Lakehouse LogoFormed in 1988 and headquartered in Essex, Lakehouse is a successful construction company specialising in internal and external refurbishment, cyclical redecorations, design and build, and interior fit out. Lakehouse’s work focuses on the social housing, education, community and healthcare sectors across London and the South of England.

The company has grown significantly since its inception and with a workforce of more than 250 staff, turnover for 2008/09 will be around £70 million, an increase of around 40% on the previous year, and is projected to be circa £100 million for 2009/10. Lakehouse has an enviable reputation for delivering a quality product, on time and on budget, and was winner of the ‘SME Contractor of the Year Award’ at the Contract Journal Construction Industry Awards, 2008.

Lakehouse had identified several drivers for purchasing a new financial and contract management system. Ken Power, Lakehouse’s Organisational Development Director, says “Firstly, the company was using several disparate systems - Sage MMS, Sage Construct, Sage Payroll, inhouse bespoke systems and Excel. We decided that to support the planned future growth of the business we needed one integrated solution to avoid having separate islands of data. Secondly, we wanted a highly configurable and fully integrated solution that comprised CRM/Sales Pipeline, Estimating, Procurement, Plant Management, Subcontractor Management, Contract and Commercial Management, Finance and Payroll functions.”

Alan Cox, Lakehouse’s Financial Director, continues, “ We needed a system that was easy to use with a familiar Microsoft look and feel for easy adoption by our end users. Lastly, we needed the ability to retrieve data easily to facilitate the provision of timely and accurate management information. We also needed a solution that supported the increasingly demanding needs of our clients.” 

Sage Construction was able to offer a solution to meet all of these needs and Lakehouse chose Sage ERP EVision from a shortlist of software vendors following an extensive evaluation process. As well as meeting their requirements, Lakehouse liked the fact Sage ERP EVision has Microsoft Dynamics™ NAV at its core - backed by Microsoft’s extensive research and development in the Dynamics area means that the integration to Microsoft Office and other Microsoft products will continue to strengthen in future versions of Microsoft Dynamics NAV.

For more information about Lakehouse, visit www.lakehouse.uk.com