Heating & Plumbing Supplies, a builders merchant in Erith, runs stock control and its trade counter on a system Unibuild built for it. Read the case study.
| What you are relying on | How it is held |
|---|---|
| Your data | Held in London. It does not leave the UK. Encrypted when stored and when sent |
| Security | Cyber Essentials Plus held. ISO 27001 in progress. Registered with the ICO, reference ZC238395 |
| Changes to a live system | Built and tested in a sandbox that mirrors your live database before a single live record is touched |
| Updates to phones | Each phone is offered what its app version can run, so a new module never breaks an older handset and no fleet-wide update is forced |
| The audit trail | Every clock-in carries a record of who did what and when. An office correction is flagged and kept beside the original, never written over it |
How a change gets made
You ask for it.
You ask for it.
We build it.
It is in the fee.
- 01You ask the people who built it
- By phone, or in the WhatsApp group every customer has with the Unibuild team. There is no ticket queue and no first-line desk between your request and the developer who will build it.
- 02It is specified against your real work
- The change is worked out with the person who will use it, against your own records and process. It is never a generic feature request waiting on a roadmap vote.
- 03It is proved in a sandbox first
- Your staff try the change on a copy of your own data, in the same screens and permissions they use every day. Nothing reaches a live order, client or account until it is right.
- 04It is released without disruption
- On the phones, a new module is offered to handsets running a build that supports it, so nobody is locked out mid-shift by a forced update. Where a release must be adopted, a required update is switched on.
Three routes to software that fits
Bespoke software,
Bespoke software,
without starting from nothing.
A UK contractor that wants software to fit its process has three routes. The table sets them side by side on the points that decide the outcome.
| Off-the-shelf package | Bespoke from scratch | Unibuild | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starting point | A finished product | An empty screen and a specification | A platform in daily production since 2016 |
| Fit to your process | You adapt to the product | Exact, if the specification was right | Exact. Built around your process |
| Something new you need | A roadmap request | A new development quote | Built for you |
| Changes after go-live | Configuration you do yourself, or paid services | Quoted as development, usually at a day rate | Included in the monthly fee |
| Time to live | Fast | Months | A first site in about two weeks, then phased |
| The app your staff install | Usually the vendor's, under the vendor's name | Yours, once it has been built | Yours from day one, under your name on the App Store and Google Play |
| How the bill is set | Commonly per user or per licence | A project price, then support on top | One flat monthly figure that covers everything: unlimited users, your branded app and its store publishing, and the subcontractor and client portals. Fixed for three years |
The build starts from a working platform rather than an empty screen. A firm gets the fit of a bespoke system without the cost, the timescale or the risk of commissioning one from scratch. The four options a contractor usually weighs, including spreadsheets and doing nothing, are set out on why Unibuild. Why a trade firm needs bespoke in the first place, and what separates it from white label, is on why bespoke.
Your brand, not ours
Your name on the app,
Your name on the app,
the portal and the paperwork.
Your staff app is published on the App Store and Google Play under your company's own name and icon, for iPhone and Android. Your operatives download your app, not ours.
- The staff app
- Found in the store under the name on the operative's payslip. 25+ modules, granted person by person.
- The office portal
- Your name, your logo and your colours on every screen the office works in.
- Documents and posters
- Certificates, reports and quotations on your letterhead. QR clock-in posters printed in your branding.
- A client app, if you want one
- A separate app for your customers, also under your brand, for firms that want to give clients their own access.
How your own branded app works, from the store listing to the gate.
The commercial terms
Bespoke, on terms
Bespoke, on terms
a contractor can sign.
✓
No setup fee
Configuration, training, data migration, your branded app and its store publishing, and the subcontractor and client portals are all included.
✓
Changes inside the fee
What you ask for after go-live is not invoiced as development.
✓
Fixed for three years
The quoted monthly fee is locked from the date of the quote.
✓
Unlimited users
Never per person, never per seat, on every plan.
✓
No minimum term
Monthly rolling or annual. Cancel by email.
✓
Your data leaves with you
Export as CSV, XML, JSON and PDF at any time. A clean dataset within five working days of leaving.
Questions
Bespoke software,
Bespoke software,
asked plainly.
What exactly is built around the way our firm works?
Your forms and fields, in your order and your wording. Your approval routes and authority levels. Your documents on your letterhead, and reports built on the figures your directors already use. Anything that does not exist yet, whether a module, a register, an integration or a document, is built for you. Your firm does not change how it works to suit the software.
Do you charge for changes after we go live?
No. Changes requested after go-live are included in the monthly fee rather than charged at a day rate or quoted as development. The fee itself is a flat monthly figure for the firm, quoted in writing and fixed for three years, so asking for a change never reopens the price.
Who do we ask when we need something new?
The people who built it, by phone or in the WhatsApp group every customer has with the Unibuild team. There is no ticket queue between your request and the developer who will build it. The change is specified with the person who will use it, against your own records and process. Every module on the platform today exists because a working business needed it on a real job.
How do we know a change will not disrupt the live system?
Every change is built and tested in a sandbox copy of your own data first. Your staff try it in the same screens and permissions they use every day, and nothing reaches a live order, client or account until it is right. On the phones, a new module is offered only to handsets running a version that supports it, so nobody is locked out mid-shift.
How long has Unibuild been in use, and by whom?
Since 2016. It was written inside Electrical & Mechanical Services (UK) Ltd, a UK temporary site services provider, and has run that business every working day for ten years. SME Building Services has run on it since 2023, across 48 active users and 120 projects. Each uses modules the other has never switched on, on the same core.
Can the app carry our company name instead of yours?
Yes, and it always does. Your staff app is published on the App Store and Google Play under your company's own name and icon, for iPhone and Android. Your operatives download your app, not ours, and the app and its publishing are inside the monthly fee. The office portal carries your logo and colours, and documents generate on your letterhead. A client app under your brand is available for firms that want one.
Is there software for UK trades and construction firms that can be customised to how we work?
Yes. Unibuild is bespoke business software for UK trades and specialist contractors: a platform in daily production since 2016, shaped to the way each firm already works. It is built around each firm's own process rather than configured by the customer from a fixed menu. Configuration, training and data migration are included, with no setup fee.
How long does a bespoke system take to go live?
Most firms go live in about two weeks, in phases, with a sandbox for training. Your programme is agreed after scoping. Because the build starts from a working platform, the first site runs on software that already exists while the parts specific to your firm are added around it.
Is bespoke software more expensive than a package?
Not in the way a commissioned build is. There is no setup fee, no development invoice and no per-user charge. Unibuild is one flat monthly figure for the firm, covering every module, unlimited users, your branded app and its store publishing, and the subcontractor and client portals. It is quoted in writing, usually the same working day, and fixed for three years. Everyday AI is in the monthly fee. Heavier AI work is paid as used, at the AI provider's own rate, with nothing added. How AI is charged.
What happens to our data if we leave?
It leaves with you. Everything can be exported as CSV, XML, JSON and PDF at any time, and a clean dataset is handed back within five working days of leaving. There is no minimum term and no exit fee, and cancellation is by email.
Next step
Show us how you work.
Show us how you work.
We will show you it running that way.
