Bespoke construction software
Built around the way
Built around the way
your firm already works.
Unibuild is bespoke construction management software for UK 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 construction 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.
- 01Since 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.
- 02Since 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.
- 03Two firms, two 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.
- 04A 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 | Hosted on AWS in London (eu-west-2). It does not leave the UK. Encrypted at rest and in transit |
| 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 | Gated on the server by app version, so a new module never breaks an older handset and no fleet-wide update is forced |
| The audit trail | Every clock-in carries an append-only trail. 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 construction software,
Bespoke construction 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.
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 construction software,
Bespoke construction software,
asked plainly.
Is Unibuild bespoke or off-the-shelf software?
Bespoke. Unibuild is bespoke construction management software for UK contractors, built on a platform that has been in daily production since 2016. Each firm's system is set up around its own forms, approval routes, documents and reports, and anything new it needs is built for it. The firm does not change how it works to suit the software.
Is there construction software in the UK that can be customised to how we work?
Yes. Unibuild is built around each contractor's own process rather than configured by the customer from a fixed menu. Your fields, your terminology, your authority levels and your document layouts are set up for you, and new modules are built where you need them. Configuration, training and data migration are included, with no setup fee.
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.
What if we need something new?
We build it. The requirement is specified with the person who will use it, built, tested on a sandbox copy of your own data and released to your system. Every module on the platform today exists because a working contracting business needed it on a real job, which is how the platform reached thirty-plus modules.
How long has Unibuild been in use?
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.
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, and the app and its publishing are included in the monthly fee at no extra cost. 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.
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 construction 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, and it covers everything: 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. Taking on more people never changes the fee.
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.
