Karringtons is a UK residential contractor covering Kent and South East London. Established in 2015, the team delivers high-end new builds and major renovations, typically running three to five projects a year in the £500k–£5m range with a compact office handling finance, pricing and operations - so accuracy and cash flow matter on every drawdown.
The interview was carried out with Graham Eastwood – Office Manager at Karringtons, who oversees the company’s project finances, budgeting and day-to-day commercial processes.
“We’re a small to medium-sized firm that does high-end residential new builds or major renovations. We generally have three to five projects a year, ranging from £0.5m to £5m.” - Graham from Karringtons
Before Planyard: UK realities of Excel and US-centric tools
Like many UK contractors, Karringtons lived between Excel and a US-focused platform. Excel felt flexible, but a single broken link could omit a large part of the cost to the customer. When using spreadsheets for their cost management, they actually had a few potentially expensive close calls. Luckily they caught it in time, but it was stressful for everyone nonetheless.
When variations occurred, spreadsheets sometimes required two to three weeks of rebuilding to cope with formulas and re-entering data. That made monthly reviews harder and left the team second-guessing the numbers.
“Excel was prone to errors and we once sent out a cost plan with a fairly significant sum not included. We were lucky to catch it before signing the contract.”
The US-centric tool was “not geared towards a UK company” and rigid around cost codes. Converting a UK cost plan into its structure became a job in itself, which slowed decision-making on live projects and made granular pricing awkward. There were also issues with the correct handling of VAT and CIS deductions, since those are UK specifics as well
“It was very much set up for an American market and too rigid in its use of cost codes for us. The problems with VAT and CIS made it effectively unusable for us.”
Why Planyard: Simple, flexible, and UK-fit
After looking at alternatives aimed at much larger, multi-unit developers, Karringtons spent six to nine months searching the market. They wanted operational finance that they could set up quickly - budgets, client contracts, subcontractor packages, purchase orders, and valuations - without being forced into an unfamiliar code structure. Planyard checked those boxes and matched how UK firms like Karringtons actually price and deliver single-project builds.
“It does everything we need on the operational finance side - neat and simple, with the right tools for us.”
Critically, Planyard lets each job follow the structure that suits the contract and the client. That flexibility - building the budget your way, not the software’s - was a decisive factor and eased the step away from spreadsheet habits.
“Each project can be its own structure - it’s more open in how you build your budget or the client contract.”
Onboarding in days, not months
The first live budget went from Excel into Planyard’s import template in about a day of focused work spread over 2–3 days. There was a learning curve regarding client variations on the first project, but with quick support, the team rebuilt with clearer internal guidelines and moved forward with confidence.
“If a big project started on Monday, I could now have it on Planyard and up and running in a few hours. The majority of the effort would be on unifying the client's and our cost plans.”
The import structure and clear cost-line levels made the platform feel familiar fast. And when a question popped up, the response was swift - keeping momentum during those first critical weeks.
“Support was there the whole way - we received quick responses, and thanks to that, Planyard made sense quickly.”
The same can be said for putting Graham's feedback into the product for other users as well. He put forward a few suggestions for improvements to the client contract management. The feedback was collected by the product team and was implemented very quickly.
“I had suggested that it should be possible to add a budget line directly from the client contract and it literally took 2 weeks to implement. That’s really impressive.”
Day-to-day: Committed costs, valuations, and cash flow you can trust
Today, Karringtons sees committed costs in real time and ties subcontractor valuations directly to client billing lines. Progress is reviewed line-by-line, so client drawdowns mirror actual work, reducing the risk of being ahead (which would cause cash flow issues in the future) or behind (which would cause cash flow issues now). It’s a practical solution to the challenge of aligning monthly subcontractor progress with client certification - a reality faced by many UK construction companies.
“We only charge what’s been built - we’re not ahead and we’re not behind - so each project’s cash flow stays where it should.”
Because each section of work is structured the way Karringtons builds, site checks translate cleanly into valuations. It’s faster to interrogate claims and easier to push back - politely and precisely - when something hasn’t been done.
“It’s a lot more tangible - you can walk around the site and set a line to zero if there’s no paint on the wall.”
Previously, month-end relied on bulk invoices and single-sum POs. Without an agreed line-by-line structure, there was no easy way to confirm every element of a claim or challenge specific items without a long spreadsheet exercise. With Planyard, each PO and valuation is matched to defined scope lines, with the previously approved amounts visible for everyone.
Subcontractors now submit their own valuations against agreed line items. Karringtons reviews, tweaks where needed, and approves in minutes. It replaces lump-sum POs and invoice checks with a clear, auditable breakdown tied to actual progress.
“We used to raise a purchase order and just make sure invoices didn’t exceed the original price. Now, subs bill specific line items with percentages or totals - you can clearly see what’s done on each floor.”
Results: Less thrash, faster starts, stronger handovers
The team no longer spends two to three weeks rebuilding spreadsheets when variations hit. Structures hold, numbers stay reliable, and new projects can be stood up the same day a contract is signed - freeing time for site operations and commercial control rather than spreadsheet surgery.
“Focus on core tools and simplicity, implementation isn’t long, and you get a very good handle on project budgeting and financing.”
Next up, Karringtons is exploring further automation with the QuickBooks integration with CIS, so finance and project management speak to each other more seamlessly. Another goal is standardising codes so any team member can pick up a job while it's ongoing. That’s not just tidy admin; it’s resilience as workloads scale.
“We’re confident managing three big projects at once - more automation and integration will make it quicker, more efficient, and increase accuracy.”
Takeaway for UK builders and QSs
From Karringtons’ standpoint, Planyard solved the real UK problems they faced: getting off creaky spreadsheets, avoiding rigid US-centric workflows, and keeping client drawdowns aligned to what’s actually built.
With budgets, POs, invoices, and valuations all following one repeatable workflow, Karringtons can scale the number of projects confidently. New employees plug into the same structure, project handovers are cleaner, and commercial control isn’t dependent on one spreadsheet expert.
They can set a project up in less than a day, see committed costs in real time, and run valuations line-by-line so cash flow stays where it should be. That’s been the difference between firefighting at month-end and running a calm, auditable commercial process.
“There’s a lot of rigid software out there. With Planyard you build it how you want - how it suits your project.”
For teams like theirs, that flexibility matters more than flashy features. They needed something that fits UK pricing and contracts without weeks of rework. Planyard has given them the structure to protect margin and the speed to make decisions when they count - so they can focus on delivering the job, not rebuilding spreadsheets.