How we found one typo copied 700 times across an asbestos job

We traced a typo through 122 job files and built a system that carries checked details from the enquiry into the job pack.

Excel

Client: UK licensed asbestos removal contractor in a regional group
Documents: Enquiries, lab results, quotes, plans of work, site logs and certificates
What we built: A system that carries job details from enquiry to close-out
What they get: Seven linked stages, from enquiry to close-out pack
Records kept: For 40 years

Enquiry formSite14 Ashgrove RaodRoad

Survey requestSite14 Ashgrove Raod

Lab instructionSample14 Ashgrove Raod

QuoteSite14 Ashgrove RaodBill to14 Ashgrove Raod

Plan of workSite14 Ashgrove RaodAccess14 Ashgrove Raod

Site logSite14 Ashgrove RaodDay 114 Ashgrove RaodDay 214 Ashgrove Raod

Waste noteFrom14 Ashgrove RaodCarrier14 Ashgrove Raod

CertificateSite14 Ashgrove RaodArea14 Ashgrove Raod

InvoiceSite14 Ashgrove RaodBill to14 Ashgrove RaodRef14 Ashgrove Raod

+copies of the typo

Check the address on the enquiry before copying it

One typo, copied 700 timesWe traced the spelling back to the enquiry form, where the team could correct it before it was copied again.

Following the details through all 122 files.

We started with the complete record of a job, from the first email to the close-out pack: 122 files.

emailenquiry formEnquirysite name
lab resultdrawingReview the job filelab results
price bookquoteEstimate and quoteprice build-up
contractWon jobquote terms
plan of worknotificationpre-start packPre-startplan revisions
site logair testsSite recordssupervisor names
certificatewaste noteClose-outcertificates

files traced

7 separate readings in 2 groups, each tracing the whole job and checked against the others

Every file, traced from enquiry to close-outWe traced the job file from the first enquiry to the final certificate, checking where details were copied or changed.

122files traced, from first email to close-out pack
700+copies of one typo across nine documents
3supervisors named for one four-day job
4,849price book formulas still working in the version we generate

“That was a really big moment for me.”

Operations director, on the mistakes we found

Read the full story

An asbestos removal contractor retyped the same job details from enquiry to close-out. We traced all 122 files from a completed job and found a misspelt site name copied more than 700 times. We built a system that carries the checked job details into the firm’s forms and quotes.

Same details, typed again at every step.

An asbestos job produces a lot of paper, and most of it repeats what the last document said.

Each job runs from enquiry to pricing in Excel, a quote in Word, safety paperwork and a statutory notice, site records and finally a close-out pack. Different people retype the same details at each step. A date change means reissuing three or four documents, and the records have to be kept for 40 years.

Pricing a single job can take anything from ten minutes to a full day of a senior manager’s time.

“Blimey, there’s a lot of wasted time here.”

Operations director, walking through their own process

Following the details through all 122 files.

We started with the complete record of a job, from the first email to the close-out pack: 122 files.

The file held emails, scanned site logs, air test certificates, waste notes, the Excel price book, Word quotes and the main contractor’s 222-page pre-start pack. We read the typed records and checked the scans as images so we could include the handwriting.

We made seven separate readings in two groups, four in one and three in the other. Each traced the job from enquiry to close-out, and we compared the findings. We followed the price book cell by cell to see where every number in the quote came from. Then we checked the key findings by hand against the originals.

One typo, 700 times.

The same error had spread from the first enquiry form into the rest of the job file.

The site name was misspelt on the firm’s own enquiry form. From there it was copied more than 700 times across nine documents.

Three different site supervisors were named for one four-day job, across the notification, the air test bookings and the site log. Three versions of the plan of work were all marked as the first revision. A line for air monitoring in the quote had no workings behind it in the price book, and two of the price book’s own check cells were broken.

The errors appeared in records that different people had prepared from the same job details.

Type it once, at the start.

We built seven linked stages around the firm’s existing process. Staff check the details at the start and carry them through the job.

Enquiry, document review, estimate and quote, won job, pre-start, site records, close-out. A forwarded enquiry becomes ready-made job details for the team to confirm. The estimate fills the firm’s own Excel price book and asks the estimator only what it can’t work out: crew, duration and disposal. Change five days to four and the workbook and the quote update together.

The estimator checks the pricing inputs. One named person approves scope, price and terms, and the quote comes out in the firm’s own Excel, PDF and Word formats. Every answer records who gave it, when and its source. Sending an email or changing a record needs a person’s approval.

We built it out on the same job file. The price book it produces keeps all 23 of the firm’s original sheets, every one of its 4,849 formulas still works in Excel, and the prices match across the Excel, PDF and Word versions of the quote.