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Stronger foundations for Professional Building Consultants

17 Mar 2025, 10:30 AM

Learn how Professional Building Consultants (PBC) reduced administrative workload and empowered customers with self-service tools for managing inspection bookings.

Background

Professional Building Consultants Limited (PBC) provides consultancy services to numerous councils and BCA’s around the country to ensure the safety and compliance of residential buildings in New Zealand. To maintain a high standard of service their software needed to be future-proofed, scalable, and user-friendly. 

Their bespoke solution, however, was built on ageing architecture. As the business grew, this placed more strain on the in-house development team to support the system. Additionally, PBC wanted to respond to customer requests for an online booking option which was only done over the phone. Recognising the need to upgrade, PBC decided it was time to future-proof their system. 

Opportunity

PBC needed a partner who could build a booking system for their users and create a strong foundation for their bespoke platform. They needed to:

  • Enable self-service: Customers needed an easy way to book, update, and track their bookings.
  • Improve efficiency: Removing manual tasks from staff so they could focus on delivering more value to customers.
  • Incorporate branding: The new booking system needed to reflect PBC’s visual identity while being easy to use and accessible.
  • Upskill the in-house development team: PBC wanted to upskill their in-house developer and learn from the vendor’s development team.
  • Improve business continuity: PBC wanted to bring in an external development team to ensure the site could remain well maintained when their development team was away.

When told they needed to use an ‘out-of-the-box’ system, PBC knew it wasn't the right call for their team. They didn't want to retrain staff or completely shift to a new platform. They needed a tailored approach for their team. That's why they partnered with Catalyst.

Solution

The project began with Catalyst's Business Analysis (BAs) workshops to identify core needs for the booking system. Brent Goldschmidt, PBC Director, shares, “The BA workshops were brilliant. It was a good part of the process because we used those workshops to flesh out what we wanted and how to design it."

The teams collaborated using GitLab, which Brent found great for communication and transparency, as PBC could see who was working on what.  Brent described the process from a building point of view - “Catalyst built a new foundation, moved the building across, and started to change and renovate the existing structure and make it better than before. Do alterations to the house, and it'll stand for another 50 years.”

Key features of the booking management system include:

Laptop open on a table displaying the booking page on the PBC website for booking a building consult

  • A central hub for customers: A single place to access the booking information tied to the customer's account. Now, customers have an overview of the sites they need to track.
  • 24/7 and time booking capabilities: Customers can now book, update, and manage their bookings online. The system automatically finds the relevant location based on where the inspector lives, their competency to carry out the inspection, and available time slots.
  • A modern design: The booking process is straightforward for users, with the PBC branding embedded into the design.
  • Upskilled development team: PBC’s development team learnt Python and the new foundation of the bespoke platform.
  • Enhanced team capacity: With Catalyst supporting PBC’s development, they have a more reliable structure of support for their website.

Changes were slowly rolled out to customers, testing in small groups to understand what was and wasn’t working. Now, customers can book how they prefer - online or over the phone.

Results

After six months, PBC reports:

  • 1000+ hours saved per year: the equivalent of 4 hours a day.
  • A 65-70% decrease in bookings over the phone: gaining the customer team more time to deliver additional value.
  • Positive customer feedback: customers find the system "well worthwhile."

“It was a real win to have a larger development team across another organisation. This enabled our IT developer to feel less pressure of being responsible for our whole system and allowed us as directors to go.’

We have a good foundation and framework for our system to sit on. Now, if our developer was not around for any reason, there is another organisation there who can help us through the process and keep us going.'

There is a cost with that, but there is always a cost, and the benefit far outweighs the cost.

We look forward to continuing to develop our relationship with Catalyst. I think it's going to be a nice, long relationship.”

- Brent Goldschmidt, Director at Professional Building Consultants

Looking ahead

PBC continues to refine and enhance their system with Catalyst. Brent says working with Catalyst has gone well, and they enjoy the flexibility to scale up and down development as needed.

At Catalyst, we enjoy tailoring solutions to our clients' needs. If you have a legacy system you're considering refreshing, let us know. Our team is always an email away.

Services provided

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