Goodall Barnard Construction Limited, design and build Contractor and Developer, has been using Asta Easyplan, Asta Development’s simple project planning software, to raise customer service levels and improve project profitability by creating and controlling projects with greater time efficiency and professionalism.

Hampshire-based Goodall Barnard has been an established family company since 1875. Building for both residential and commercial projects, the company has achieved many accolades, including the Civic Trust, RIBA and British Housebuilder of the Year and National Speculative Housing Design awards.

Goodall Barnard faced a challenge that many smaller contractors would identify with: in order for a project to be profitable, it needs to be completed on time.

Stringent adherence to timescales enables the contractor to optimise the profit margin within the original quote and move straight on to the next new job. Where a project drags over its allocated timescale, labour costs and, in some cases, material costs  escalate beyond the allocated budget to the detriment of the contractor, running the risk of incurring penalties from the customer - and even legal action in some cases.

For Goodall Barnard it is therefore vital that time is estimated accurately, so that the customer receives a realistic quote and the job is completed comfortably within the timeframe, allowing the contractor to make a profit. Beyond the profit margin, Goodall Barnard’s prime concern is with the customer’s satisfaction; where a project is completed on time and on budget, a happy customer is more likely to commission additional work and recommend the company to others.

“We had experience of Asta Development’s software and from this we decided Asta Easyplan would be suited to the size of projects that we regularly deal with. The software is incredibly easy to use, and takes very little time, which means we can concentrate on project managing our jobs,” said Brett Van-Sant, Senior QS, of Goodall Barnard Construction Ltd.

Asta Easyplan is a simple-to-use project planning software package from Asta Development. It is designed specifically for trade contractors and smaller construction companies. As a project planning tool, Asta Easyplan enables the user to build an initial project plan, amend time estimates and change the scheduling of jobs very easily.

“Asta Easyplan has clearly been carefully tailored for the construction industry and due to its flexibility we are able to apply it to all our building projects. We use Asta Easyplan to create plans, manage progress, track costs and produce professional looking print-outs to show customers,” explains Brett. 

Goodall Barnard uses Asta Easyplan in preference to hand drawn plans or computerised spreadsheets, which can pose a problem when the customer changes the brief or new activities are added. This is because hand drawn or computerised plans are not so easy to amend; changes to one activity tend to alter each subsequent stage, so the whole amendment process becomes very time consuming. On the other hand Asta Easyplan updates all subsequent information in linked tasks at a click of a button. Meanwhile, mistakes need not cost extra time and money, as they can be rectified very quickly with a simple ‘undo’ and ‘redo’ function.

Brett said: “Asta Easyplan gives us a better understanding of the impact of materials procurement and labour costs on the quote. At every stage we can see where process must be managed to make sure our profit margin is preserved. We are also very pleased with the technical support we have received from Asta Development. I would most certainly recommend Asta Easyplan to smaller companies involved in the construction industry as a time efficient project planning tool.”