An innovative provider of interactive and collaborative contract management software for construction contracts, +AddJust is a game changer for organisations who want better financial insights, increased visibility and more control of how their capital is being spent on construction projects. Building Ireland travelled to Kilrush in County Clare and spoke to CEO and founder Padraig Neylon to find out more.
Established by Padraig Neylon and his brother Joe Neylon in 2017, +Addjust’s cloud-based solutions centralise project information to offer a modern, digital approach to managing and implementing construction contracts.
The success of any building contract rests on implementing good processes and maintaining good communication flows. To this end, the team at +AddJust have created solutions that are unrivalled in achieving these goals.
Construction industry professionals and software engineers with over a century of cumulative real estate, construction and software experience, they have suffered administrative headaches along with their industry colleagues for many years and came up with their own interfaces to make things easier for all stakeholders involved in a construction project, so that all contractual information, communication and documents are in one resource as opposed to sitting orphaned on somebody’s hard drive or email account.
The solutions built by +AddJust make contracts easier to understand, administer and implement, enabling organisations to save time and money whilst also reducing disputes.
+AddJust radically simplifies how change orders are captured, communicated and approved in construction contracts. Their team has developed three digital contract and financial management products for the construction industry (+BigWork, +Control and +TermPay), serving a wide variety of clients including local authorities, property development companies, retail operators, contractors, Quantity Surveyors, architects and individual clients, giving them increased access to and control over their budget information in real time.
Capturing live data on construction contracts to provide more control, clarity and certainty to clients than previously thought possible, +AddJust manages small, medium and large scale construction and infrastructure projects for clients with either one standalone project or a portfolio of them. Multiple contracts can be managed and tracked through these paperless solutions, which also keeps tabs in real time on budget and cost control.
+BigWork helps clients set up and manage domestic building contracts (including new builds and refurbishments) with their contractors and design team, while +Control manages commercial projects and +TermPay coordinates entire multi-operator and single-operator framework contracts for public body clients.
The +BigWork, +Control and +TermPay apps have taken existing widely-used construction contracts and digitised the processes contained within them. +AddJust have extracted the processes, digitised the workflows and made them easier to use, easier to follow and easier to comply with using modern, secure and efficient software. With clearly defined workflows and using instant messaging communication tools, users are guided through the various steps and can fulfil their contractual obligations around payments, change orders, document sharing, etc.
Padraig Neylon is a registered quantity surveyor and building surveyor (he also fronts PND Building Consultancy), while Joe has worked in business development for major brands like Coca-Cola and Pepsi in Russia and Eastern Europe. The siblings were joined in the business in 2018 by fellow West Clare man Michael Kelly as chief technical officer. Michael has 15 years’ experience in the software industry, implementing robust solutions in high performance computing, mobile and web space arenas.
AddJust’s solutions are mobile enabled so that the user can access their contract information and monitor performance while on the move. All information is securely stored in the cloud with restricted access at all levels. It can be accessed from anywhere and on any device. +AddJust enables organisations to gain superior insights into the cost and time performances of projects across a range of portfolios.
The streamlined management of contract information speeds up the flow of information and keeps everybody completely up to speed with that information, allowing work flows to be tailored around payments and change orders.
Reflecting on the genesis of the business, Padraig notes: “I had worked as a QS for 15 years prior to 2017 and +AddJust was born out of a problem with paperwork and contract administration.
Everybody was using emails and Excel files and nobody knew where the money was. We started to develop a prototype and slowly but surely built up a system that allows everybody to collaborate conveniently in real time. All the information is stored in the software / app and everybody has access to the same platform.
“We have it up and running on a number of projects and the feedback has been extremely positive. It’s instant-message-based – kind of like having WhatsApp, email and Excel all rolled into one but with Bills of Quantity also in there and all payments fed off it. There’s a lot of interactivity and the system will also issue reminders and keep everything in check.”
Software was developed for Dublin City Council for a domestic refurbishment project, whilst +AddJust have recently commenced a contract with Clare County Council to combine digital and interactive contract management and asset management on one platform. Once fully deployed, this will be the first of its kind in Ireland and the UK, enabling local authority housing departments to link the works being carried out on their housing stock with the existing asset data, whilst correctly administering public contract procedures.
While many could possibly be put off by the technical challenges of embracing new technology, Padraig says +Addjust’s contract management software is completely user-friendly: “We based it on the mantra that if you can use WhatsApp then you can use our system. It’s really intuitive and easy to use and will guide the user through the various steps. At the end of the day, it’s all about rapid deployment and getting on with projects quickly and efficiently – and these systems facilitate that.” The uptake to date has been very encouraging: “We’ve only launched +TermPay apps and Clare County Council are helping us take it to the next level. +BigWork and +Control have dozens of projects on them already and we have added many new features since first rolling them out.
Engagement has completely exceeded our expectations so far.”
Digital technology of course knows no geographical boundaries and there exists tremendous scope for +AddJust systems to be used on projects all over the world. “We’ve had enquiries from as far away as Australia and Canada,” Padraig concludes. “It’s early days yet but word is getting out that we exist and what our software can do. The feedback we have got is resoundingly positive that anybody who has used our systems would not go back to the old way of managing their contract information.
“Our goal going forward is to get more local authorities signed up and also to expand into other jurisdictions, including the UK. As these problems exist all over the world, the solution we provide is universal.”
+AddJust
Frances Street, Kilrush, County Clare.
Tel: 087 9765226
Email: [email protected] Web: www.addjust.io
This article was published in Building Ireland Magazine, April, Vol 7 No 4
