Price drift
The same item, from the same supplier, quietly being bought at different prices.
Materials buying · commercial infrastructure + intelligence
Stop losing margin through how you buy materials.
PCI helps construction companies find and stop the margin leaking through the way materials are bought — then builds the strategy, structure and intelligence around your team to keep it stopped.
We also work across plant & equipment hire and waste removal where the same commercial issues exist.
Your team still buys. Your decisions stay yours. We do the commercial heavy lifting around them.
Where PCI operates
Work
won
won
Work
delivered
delivered
Margin protectedthrough the buying that happens in between
Main contractorsSpecialist contractorsDevelopers with meaningful direct spend
Proof before commitment
You don’t have to take our word for it.
We establish whether a meaningful commercial opportunity exists in your business before asking you to make any meaningful commitment. If the evidence does not justify going further, we do not recommend that you do.
01IndicationA first view of likely leakage.
→
02EvidenceYour actual products and prices benchmarked.
→
03Then decideOnly progress if the case is compelling.
The commercial problem
Margin doesn’t disappear.
It leaks.
Most construction businesses are not bad at buying. The problem is that hundreds or thousands of individual decisions happen across projects, people, suppliers, emails, calls, portals and spreadsheets.
Each transaction can look perfectly reasonable. The leakage only becomes visible when someone joins the whole picture together.
Fragmented spend
Scale exists across the business, but never gets consolidated and used commercially.
Buying outside the plan
Agreed suppliers, terms and prices do not always survive everyday project buying.
Consumption & waste
Jobs that should cost the same can consume very different amounts for reasons no price check reveals.
The principle
Better prices matter. But price is the visible symptom. PCI fixes the structure and behaviour underneath it.
Typical buying vs buying with PCI
You can’t control
what you can’t see.
Construction businesses are data rich but intelligence poor. PCI brings the buying that matters into a controlled environment so what was fragmented becomes visible, comparable and actionable.
What PCI actually does
We install the buying capability most businesses never build in-house.
PCI is not a piece of software and it is not a report that lands on a shelf. We combine experienced commercial people, a controlled buying environment and the intelligence created by bringing the two together.
Your team continues to buy and make the decisions. We build and run the structure around them.
Decide what the supply chain should deliver.
We build the buying strategy with you — where to consolidate, compete, renegotiate, widen the supplier base or leave strong relationships alone.
Do the commercial work that rarely gets done.
We negotiate, document and monitor pricing and terms, challenge increases and use your aggregated spend as a stronger commercial position.
Put the strategy into day-to-day purchasing.
Projects, products, suppliers, prices, permissions and approvals sit in one controlled environment instead of across inboxes, calls and spreadsheets.
Run competition without loading the work onto your team.
You provide the specification and keep the decision. We issue, chase and analyse tenders, then put the agreed position into the buying environment.
See what is actually happening across projects.
Spend becomes visible by project, supplier, stage, workstream and product group rather than only through fragmented supplier or finance views.
Turn buying data into better commercial decisions.
Price drift is only the start. The data can expose consumption differences, waste, patterns of behaviour and opportunities to sharpen future estimating.
The infrastructure underneath PCI
One buying environment. Built around your business.
SCOPE is configured to your projects, suppliers, products, pricing and approval structure. It creates the controlled environment where the strategy can actually hold — and the data needed for better intelligence can be captured.
- One order across multiple suppliers. Your team raises what the project needs; lines can be placed with the relevant supplier at the agreed price.
- Visible, pre-agreed pricing. Commercial terms do not have to live in emails, spreadsheets or somebody’s head.
- Project-led ordering. Project lists can be pre-loaded around what was specified and allowed for, or built as requirements arise.
- Configurable permissions. Approval can be open, simple or multi-tiered to match how you already operate.
SCOPE supports PCI’s service. It is not the service itself — we configure it, maintain the commercial position around it and turn the resulting data into action.
SCOPEConfigured for a regional contractor
AG
NEW ORDERRiverside · Plot 24
Awaiting approval
SuperstructurePrimary StructureStructural Timber
ProductSupplierQtyPrice
C24 timber 125 × 47Supplier A42£1.65
P5 T&G flooring 22mmSupplier B18£8.99
WBP plywood 12mmSupplier C12£17.10
One order · 3 suppliers · agreed prices held at point of order
Illustrative SCOPE view · configured around each client
PCI-developed framework
The Universal Construction Profile
Merchant catalogues organise products for merchants. PCI’s Universal Construction Profile organises buying data around the way contractors actually build: Stage → Workstream → Product Group.
That creates a consistent way to compare cost and consumption across projects, house types and stages. It is our default framework, but it can be adapted to the way your business categorises and reports on spend. Your existing finance and estimating structures do not need to be replaced.
StageSuperstructure
WorkstreamPrimary Structure
Product GroupStructural Timber
Built around what already works
Commercial change without ripping your business apart.
PCI is designed to sit alongside your existing operation, not replace it. We do not arrive with a generic system and force the business to reorganise around us.
Buyers, QSs and operational teams keep their roles and decisions. PCI gives them a stronger environment to work within.
Strong relationships are not changed for the sake of change. We keep what is earning its place and expose what is not.
Finance codes and estimating structures can remain as they are. PCI’s categorisation and intelligence layer works alongside them.
Configuration, data, supplier integration and training sit with PCI. Adoption is staged around the shape and pace of your business.
We do the heavy lifting.You stay in control. Your margin stays in the business.
What happens when someone finally looks
The evidence is usually hiding in plain sight.
8–18%
of addressable materials spend has shown as leakage across businesses we have analysed.
Not a promised saving. A reason to investigate your own numbers.Three different prices.
An M&E contractor was buying thousands of the same fitting from the same supplier at three different prices.
25% higher under tender.
A main contractor put a long-standing supplier into competition and found the incumbent more than 25% higher.
Different material cost.
The cause was not price. One plumbing team was using materially more pipe because of how it routed the installation.
Who PCI works best with
It has to be a good fit for us too.
We only take businesses forward where there is enough controllable spend, enough commercial opportunity and the appetite to improve how buying operates.
Typical sweet spot£1m–£3m+of controllable annual spend across materials, plant & equipment and waste.
Around £500k+Can still be a strong fit where spend is concentrated and the evidence shows a worthwhile opportunity. £500k is not an invitation to everyone — the economics and attitude still have to work.
£1m–£3m+Usually where PCI fits especially well: enough scale for leakage and leverage to be material, without the business necessarily having built a dedicated buying function.
Many millionsLarger businesses can fit too where meaningful parts of their buying remain fragmented, decentralised or under-controlled — even when total spend runs into the tens of millions.
Evidence decidesSpend gets our attention. The opportunity and mutual fit decide whether we work together.
A staged route in
Proof and commitment increase together.
Nobody is asked to make a big decision on the strength of a pitch. Each stage is useful in its own right, and there is a clear off-ramp if the evidence does not support the next one.
Explore
Is there something worth looking at?
Start with an indication, a focused conversation and a free Commercial Benchmark using products you actually buy.
No cost · low commitmentDiagnose
Where is value leaking — and why?
A Full Spend Analysis works through twelve months of buying data to establish what is happening, what it is costing and what would change.
Paid analysis · rebated if you proceedOperate
Put the structure in place and keep it working.
PCI works alongside your team with SCOPE, supplier engagement, tendering, strategy, reporting and ongoing intelligence.
Ongoing partnership · supplier fundedStart with evidence, not a sales pitch.A couple of minutes gives you the first indication of what may be leaking.
Use the Margin Leakage CalculatorConstruction people, not a software company
We have been on every side of how construction buying works.
PCI was built from experience of building and scaling construction companies, running procurement operations and supplying the industry at wholesale. Software can organise data. Commercial judgement is what turns it into a better position.
The Ledger
One useful commercial idea, once a week.
A short weekly email for construction leaders on margin, buying, supply chains and the decisions that quietly shape commercial performance.
Introductions & commercial partners
Know any construction businesses that should be looking at this?
We work with selected industry professionals and people with strong construction networks who introduce businesses that may be a good fit for PCI. If someone in your network controls meaningful direct spend and you think the introduction could create real value, talk to us.
See if there is a fit
Is there a meaningful opportunity in your business?
We only move forward where we believe PCI can create significant commercial value. Give us enough context to understand the business and we will come back to you directly.
Already spoken to PCI?Mention who you spoke to and we will pick the conversation up from there.