Real-time reports paint a clearer picture
Up-to-date financial reports helped the company cost and price new projects accurately.
MYOB software enabled the capture of labour expense details against relevant projects for better project cost management.
In-depth, real-time reports helped to provide insight into specific projects, allowing improved decision-making and better project management.
A growing business in need of scalable support
With major projects across Sydney, Doolan Plumbing is known for complex plumbing work across design and construction, civil stormwater, commercial building, maintenance and shop fit-out.
But with over 100 employees and difficult project costings, Doolan Plumbing needed more from its accounting system. Adeel Amir Ali, company accountant, explains the difference switching to MYOB Advanced Construction and MYOB Advanced Payroll has made to the company.
Legacy system provided limited visibility
Over the years, Doolan Plumbing has successfully used MYOB AccountRight to track basic costs and budgets. Adeel says it was an excellent system, but the fast-growing company needed more functionality.
It needed software that could compare labour estimates versus actuals more easily and drill down into project costs. Increased integration and automation would also be beneficial to minimise the time spent on manual admin.
“When my boss asked for a specific cost within a project, I had to export data and manipulate it in Excel to show project costing in a way that the manager and project manager needed,” explains Adeel.
With little automation and over 500 invoices processed at the end of each month, it took three project managers four hours a week each to cross-reference prices and sign them all off. That’s 48 hours a month spent in the office rather than on-site, where they can add the most value.
"There’s a direct correlation between how much time a project manager spends on-site and the quality of the work."
Also, financial reports were almost always outdated and needed more detail, making it impossible to adjust resources, budgets or timelines on the go effectively.
A powerful product with the capacity to go deep
With the company already using estimating software ProEst, Doolan Plumbing chose MYOB Advanced Construction as they knew it would integrate with ProEst and provide the flexibility and depth they required.
"Data from MYOB easily explains variations in estimations versus real costing — it’s all there."
- Adeel Amir Ali, Company Accountant, Doolan Plumbing
Complete business management at your fingertips
Every cost could be assigned to a specific project and section, letting the Doolan team drill down into the detail easily. Adeel explains that it's essential for finding and fixing a cost overrun or discrepancy.
“With just the click of a button, we could break costs down into individual items. With AccountRight, I was figuring it all out manually.”
Tracking spending during a job, rather than after it’s finished, improves efficiency and, therefore, profitability. It also lets project managers see the detail in real-time and have confidence in the data. If they change plans or if there’s overspending, the team can take action straight away.
"If we see that labour costs are high when installing fixtures, for example, we can pinpoint the problem by analysing costs overall."
Doolan Plumbing can also configure workflows to suit their way of working.
“When there are purchase orders of more than $5000, the system triggers an email to the director for approvals.”
MYOB’s customer success team worked closely with Adeel to implement and customise the system – and Adeel was impressed with the support he got.
“Our customer support manager was fantastic,” he says.
Better decision-making with detailed job reporting
While Adeel is still exploring the full functionality of MYOB Advanced Construction, project management has improved in every business area, from tendering and costing to labour and payroll.
With materials loaded in the system, better integration and more automation, MYOB Advanced Construction has already saved Doolan Plumbing so much time that it has eliminated outsourced admin costs – Adeel can cover everything he did before, plus some extra functions.
"I can do project costing for directors in hours rather than days. I’ve been able to take on payroll, bank reconciling and claims."
- Adeel Amir Ali, Company Accountant, Doolan Plumbing
Better quality work on-site
Adeel has seen project managers each spending about four hours less a week in the office. That time, he says, is now spent on-site, delivering better quality outcomes for clients and more profit for the company.
"When project managers can be on-site more often, jobs go more smoothly, profitably and efficiently."
More accurate labour expenses
The detail available in MYOB means Doolan Plumbing can track the actual costs of labour. Adeel explains how, aside from time saved on manual tracking, it improves project costing and profitability overall.
"MYOB captures everything from hourly rates to side allowances, super payments, compensatory training and wage cover insurance. What’s more, I can use that same data for payroll – there’s no double-up."
- Adeel Amir Ali, Company Accountant, Doolan Plumbing
Improved project cost estimations
The integration with estimating software makes finding costs within specific projects easy. What was once all manual is now available and more accurate with the click of a button.
"We can see how much we have allowed, compared to what we’ve spent, all on the MYOB dashboard."
If the company sees losses anywhere, it can find the actual issue rather than guessing.
“We ask the estimating team, ‘Did we underquote? Was there a price increase?’ It improves future tenders because we’re fixing the problems as we go.”
Improvements since implementing MYOB Advanced Construction and MYOB Advanced Payroll:
Accurate financial reports help the company tender and price new projects more effectively.
Labour expenses are more accurate with all details captured against relevant projects.
In-depth, real-time reports give insight for better decision-making.
Greater efficiency in project costing eliminates the need for an entire administration role.
48 hours of administrative work for Doolan’s project managers eliminated each month.
