Premier Water Solutions

Key benefits

• Streamlined reporting and documentation
  Premier Water Solutions use Re-flow across the business, from costings to evidential documentation on-site. This centralised system has reduced the admin burden and enabled instant, accurate reporting to clients and internal teams, ensuring smooth project completion.
• Customised forms for efficiency
  Premier Water Solutions developed over 17 bespoke forms tailored to their services, from drainage surveys to pump station maintenance. These customisable forms have streamlined data collection and ensured all necessary information is captured efficiently.
• Improved compliance and safety
  Premier Water Solutions use Re-flow for real-time risk assessments, vehicle checklists, daily safety forms, and more, enhancing the company’s compliance efforts. These forms ensure that all safety measures are tracked and documented, reducing risks.

Summary

Premier Water Solutions, a consultancy and service provider in Cornwall, faced multiple operational challenges before implementing Re-flow. Their paper-based systems led to inefficiencies: team members spent excessive time on manual documentation and reporting, while communication breakdowns caused delays.

They sought a solution to streamline their processes, improve compliance, and scale their business to serve larger clients, such as councils and housing associations.

Re-flow’s field management software enabled them to centralise their job information, create custom forms to improve on-site reporting, and speed up and enhance compliance processes.

As a result, the company now operates with greater efficiency, freeing up valuable time to focus on expanding their services and maintaining strong client relationships.

Organisation details 

Premier Water Solutions was founded by chartered environmentalist Louisa Inch in 2008 as a consultancy company based in Somerset. In 2012, the company relocated to Cornwall, where they expanded their offerings. Louisa stated, ​‘We were doing such a good job with our consultancy side that we began offering additional services, which include flood risk assessments, drainage design, foul water specification, surface water design or SuDS, and pre-purchase drainage surveys.’

Recognising a gap in the market, the company evolved to provide installation and maintenance services. This transformation allowed them to become a one-stop shop, enhancing client satisfaction. 

Services offered:

• Consultancy
• Installation
• Maintenance 

The company primarily serves Cornwall but extends its services to areas up to Bristol and Dorset. In the past two to three years, they have increasingly taken on more work from councils, local authorities, and housing associations.

Challenges

Before implementing Re-flow, Premier Water Solutions faced several operational challenges that hindered their efficiency. Louisa Inch explained, ​‘A day’s work on site could easily take half a day of paperwork.’ 

• The team relied on Outlook and Microsoft Word for managing inquiries and tasks, leading to fragmentation and delays.
• Documentation was primarily paper-based, which resulted in lost or damaged forms due to adverse weather conditions.
• Remote work made it difficult to share information among team members, causing confusion and repetitive handling of the same data.
• Time-consuming manual processes strained resources and threatened the quality of their services.

Aims

Premier Water Solutions aimed to enhance their operational efficiency and improve service delivery through the adoption of field management software like Re-flow. As Louisa Inch said, ​‘We wanted to streamline the process to cut down on time while delivering the same service.’ Their key objectives included: 

• Streamlining communication – to facilitate real-time information sharing among team members and to ensure everyone is updated on job progress and requirements.
• Reducing administrative burden – to minimise paperwork and manual data entry and to free up valuable time for operatives, allowing them to focus more on their core tasks.
• Improving reporting accuracy – to enable quicker and more accurate report generation on-site, ensuring clients received detailed and evidential documentation.
• Enhancing compliance and safety – to speed up risk assessments, safety checks, and form filling in order to improve compliance with health and safety regulations.
• Facilitating growth – to have software in place capable of working with larger clients, such as housing associations and local authorities, by providing the evidential reporting they require.

Solutions

Re-flow offered Premier Water Solutions a comprehensive set of tools that addressed their operational challenges and enhanced overall efficiency: 

• Centralised information management – Re-flow created a unified platform where all job-related information, including client inquiries and job allocations, was readily accessible to the team, improving communication and coordination.
• Customisable forms – the software enabled the creation of site-specific forms tailored to various tasks, such as pump station maintenance and flood resilience assessments, ensuring that all necessary data is collected efficiently.
• Real-time reporting – with Re-flow, reports could be generated on-site, helping managers provide clients with immediate, detailed documentation that included photos and descriptions of completed work.
• Evidential documentation – the ability to capture and submit evidential photos of completed work offered clients reassurance and met the strict requirements of statutory authorities.
• Streamlined job allocation – Re-flow allowed for the dynamic allocation of jobs based on priority and urgency, ensuring that operatives received timely updates and were able to manage their schedules effectively.
• Enhanced health and safety compliance – the platform included tools for creating real-time risk assessments and vehicle checklists, helping Premier Water Solutions maintain high safety standards.
• Offline functionality – the software’s ability to sync data across devices, even without a signal, ensured that team members stayed updated and informed, regardless of their location.

Results

‘Re-flow has been a complete game changer for our business,’ Louisa Inch said about her company’s digital transformation. ​‘It’s been crucial as we moved from individual homeowners to statutory authorities, who need recordable information to show their due diligence when appointing contractors.’ 

‘Since using Re-flow, we’ve seen significant benefits, from saving time with reporting to managing our costs more effectively. We can complete reports and costings on-site, and by the time we leave, we have everything ready for the client, fully itemised and evidential.’ This capability has enabled the company to operate more efficiently, allowing operatives to focus on their core tasks rather than getting bogged down by paperwork. 

Michael Child, the contracts manager, echoes this sentiment, emphasising Re-flow’s practicality. ​‘Before Re-flow we were using paper copies of our documents. And with the weather where we live paper copies get wet and lost. We use the app on a day-to-day basis on jobs. We use it for inductions, toolbox talks, RAMs.’ 

With its versatility and ability to customise to the company’s exact needs, Re-flow’s versatile form builder has also made a powerful impact across the business. 

‘We’ve created our forms with Re-flow and we’ve generated them specifically for the work we actually do,’ Michael said. Louisa Inch said, ​‘I’ve written about 17 site-specific forms to help our business. We also use Re-flow’s generic forms, which can cover anything from planned maintenance, breakdowns, and pump station maintenance to more complex tasks like pre-purchase drainage surveys and property flood resilience forms. 

‘One key feature is that completed reports are automatically sent to the client, our accounts, and any necessary team members. This minimises communication errors and human error while streamlining invoicing and reporting. 

‘From a health and safety perspective, our operatives can create real-time risk assessments specific to the site they are working on. We’ve added vehicle checklists and daily excavation safety forms, making us more compliant. Re-flow helps us stay on top of our safety measures. 

‘And since the data syncs directly to all devices, even when we’re working offline, the information automatically uploads when we get back into an area with signal, so all our team members are on the same page. 

‘We’ve saved time and money in several areas – paper, printing costs, travel, and we’ve significantly cut down on admin hours. I’d say that we’ve saved enough in manpower that it’s almost like having one extra operative.’