Streamlined processes and greater accountability now the norm for Lanyon

Lanyon Developments operates as a main contractor, mostly for residential construction. They cover renovations, extensions, lofts and more. Working with many different subcontractors means that there is often a lot of communication to manage, especially when there are additional architects and designers also collaborating on projects.

Challenge

A lot of Lanyon’s contractors come in to do one aspect of job, so having a single source of truth helps. After looking at other systems and having had experience with another, Theo Lanyon found that most were too expensive.

Theo noted that there’s a lot of work that goes into picking up when things go wrong, making sure variations are seen by everyone. Without a structured system in place, things were shared over messaging apps. “With how much time this takes with emails and being on WhatsApp – it can be a nightmare.” Theo said. “WhatsApp is fine for quick conversations but it can cause issues. People would make changes and then say ‘but I WhatsApped you...’.”

“Unless you’ve sent multiple emails to all, things don’t get updated, clients don’t always know when new drawings have been shared and are available.”

Solution

Finding Fonn came at a time when Theo found that there wasn’t much choice out there at a price point that fit for Lanyon’s needs with the right tools. Although his journey with Fonn is still in its infancy, he noted that the simplicity of Fonn was a standout reason for choosing it. “Realistically, Fonn has pretty much everything I need.”

Fonn’s solution has simplified Theo’s work processes meaning he is saving time when working with a large pool of subcontractors and other team members. “Everything has been streamlined, before Fonn I had my own documents, but I realised that wasn’t understandable for other project managers; it’s meant I have put a system in place and everything runs more efficiently.”

Having a single source of truth has meant Theo doesn’t need to be on-site as much, giving more responsibility and autonomy to site managers, rather than workers coming directly to him. If project manager leaves, or is ill, all project details are ready to be picked up in the Fonn app.

Easier document management

With everything in once place, Theo and the team he works with have been able to centralise their day-to-day operations, giving his QS visibility of all work and any changes that have been made. “We have conversations in the app on submittals and then move into variations to get signed off, it’s a smoother workflow for us.”

Having better processes means there is a clear audit trail, which protects everyone in the case of things going wrong, which is worlds away from how things used to be tracked. “Everything is documented throughout a job, getting our foreman to upload photos means they are all in one place,” Theo said. The accountability that a centralised system brings to his team means Theo is happy that his project managers have more autonomy: “We use the schedule of works to tie everything together.”

Scaling up and training

While Fonn is mostly used internally at Lanyon Development, Theo is keen to on-board more people because he can see the value in the system and its tools: “At a fraction of the cost of other systems, it’s great for what we need. I probably don’t even use Fonn to its full capacity at the moment!”

Theo recognises that Fonn is scalable, noting that there are features he would like to use more in the future like timesheets, and inspection forms that he can integrate into projects. Having the flexibility to have as many users as he needs is a plus point for him: “With Fonn we can have as many users as you want which isn’t the case with a lot of other systems – a subcontractor isn’t going to want to pay to use a separate system.”

“The main thing for us is that it’s easy to use, it isn’t overcomplicated. Fonn does what we need it to do.” - Theo Lanyon

On-boarding has been a smooth process for Lanyon overall, and the hands-on approach has worked well for Theo: “Training has been great value for us, we can speak to the team at Fonn if someone needs training.” And he already plans to take it further: “I want to use Fonn to a greater depth, and use all of the tools available in the schedule of works.”

Theo notes that even just using 50% of Fonn’s functions has led to more streamlined processes, and he is looking forward to seeing what the true impact of getting the full potential from the system.

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