Stricter rules for Health & Safety ( Posted : 29/10/2009 )
This year sees the first case of Corporate Manslaughter brought to court under the Corporate Manslaughter and Homicide Act introduced two years ago. Trial will take place in February, at Bristol Crown Court.
The Act ushered in a much firmer approach to on-site breaches of Health and Safety law and makes it easier to prosecute. Work-related fatalities will now become a matter for the police rather than the Health and Safety Executive and the building industry has been warned to ensure it complies fully with the legislation.
Construction is Britain’s biggest industry, employing more than two million people. Unfortunately it is also one of the most dangerous. And that’s true for smaller building firms just as much as the bigger ones.
Latest figures from the Centre for Corporate Accountability for the Union, UCATT, revealed that last year (2007-2008) more than half of all construction workers killed worked for companies with less than 50 employees and half of these deaths occurred in firms with five or fewer employees. In fact, in the last 25 years 2,800 people have died from injuries they received as a result of construction work and many more have been injured.
The Government’s Health and Safety Executive say that any builder with more than five employees must have a written Health and Safety policy and ensure it is carried out in practice. And to drive the point home, Health and Safety Inspectors are visiting even the smaller building firms more frequently.
Easy Price Pro can provide a quick and easy solution which takes the headache out of complying with Health and Safety legislation and ensures you do not risk prosecution and large fines. Our Health & Safety Plus™ is quick, easy to use and a real time-saver. It integrates with our existing estimating packages such as New Houses and Extension Plus™ and Renovations and Alterations™ and there are regular updates so you keep up with the latest legislation.
When you finish your estimate all you need to do is open Health & Safety Plus™ and click on the import button and almost all the information needed to draw up your health and safety documentation is automatically captured. In fact, the program could be viewed as an essential ‘Insurance Policy’ for you and your business.
Health & Safety Plus™ sells at £750 + VAT but because of the case now going through the courts and to ensure all our customers are fully equipped for the new legislation, we are offering it at HALF-PRICE, £375 plus VAT, until the end of November 2009 only.
Resolve disputes over 'extras'. ( Posted : 01/10/2009 )
How many jobs have builders priced where there have never been any changes? The answer is ‘very few’, which usually means a long session working out tedious, time-consuming breakdown lists. Well, Easy Price Pro, the estimating software firm, have some good news - help is at hand. Their new program, Easy ComparerTM, removes all the stress with a simple click of a button and is launched this month after extensive trials.
With Easy ComparerTM you don’t have to do a whole new estimate to include the changes, you simply put the new prices for the alternative work and materials into your original quote and save it as a separate document. Then Easy ComparerTM delves into them both and creates a new, one-page report.
The report highlights all price differentials in colour, using blue for an increase in prices and red for a reduction so both customer and builder can see the differences clearly and make an informed choice. There’s also the option to show costs and totals with overheads and profits built in to each and every item
The launch of Easy ComparerTM follows hard on the heels of sister product Easy CombinerTM which takes two completely different projects from within a client’s brief, like an extension AND a renovation, and combines them in a new, joint estimate, including pricing and payment schedules.
EPP Managing Director Paul Betts said: “This is especially useful when dealing with price differentials. As every builder knows new work is usually priced differently from renovations, as they’re likely to be more labour intensive, but the two often go together within one existing project. There are also different rates of VAT so working out the correct payments for each stage of the job can be a complete nightmare.
“Now Easy CombinerTM does it for you, showing all the calculations in a nice neat format which is very useful for the client, the architect, and even for the VAT man himself, in case you ever need to prove your figures!”
Easy ComparerTM and Easy CombinerTM are compatible with the two main Easy Price Pro building programs, NHE PlusTM and Renovations and AlterationsTM.
Brush up your software skills ( Posted : 24/09/2009 )
Easy Price Pro can now offer training sessions to ALL customers to ensure they are getting the most out of our estimating software.
This follows the success of a training scheme we introduced recently which is funded by Government grants. However, it is only available to those who employed five or more people and could meet other special conditions.
Many customers want the training but cannot meet the strict Government criteria so we’ve decided to offer our own training scheme as well which can be purchased by the hour and tailor-made to individual requirements.
The training costs £30 an hour and to get the best value customers are advised to indicate in advance what aspects of their programmes they would like to cover in detail.
For example you may have mastered the basics of New Homes and Extensions Plus™ because you’ve been using it but feel you could get more out of it with a bit of expert tuition which would speed your estimating up even further and allow you to operate its more complex functions. There’s no doubt our programs are more sophisticated nowadays and the more recent your version is, the more it can do.
The training will be provided online by a senior Customer Services Adviser using the Team Viewer method which connects with your machine and allows you to go through everything step-by-step at your own pace and ask questions.
So get the most out of your Easy Price Pro software – book in for a training session today! Phone our Customer Services desk on 0845 6124747 and fix a date and time, sessions start in September.
Roles reversed for EPP consultants ( Posted : 24/09/2009 )
Easy Price Pro hosted a conference in Suffolk to take our consultants from all over the country through the many recent improvements in the software and announce the results from our latest marketing survey.
The survey showed a big increase in the number of builders downloading trial versions of EPP software from our Internet website.
And those builders still estimating the old-fashioned way with pen, paper and calculator said the time it takes is their biggest headache, along with negotiating charges for additional work part way through a contract.
So the consultamts went away secure in the knowledge there’s still plenty of people out there who need their services to demonstrate why estimating software like NHE PlusTM and Easy ComparerTM is absolutely essential for the modern building business.
And don’t forget that as an existing customer you can call your local consultant anytime you want, either for an update on new software now available or just for a chat about how you’re getting on with the software. You’ll find you local consultant's contact number by clicking your area of the map.
Joining the elite ( Posted : 03/07/2009 )
Easy Price Pro has been accepted by The Guild of Master Craftsmen, joining such famous names as Aston Martin, Rolls-Royce, Axminster Power Tools and The Ritz Hotel.
EPP will be able to display the Guild’s prestigious logo on its stationary, vehicles and exhibitions and membership will open up further marketing opportunities for future business.
The Guild’s stringent entry criteria ensure that only those companies who meet the requirements are awarded membership, which is by no means automatic.
Members are required to prove that they have earned the right to be called master craftsmen - through the quality of their work, their commitment to customer care and the level of service they provide. Once accepted into membership they are required to maintain the Aims and Objectives of the Guild. Should they fail to do so their membership will be terminated.
Members of the public - in our case, builders, electricians and plumbers - can choose a member of the Guild of Master Craftsmen confident that they will receive the best possible service, workmanship and top quality products.
The Guild say that although it is not a consumer organisation it is committed to pursue the interests of the consumer through careful membership selection and its proven procedure for conciliation and mediation, in the unlikely event there is a dispute with a member.
FairTrades Partnership ( Posted : 19/05/2009 )
Easy Price Pro is now an associate member and in partnership with FairTrades, one of the largest multi trade associations in the UK.
FairTrades has been promoting its vetted trade professional members since 1983. Members reap the benefits of increased marketing, business support, sales leads and special offers, whilst the homeowner benefits from finding a top quality trade professional who upholds the values of the Homeowner’s Charter.
Becoming a member of FairTrades gives members the following benefits:
Use of the FairTrades logo
Free listing on the 'Find a Pro' website
Handy Contact Cards to push through letterboxes when you work in an area
Membership certificate
Big discounts with Yellow Pages
Introduction leaflets to explain the benefits of using a FairTrades member
'Check me out' facility
Conciliation service
Sister organization, TrustMark Direct, offers all the benefits and safeguards of TrustMark accreditation and businesses do not have to be members of a trade association.
We are now in partnership with these two organizations which are both part of the HomePro Group.
To celebrate, we’ve teamed up with HomePro to offer Easy Price Pro customers £50 off your first year's membership of FairTrades and TrustMark Direct until 31st August 2009.
And if you’re already a member of either organization, you can have an extra 10% discount on our software - over and above any existing promotions. Call us on 0845 6124747 for more details.
HomePro’s aim is to give the customer peace of mind and to take the worry out of finding a trade professional for a home improvement project. To be included on the popular HomePro FairTrades “Find A Pro” directory service, businesses must have been trading for more than one year and be able to pass legal and financial checks. Also taken into account are: quality of work, timeliness, value for money and courtesy
NEW Easy Order Ultra™ released ( Posted : 30/04/2009 )
Ordering is now even easier
See how it works Easy Price Pro has completed a major upgrade of its popular Easy Order program, making it not only even easier to place orders but also refining the business of obtaining merchant’s prices and incorporating them into the estimating software.
For example, product and quantity data can now be imported from the New Houses and Extensions Plus™, Renovations and Extensions™, Easy Electrics™ or Easy Plumbing & Heating™ packages and then e-mailed to up to six builders merchants so that they can enter prices for each of the required items. The merchant can them return the completed e-mail sheet so that it can be imported back into Easy Order Ultra™.
Once this is done, Easy Order Ultra™ will perform all of the comparisons and highlight the cheapest merchant for each product as well as the cheapest merchant overall.
When the estimate is complete, Easy Order gives the options of printing an order sheet to send or fax to the merchants. This sheet is set out as a complete order form and includes item numbers as a reference. A single merchant can be selected or up to six order forms can be created, each of which shows only the items that are cheapest from that merchant.
When complete, prices can be imported back to the estimate, again either by cheapest overall, cheapest from each merchant or from a chosen merchant.
Other additions include a job details page, which imports job details from the chosen estimate. The file can be saved under the client’s name for future reference.
Paul Betts, Easy Price Pro Director said:
“In the current economic climate cost control matters more than ever before. When used in conjunction with one of our estimating packages, Easy Order Ultra™ enables the builder to obtain prices quickly and easily and to place accurate orders based on precise quantities calculated automatically by the estimating software. It also aids good record keeping and can make it easier to check deliveries against quantities ordered.”
Print Order There is now the facility to print an order sheet to send or fax to the merchants. This is laid out like a proper order form and includes item numbers as a reference. There are a number of options for printing the form, these are:
Print cheapest merchant: This will print an order form for all items from whichever is the cheapest merchant overall.
Choose a merchant to print: This will print an order form for all items from the merchant chosen by the user.
Print cheapest items: This will print the cheapest items for each merchant, thus giving up to six order forms which will only show the items that are the cheapest from that merchant.
Import back to Quote Library The prices can be imported back to the estimate, again either by cheapest overall, cheapest from each merchant or chosen merchant.
Job Details Page There is also a job details page which imports job details from the chosen estimate, and also the file will be saved under the clients name for future reference.
Compatible with Microsoft® Excel™ 2007 & Windows® Vista™
AWARD WINNER! ( Posted : 07/01/2009 )
Easy Price Pro has won the award for the best software product for construction companies.
Professional Housebuilder & Property Developer magazine's top products of 2008 included tools for the building industry and Easy Price pro came out top in the software category!
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