Case study · Construction
Tier 1 contractor (NDA)
Multi-site CDM site safety signage
Framework agreement supplying CDM-compliant site safety signage to a UK Tier 1 contractor across 18 active construction projects in the Midlands. Hoarding, site safety boards, traffic management, and welfare signage.
18
Active sites
24h
Standard-kit despatch
£0
Invoice reconciliation overhead
40%
Lead time reduction
The challenge
A Tier 1 construction contractor with 18 active sites across the Midlands wanted to consolidate signage supply. Sites were ordering ad-hoc from multiple local suppliers with inconsistent quality, varying turnaround times, and no central record of what was deployed where. Senior management wanted a single framework supplier with consistent specification, faster lead times, and consolidated invoicing.
What we did
Framework agreement with site-specific kits. Standard kit specification covering hoarding signage, site safety boards (multi-message at every entry), traffic management, welfare facility identification, and CDM-mandated noticeboards. Each site can order the standard kit plus any site-specific bespoke additions through a single contact. Centralised account with a named project manager handling all 18 sites.
The contractor is a UK Tier 1 with 18 active construction projects in the Midlands at any given time, ranging from £5m residential schemes through to £80m mixed-use developments.
The brief
Site managers were ordering signage ad-hoc from local suppliers, generating: inconsistent specification (different fonts, colours, materials across the contractor's sites), variable lead times (sometimes 5 days, sometimes 3 weeks), complicated invoicing (dozens of small invoices to reconcile each month), and no central record of what signage was deployed where, which became a problem at site closeout and CDM file compilation.
What we did
Framework agreement covering: a standard kit specification for new site setup (hoarding signage, multi-message site safety boards, traffic management, welfare signage, CDM noticeboards) that can be ordered against a single SKU with site name and address as variables. A named account manager for the contractor handling all 18 sites. 24-hour despatch for standard-kit items. Consolidated monthly invoicing. A central register of what is deployed at each site, drawn from order records: useful for CDM file compilation at site closeout.
For bespoke site-specific signage (project-specific brand boards, neighbour-relations signage, particular hazard warnings) the same framework with bespoke production at 3-5 working day lead time.
The outcome
Lead times for new-site setup compressed by ~40% (from order to install). Site manager time saved on supplier coordination. Invoice reconciliation overhead substantially reduced: finance team now processes one consolidated invoice per month rather than dozens of individual ones. The contractor has extended the framework to a second region.
"The signage problem isn't the cost of the signs. It's the cost of the coordination. Direct Signs took the coordination cost off our site managers."
Procurement Director
UK Tier 1 contractor (NDA)
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