Frequently asked
Including the questions
Including the questions
we would rather you asked early.
Three sections. The commercial questions a director asks, the practical ones a contracts manager asks, and the gaps. The third section is the one worth reading, because everything in it is something Unibuild does not currently do.
Section one
The commercial questions.
How long until we are live?+
The shape of it is a first site running inside two weeks, with the rest phased behind it. You do not move everything at once, and we would talk you out of trying. Most firms start with the module where the pain is loudest, usually timesheets or health and safety, and add the commercial modules once the field habit has formed.
We have been through a failed software project before.+
Most firms this size have. The usual cause is a platform that was designed in the abstract and then had to be bent to fit a real business during implementation, which is when the cost and the timescale escape. Unibuild starts from a system that already runs two contracting businesses, so implementation is configuration and extension rather than construction. That is a genuinely different risk profile, and it is fair to press us on it.
How do we know it will fit our business?+
You do not, on a website. What you can reasonably ask for is evidence that it has fitted a business unlike the one it was written for, and it has: two firms in different parts of the industry run on it, and each uses modules the other has never switched on. In the demo we mock your job, your subbies and your commercial position rather than showing you a sample database.
What happens to our existing data?+
Migration is part of implementation and is not charged as an extra. Clients, projects, operatives, rates, suppliers and your existing RAMS and template library are the usual set. What comes across cleanly depends on what shape it is in now, and we will tell you honestly which parts are worth migrating and which are worth leaving behind in the old system as an archive.
What if Unibuild Technologies goes under?+
A fair question to ask a young company, and one you should ask every supplier. Your data is exportable in CSV and PDF throughout, not only on the way out, so you are never in a position where leaving means losing the record. Raise continuity and escrow arrangements during contract discussion rather than after, and we will put whatever is agreed in writing.
Section two
Will it actually work here.
My engineers will never use an app.+
They will use one that saves them a job. The field app is built around punching in by QR, signing what needs signing and capturing evidence where the work happens, not around data entry for the benefit of the office. Adoption per site is reported in the dashboard, so you can watch the rollout rather than hope for it.
Does it work without a signal?+
The field app is built for sites where coverage is poor, which is most of them. Work captured out of signal is held on the device and submitted when the phone reconnects. This is worth testing against your own worst site during the trial rather than taking on trust.
We already use QuickBooks. Will this replace it?+
No, and it should not. Unibuild runs the job, the labour, the compliance and the subcontract, and hands the commercial position to your accounts package. Firms that expect one system to do both are usually disappointed by whichever half was added last. Keep the package you file with.
Do we have to move everything at once?+
No, and we would advise against it. Take the module where the pain is loudest, get one site running, then add. A phased rollout also gives the field team time to form the habit before the commercial modules start depending on their data.
Can we control who sees what?+
Yes, and more precisely than most systems in this market allow. Each person's web access is an explicit tree of the menus and sections they can reach, rather than inherited from a role template. App access is a separate list set independently, so a supervisor can have full use of the field app and little or no back office access. On top of that sit specific controls on the sensitive things, including whether someone can see hourly rates at all. See access and permissions.
Do we pay for subcontractor logins?+
No. Portal logins for your supply chain are included. Pricing does not move because you brought your subbies on, which is the point of charging per firm rather than per person.
Section three
The gaps, answered honestly.
Everything below is something Unibuild does not do today. We would rather you read it here than discover it in week one, and several of these are the first pieces of tailoring work firms ask for.
Does it handle CIS?+
No. There is no UTR, verification number, deduction or monthly return handling in the platform as it stands. Unibuild manages the subcontract itself: the order, the variations, the invoices, the payment position and the insurance and competence currency that decides whether you should be instructing that firm at all. The deduction sits with your accounts package. Building CIS in is a well defined piece of work and a common request, so raise it early if it matters. The full position is on the CIS guide.
Does it export to our payroll?+
Not as standard, in either deployment. Unibuild records and approves the hours, applies the right rate, handles overtime multipliers and produces a payslip-style document, but there is no payroll file export out of the box. It is the most common first piece of tailoring work we do, and it is well understood, because the hours and rates are already held in the right shape including a dated rate history per person, so historic costs do not move when you award a rise. Tell us which payroll system you run and we will scope it as part of the implementation.
Can it tell me if a job is profitable?+
It gives you a live cost position, which is the useful half of the question and the half most firms cannot answer at all until the final account. Labour flows in automatically at real effective-dated rates, purchase orders at committed value and approved expenses, all attached to the job. What it does not do today is a complete profit and return calculation: supplier invoice values do not reach costing in the newer deployment, and stores issues carry no value. We would rather describe it that way than show you a report with a column that does not compute.
Does it submit RIDDOR reports?+
No, and the duty stays with you. The accident form distinguishes reportable events from non-reportable, flags the reporting window, generates an HSE-aligned PDF and keeps a clean record of the reasoning when you decide an event does not meet the threshold. The paperwork is ready; the filing is yours.
Does it make us compliant?+
No software does. What it does is make the evidence findable, current and attributable, so that when somebody asks you can produce it in minutes rather than days. Compliance is a set of duties held by people. Unibuild holds the record of whether those duties were discharged.
Is there two-factor authentication?+
Not today. Mobile login requires a PIN in addition to the password, which is a second factor of a kind, but it is not an authenticator app or an SMS code and we will not describe it as multi-factor authentication. There is also no self-service password reset in the web login: passwords are set and changed by an administrator on the user record.
What certifications do you hold?+
None that we are claiming on this website. We are not going to list a standard we have not been audited against, and you should treat any supplier who does with suspicion. If a certification is a procurement requirement for you, raise it early and we will tell you plainly where we are rather than where we intend to be.
Next step
Ask us the awkward one