Why choose Intact? →
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With Dena Frljak, Senior ERP Consultant and Simon McCarthy, Principal Consultant and COE Lead
Every day is the same...
“What’s in stock?”
“Has that gone out yet?”
“Can you send me the latest numbers?”
By lunchtime, you’ve walked around the yard twice, double-checked a handful of orders, and had three conversations that go along the lines of, “Hang on, let me check…”
Not because people aren’t doing their jobs, because no one’s completely sure what the system’s telling them.
In this blog, Dena and Simon share five frustrations they hear from timber merchants and how the right timber inventory software can make your everyday operations simpler, faster, and less stressful.
The five frustrations:
1. “We never really know what we’ve got in stock.”
Dena: We see this a lot. You’ve got timber on the ground, a system in the office, but nobody’s quite sure what’s actually available. Multi-site businesses have it even worse - most don’t have full visibility across their branches. One site might have stock that another doesn’t even know about!
So what happens? You hedge your quotes, or double-handle stock or just put up with delays. Either your business suffers or your customers do.
Simon: It’s frightening how much paper still moves around in some businesses. Legacy systems that haven’t been updated for 15 - 20 years mean people just don’t trust what’s on screen. Real timber inventory software removes all that.
Fix it with: A timber inventory software system gives you a live, shared view of your stock across all branches - broken down by grade, length, treatment, or pack. Sales can check availability instantly, purchasing sees reorder levels, and the warehouse knows exactly what needs picking. No more "let me ring the other yard" delays.
Real results: “Before, I couldn’t tell if we had 12ft of mahogany in stock, all I could tell you is that we had mahogany. Now I can tell you what lengths we have it in and what widths, across both premises.” - Michael Dowling, Strahan Timber
“It’s the visibility of everything through the system that’s been crucial for us. Having all that data at the click of a finger means the team always knows what’s available.” - Stuart Newman, Managing Director, Setra Wood Products
2. “We’re always entering the same info twice.”
Simon: The work is getting done, but it’s getting done twice. When systems don’t talk to each other, every department keeps their own version of the truth.
Dena: There’s still so much manual work: rebate tracking on spreadsheets, invoice matching by hand, people checking figures line by line. Once it’s automated, that’s hours freed up every week.
Fix it with: Automation that does the work for you. Order data flows automatically from quote to invoice to delivery, so teams spend less time re-entering information and more time getting jobs out the door.
Real results: “The speed of picking has improved. People are doing different things now because they have the time. We see the information instantly and know exactly what we need to do.”- Gavin Brett, Operations Manager, Brett Supplies
3. “Deliveries are chaos.”
Dena: When your deliveries are planned on whiteboards or in spreadsheets, the day quickly becomes disorganised. Orders change, drivers ring in for updates, and the warehouse is constantly trying to keep things straight.
Simon: We see a lot of teams stuck reacting rather than planning. Everyone’s busy but no one’s really sure what’s gone out or what’s still waiting. It eats up time and adds stress to every job.
Fix it with: GenetiQ’s Transport Scheduler brings everything together in one place: sales orders, picking notes, and deliveries. You can plan full routes, assign loads, and track what’s left the yard, all from a single live schedule. Everyone, from sales to drivers, sees the same information, which means fewer delays, less confusion, and smoother days all round.
Real results: At Strahan Timber, handwritten dockets used to mean orders could take up to two hours to process. Once their POS and stock system were connected, that dropped: “Orders that once took up to two hours to process now take less than a minute.”
“We see the information we need instantly rather than having to run reports, and it’s brought a lot of time savers across the business.” - Gavin Brett, Operations Manager, Brett Supplies
4. “Our prices never quite match our costs.”
Simon: We often see people pricing from purchase cost alone. But by the time you add freight, duty, and handling, that £/€15 item is really £/€19. Without full visibility, you’re guessing, and you lose margin without knowing it.
Dena: When we show them the real landed cost at line level, the penny drops. Sell right, not more!
Fix it with: Landed cost tracking that adds freight, duty, and handling straight to each product. No surprises, no guesswork - just clear, accurate margins from day one.
Real results: Strahan’s accountants now have all the reporting they need to see what’s working and what’s not, something their old system couldn’t deliver: “Our accountants now have all the reports and information they need.”
“The system can adapt to our way of working rather than forcing us to change our processes. That control lets us keep a much closer eye on margins.” - David Berry, Managing Director, C&W Berry Ltd.
5. “None of our systems talk to each other.”
Simon: The biggest challenge we see is multiple systems that don’t communicate, sales in one place, inventory in another, and accounts somewhere else. Reporting becomes a minefield.
Dena: For businesses that have grown through acquisitions, it’s even worse because every branch has its own setup. They just want one clear view of the whole company.
Fix it with: A single connected system for stock, purchasing, and sales, so data moves smoothly between teams, and small issues don’t snowball into big ones.
Real results: “We’d always been a paper-heavy business, juggling spreadsheets and manual workarounds. Now everything’s in one place, and the team has the control they need day to day.” - Stuart Newman, Managing Director, Setra Wood Products
“What stood out for us was Intact’s ability to seamlessly manage and share information. It’s flexible, open, and gives us the confidence that everyone’s working from the same picture.” - Oliver Sherborne, Director, Sydenhams
In a nutshell, timber inventory software means less frustrations, more control
Dena: Every timber business we work with is busy - no one’s sitting still! But if you’re catching up more than you’re planning, that’s the sign something needs to change.
Simon: And the fix isn’t complicated. It’s just about visibility, flow, and trust in the numbers. Once that’s there, the rest of the operation starts to breathe again.
Dena: That’s right, and timber inventory software definitely isn’t about implementing tech for tech’s sake. It’s about people finally being able to do their jobs properly.
If this sounds familiar, you’re not on your own. Most timber businesses are dealing with the same problems. The good news is that they can be fixed; it just starts with getting better visibility of what’s really going on.
Key takeaways
The five bottlenecks: stock uncertainty, hidden manual effort, missed landed costs, unreliable ETAs, and low data confidence, appear in almost every timber business we visit. The solution isn't ripping everything out, it's plugging the gaps one by one with purpose-built timber inventory software that gives you visibility, automation, and trust in your numbers.
We’ve helped timber businesses of all sizes modernise their operations without disrupting what makes them great. A quick conversation with one of our timber specialists could help you spot where the biggest wins are hiding. See how we work and it might just make your day to day a little bit easier!