Case study · Roberts Group · Roofing manufacturer, UK
The specification team can now handle twice the work, with the same people.
Roberts Group makes roofing systems. Every project needs a written specification before it can be quoted. We built a system that drafts each one from the site survey, and a phone app that captures the survey on site.
The challenge
Every specification was built by hand.
Spec writers turned each site survey into a specification by hand, clause by clause. The business could only take on as many jobs as they could write.
- A master template of around 360 clauses, worked through by hand for every job.
- Survey information arriving incomplete, so spec writers had to chase it.
- The logic for which clauses apply held in the heads of a few experienced people.
- Growth meant hiring more spec writers.
What we did
Map the work, build with the spec team, and train them to run it.
How specifications are written
We interviewed the sales, marketing and technical teams and worked through real specifications with the spec team to see where the time went.
- Every clause decision written down as a rule
- Rules checked and agreed by the spec team
A specification system and a field app
We built a system that drafts the specification from the survey, flags anything missing, and leaves the final checks to a spec writer.
- About 85% of each specification drafted at launch, on specifications it had not seen before. About 98% now.
- Missing information flagged before the draft is sent
- A phone app for field sales that captures the site survey on the spot
The spec team in charge
The spec team reviews and signs off every draft. When they change a rule, the system takes it on, so it improves with every job.
- Spec writers approve every rule change
- Improves from every finished specification
The process
From site survey to signed specification.
Select a step to see what is automated and who is responsible.
The result
Twice the capacity, without hiring.
About 98% of each specification is now drafted automatically, up from about 85% at launch. A spec writer checks and signs off every one.
The team can handle up to twice as many specifications with the same people.
Field sales capture the survey on site, so the information arrives complete.
Drafted from the survey, ready to check.
Gaps flagged before anything is sent.
Site surveys captured by phone, on site.
Every rule agreed by the spec team.
Finished specifications improve the next one.
The system and its code belong to Roberts Group.
Where it is going · in progress
From one tool to the full sales and specification platform.
The specification system is the first part. The work now under way joins up the whole route from first enquiry to signed specification, on the Microsoft systems Roberts Group already runs. The figures in this section are targets, not measured results.
Voice-led survey capture on site, feeding Dynamics and the spec team directly.
Target: a finished specification in one day rather than three.
Every call transcribed and checked against a new sales script and KPIs.
Target: new enquiries answered within minutes, including at weekends.
From first training enquiry to repeat orders, with nothing dropped between teams.
One approved set of tools, with data agreements and permissions in place.
“We started this as an exercise in controlling overheads. As we scale, it becomes a sales tool that gives our team the most competitive edge. If it can deliver a specification in a day rather than three, that is a big step. There is so much opportunity to go further, because nobody else in our industry is really doing it.”