EMS: ten years
on one system.
Electrical & Mechanical Services (UK) Ltd is a London temporary site services contractor, trading since 1992 and employing more than two hundred people. Estimating, site valuations, applications for payment and plant records have run on Unibuild since 2016.
Published by Unibuild · Updated · Sources
Established in 1992,
and still family run.
EMS delivers temporary power, water and welfare services to construction projects across the UK and Europe.
Royal Wharf, London City Island, 20 Fenchurch Street and the Manchester City training campus. EMS installed the temporary power, water and welfare on each of them during construction, and removed it on completion.
Founded in London in 1992
Known in the industry as EMS, the firm was founded by Kevin Cook and remains a family-run business. It employs more than two hundred people and works across the UK and into Europe.
Won by tender, priced at measured rates
The work is won by tender and priced against measured rates rather than a lump sum, so the estimate has to be right before anything starts on site. Once a job is running, the value installed is measured on site each week and claimed against those same rates.
A plant fleet in constant movement
The work depends on physical assets: generators, distribution boards, cabins and tanks, moving continually between a central store and dozens of live sites.
Where the commercial risk sits
Price the job wrong and it loses money from the outset. Under-measure in a given week and the work goes unclaimed. Over-measure and the adjustment comes off the next application for payment. Untracked plant is hired in twice.
Unibuild from 2016
EMS had managed all of this for twenty-four years before moving to Unibuild in 2016. The system has carried the commercial side of the business ever since.
Landmark sites EMS
has worked on.
- OverburyCitigroup Centre, 25 Canada Square
- Sir Robert McAlpineMuseum of London, Smithfield
- Sir Robert McAlpineBuckingham Palace
- WatesHouses of Parliament, Norman Shaw North
- OverburyShell Centre, Southbank Place
- ISGSunset Studios, Waltham Cross
- WatesMinistry of Justice, Newgate Street
- Sir Robert McAlpineThe British Museum
- Knight Build, Mcgee, LTSAdmiralty Arch, The Mall
- Canary Wharf ContractsJ.P. Morgan European headquarters, Canary Wharf
- SESAll England Lawn Tennis Club, Wimbledon
- Battersea Project Land Company LimitedBattersea Power Station
Accreditations and
other marks.
Selected marks shown on EMS’s own website, checked 10 September 2026.
Five recordkeeping risks
the workflow addresses.
These examples explain why linked estimating, site and commercial records matter.
Two estimators, two different prices
Separate estimating spreadsheets can use different material prices and labour allowances. A shared rate library provides a common starting point without removing the estimator’s judgement.
Month end rebuilt from memory
If quantities are reconstructed at month end from diaries and recollection, the commercial team has less direct evidence to check. Recording the measure on site links it to the work and the job’s agreed rates.
Over-claiming, found by the other side
A payment application needs to reflect the contract, approved changes and amounts already certified. Entry checks can flag a quantity above the recorded allowance.
Plant promised to two sites at once
Without a shared allocation record, two sites can plan around the same equipment. Recording movements and outstanding returns gives the store a record to check before arranging another hire.
Retention nobody asked for
Retention release depends on the contract and its milestones. Keeping the retained balance against the job gives the commercial team a basis for reviewing what is due and preparing the relevant application.
Four things it does every week.
EMS run a great deal more than this. But if you want to understand why the system matters to them, it is these four. Each one has a page of its own if you want the detail.
Everyone prices from the same book
One shared catalogue of materials and labour, with real supplier part numbers and real fit times behind every line. Any estimator can price any job, not just the one who has been here longest. When prices go up, the annual uplift is a number typed into a box rather than a rebuild of everybody's own workbook.
How estimating worksThe week's work is measured on site, and signed there
A supervisor measures what has been installed, on the phone, standing in front of it. It is priced automatically from the rates on that job's own contract, and the client signs it on the screen before anyone leaves. The signed measure gives the office evidence to use in its review.
How rate valuations workCheck the claim against the recorded allowance
The system knows what the estimate allowed and what has already been certified. If a supervisor tries to claim beyond that, it stops at the point of entry rather than three weeks later in somebody else's spreadsheet. A check that sits anywhere else is a report somebody reads afterwards.
How applications workPlant movements have a shared record
Kit is picked against the actual bin and the actual serial number, signed for on handover, and the stock moves itself when the delivery note is confirmed. Jobs that have finished show up with their plant still sitting on them, so it comes back instead of quietly disappearing.
How stores and plant workEMS Maestro, the field
team’s own app.
EMS engineers and supervisors carry the firm’s own app on Android and iPhone, listed on Google Play and the App Store under the EMS Maestro name. It opens on a four digit PIN, and each person sees the parts their role needs.
Clock in at the gate
Each site has its own QR poster, and the engineer scans it in EMS Maestro on arrival and on leaving. The hours land on that job at the right rate, normal or time and a half, and a notice stays on the phone until the shift is closed.
How QR clock-in worksDay sheets signed by the client on site
Contract work and variations are written up on the phone, with labour and materials from the job’s own rates. The client signs on the screen against a copy without prices, and the signed sheet is with the office before the engineer leaves site.
How variations workMaterials and plant from the store
Deliveries and collections are requested from the job, with plant picked by its own number. The store confirms each request before the delivery note goes out, so every item leaving the yard belongs to a job and a named receiver.
How stores and plant workPurchase orders from the van
An engineer on a call-out raises the order on the phone at the merchant, against the job, rather than ringing the office. It is approved by a named person, sent to the supplier, and the cost is committed to the job the moment it is approved.
How purchase orders workCertificates completed where the work is
Emergency lighting checks, chlorination certificates and mechanical sign-off sheets are filled in at the installation, signed on the phone and issued as PDFs under the EMS name. Each one is held against the job and findable years later.
How certificates workDrawings, scope and toolbox talks
The drawings and the scope of works for each job are on the phone, so nobody works from an old copy in the van. Toolbox talks are read and signed in the app, in the room, at the moment they are given.
How toolbox talks workFrom separate records
to linked controls.
| Recordkeeping risk | Control described |
|---|---|
| Separate workbooks can carry different rates and labour allowances. | One catalogue, one set of fit times, and an annual uplift is a number typed into a box. |
| Reconstructing installed quantities from diaries and recollection at month end. | Measured in the week it was done, and already signed by the client when it reaches the office. |
| A claim can exceed the quantity or value recorded against the job. | Claims capped at what the job allows, on the screen, at the moment somebody enters them. |
| Allocations and outstanding returns can be missed without a shared plant record. | Kit is picked against live stock, and a finished job flags up if its plant is still sitting there. |
| Retention milestones can be missed if balances and release dates are not tracked. | Retention runs as a live figure and is released through its own application, once. |
Nothing was switched
on all at once.
This is the part worth knowing if you are wondering what your own first few years would look like. EMS did not buy a finished system in 2016. They started with the part that was hurting most, and everything else was added, one piece at a time, as the business hit the problem it answers.
The implementation has developed in stages rather than being presented as a single launch. How implementation actually works sets out the same sequence for a business starting today.
The SME Building Services case study carries a dated operational snapshot, if you want figures alongside an account.
Since 2016, the same system now handles
Enquiry and tender
Estimate and the rate library
Labour plan and timesheets
Permits and safety certificates
Store and deliveries
Plant and repairs
Valuations, variations and applications for payment
Retention, invoicing and the aged debt report
A training copy of itself, refreshed from the real thing, so a new starter can learn on the company's own jobs without touching them
Where this came from.
These are Unibuild customers, written up by Unibuild. The public sources below cover who the businesses are; the account of the software is ours.
Questions this one
gets asked.
What does EMS run on Unibuild?
How are EMS valuations signed and kept inside the contract?
How do EMS engineers record their hours?
Can EMS engineers order materials from site?
Whose name is on the app EMS engineers use?
Was everything switched on at once?
Is the system EMS uses bespoke?
See this running on
your own kind of job.
