Thirty-five years in construction taught me a simple truth:
The Universal Construction Hub gives a lean team the control of a full one — roles, programme, money and early warnings in one connected system, built in the software your business already owns: Excel.
Watch the 60-second film See pricesWhen drawings are signed off before work starts, when the programme respects real lead-in times, when orders carry a clear scope, when payment notices land on time — jobs flow. Teams pull together. The best-run jobs all have that in common.
But that level of control usually needs a full project team — planners, QS, document control, commercial — covering every role. The bigger firms can carry that. The smaller developer and the growing contractor often can't.
And the software sold to fill the gap? Too often it's the other way round — the business ends up adapting itself around the licence it bought, while subcontractors who were never properly trained in it simply don't update it. So the tool that promised one truth quietly becomes another silo.
Fifty-five linked tabs — programme, registers, roles, money and reporting driven by formulas, not copy-paste. No new logins. Works offline on site.
Every role knows what it owns. Site, commercial, design and management feed one live Dashboard — populated daily by your teams.
It runs in Excel — software your team and your subcontractors already know. No training mountain. No per-seat fees forever. Your data stays yours.
And to be clear: the Hub isn't a spreadsheet you download. It's a fully linked system — engineered from three and a half decades of real project experience, built bespoke around your business. Your business shapes the system, never the other way round.
Everything the Hub contains and how it works, on one page: the pipeline, all 15 roles, the 56 tabs, permissions, the filing system, the daily information loop, and the optional AI layer. Transparency is the product — tap the map to open it full size.
The Hub drives; the drive stores. A numbered 49-folder structure lands ready-made on your shared drive — 01 The Hub through to handover — so every document your project produces has one home. The Hub logs and links; the folders hold the copies. Registers stay the truth.
Permissions come with it: your inner team sees everything, and each subcontractor is shared only their folders — consultants and subcontractors join free on their own accounts, no per-seat cost.
One habit protects everything: a dated copy of the Hub into folder 01 at the end of each week. Structured, connected, AI-ready — and the full two-minute guide ships in every pack.
The filing map — folders, permissions, and how the Hub logs & links every file. Tap to open full size.
Everything the operator needs, on one page — so the system explains itself. The pattern behind all of it: file the document, log the line — the Dashboard does the rest.
1 · FILE IT
Every document into its numbered folder on your shared drive.
2 · LOG THE LINE
Each role, their own workbook — a date in, a tick when done. Ten seconds a job.
3 · IT READS ITSELF
The Dashboard pulls every workbook live. Nobody types the reports.
4 · ACT ON RED
Early warnings flag while there’s time — every flag gets an owner and a date.
5 · FRIDAY COPY
A dated copy of the Hub into folder 01 — last week is always safe.
Where does each document go? The folder-by-folder pattern lives in the filing system card above.
HIDE, NEVER DELETE
Inside the Hub, the Dashboard’s formulas reach into every tab — deleting one breaks them. Right-click → Hide; unhide any time.
THE PASTE RULE
Enter or paste VALUES into input cells only — never paste tabs, rows or formula blocks into the Hub, never over shaded formula cells. Copying FROM the Hub is always safe.
PACKS RUN ALONGSIDE
Packs are separate workbooks with zero formula links to the Hub — add or remove any time; results go into the Hub’s normal input cells.
KEEP FILE NAMES AS DELIVERED
The folder structure and the Friday-copy habit rely on names staying put. Rename nothing you didn’t create.
Still unsure on anything? The full Operating Guide ships with every Hub — and a walkthrough on your own project takes twenty minutes.
One pipeline carries the whole project — the same five stages you saw in the film, from first enquiry to final account:
Your teams keep it honest — site diaries, registers, orders as they happen.
The Dashboard reads every workbook the moment it changes.
One-sheet progress reports, built by the system, not by Sunday night.
Cost and value reconciled from the same live numbers the job runs on.
Flagged while there's still time to act — and dealt with, head on.
One minute, start to finish. The full film plays at the top of the page.
Every Monday and every month-end, these pages already exist — built from the same lines the team entered through the week. Who did what, where the job is, what's flagged — and the CVR reconciled from live numbers, not a comfortable version.
WEEKLY PROGRESS — reviewed at Site Coordination, client-ready. Tap to open.
MONTHLY + CVR — cost and value from the same live numbers. Tap to open.
HOW THEY'RE PRODUCED
They build themselves — formulas read every workbook live. A named person reviews and issues; nobody assembles anything on a Friday afternoon.
WHERE THEY'RE KEPT
The live report tabs stay in the Hub — always current. Issued copies are saved as PDF into the shared drive, so every week's position is on record.
HUMAN — AND AI IF ASKED
Level 1 agents draft the written commentary each Friday; a named human approves every word. Or run fully manual — the pages build either way.
The core Hub never changes by development type — a QS is a QS on a housing scheme or a hospital. What changes is the pack list: each add-on is self-contained and verified, so it bolts on or comes off without breaking anything else — packs are separate workbooks, not tabs. Inside the Hub itself the rule is different: role workbooks you don't need are hidden, never deleted — the guide that ships with every Hub explains why. New packs are added periodically — the catalogue grows as the system does.
Answer them once in Get In Touch — they become your Hub, your programme, your filing system.
Delivered to your inbox within one working day. No portals, no per-seat fees — files you own, in the tool you already run.
Questions before you order? tony@dcms.uk — a person answers, not a ticket queue. Thirty-five years on site behind every reply, within one working day.
And a promise: no mailing lists, ever. You hear from DCMS when you ask to — that's it.
A register you run that the Hub doesn't have? A report your client insists on? DCMS builds custom workbooks into your system — linked to the Dashboard, in your format, to any requirement.
Describe it in an email — quoted within one working day, delivered live.
Packs are separate workbooks — so bolting one on later never touches your Hub. Email what you need · it arrives within one working day · save it into folder 01, next to your Hub file · open, and go. Packs run alongside the Hub, not inside it — results go into the Hub’s normal input cells, so the Dashboard stays live and nothing can collide.
Nothing inside your Hub changes and no links break — just keep file names as delivered. Same door out: remove a pack any time by deleting its file.
LEVEL 0 · NO AI — £0. Everything on this page works without it. Always will.
LEVEL 1 · THE AGENT LAYER — £75/project/mo. Site voice agent (memo → draft diary rows) · report agent (drafts Weekly + CVR commentary) · early-warning agent (scans registers daily). Month to month, cancel anytime.
LEVEL 2 · ROLE ASSISTANTS — bespoke, quoted. No QS, Design or Contracts Manager on staff? Agents draft the valuations, chase the RFIs, watch the clauses — your named person (or external professional) approves. Quoted within one working day.
LEVEL 3 · IN DEVELOPMENT. Role Agent packs and the portfolio agent — announced periodically.
AND BEYOND · THE HUB AS SOFTWARE. Every tab, rule and report is a proven, working specification — verified on real jobs. When your firm is ready for a bespoke platform of its own, the Hub is the software-ready blueprint it’s built from. Quoted per build.
THE RULE AT EVERY LEVEL: agents draft and flag — named humans approve. Every entry audit-logged. Your data stays in your files. No lock-in at any level.
Enterprise platforms charge a percentage of your turnover, every year — and hide the number until the sales call. DCMS charges for a build. Once.
| Typical platform subscription | The Universal Construction Hub | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost over 3 years | £4,680+ (from £130/month, one seat, before VAT) | £1,250 once — whole company, unlimited projects |
| New logins & training | Every user, every subcontractor | None — it's Excel; they already know it |
| Your data lives | In their cloud, on their platform | In your files, on your drive — works offline on site |
| Who adapts to whom | Your business adapts around the licence | The system is built around your business |
| When you stop paying | Access ends | The Hub is yours — it keeps running |
The Hub, bolt-on packs, the 49-folder filing system and guides. Per company, unlimited projects, 12 months of updates.
Order Self-BuildYour entire system — Hub, filing, permissions, your logo — built around your business in 5–10 working days, handed over running on your own live project.
What it is, plainly: template updates as they're released · your next project's Hub spun up for you · one quarterly review call, booked when it suits you · email answers within one working day.
What it never is: no mailing lists, no sales calls, no lock-in. It's month to month — cancel any month, and the Hub stays yours forever.
Add aftercareYour cloud stays yours: Microsoft 365 for the inner team runs ~£15–25/month on your own account — consultants and subcontractors join free.
DCMS was founded by Tony Dolan — thirty-five years in construction, from the tools to senior management, across new build, high-rise, fit-out, planned works and conversion. For twenty of those years he ran his own construction business, so he's stood on both sides of the contract and knows the pitfalls, the wins and the losses first-hand — and exactly where jobs bleed money when information lives in fourteen different places.
Recent projects tell the range: a 1920s former primary school in the Birkenhead Park Conservation Area, converted to 47 apartments, and a former BHS department store in Southport town centre, converted to 30. The Hub is everything those years taught him — built into one workbook, so the next firm doesn't have to learn it the hard way.
Heritage buildings, live town-centre sites, phased handovers — projects where information discipline is the difference between a good week and a bad month. Every tab in the Hub exists because one of those weeks demanded it.
The Hub is structured data from day one — named roles, defined processes, one source of truth. That's exactly the foundation AI needs. The roadmap: voice-note site updates written straight into the system, agents that draft the weekly report from the live registers, and early-warning detection that reads the job the way an experienced contracts manager does.
Working smarter with what you have — structured and ready for the AI that's reshaping how project teams communicate.
THE FILING SYSTEM — INCLUDED
49 folders land ready-made on your shared drive. The Hub logs and links; the drive stores. Subcontractors see only theirs — externals join free. Every file has a home, AI-ready from day one.
See the filing mapTAILORING — HIDE, NEVER DELETE
The Dashboard reads every workbook, so role tabs you don't need are hidden, never deleted — deleting breaks the live links. Right-click the tab → Hide; unhide any time. Bolt-on packs are different: separate files, add or remove freely.
RUNNING IT — WEEK ONE
Enter the project once — it flows everywhere. The team ticks daily: ten seconds a job. Monday morning: programme and money, client-ready. And every Friday, a dated copy of the Hub into folder 01 — last week is always safe.
LAUNCHING ON LINKEDIN · TUESDAY 28 JULY · WITH THE 60-SECOND FILM
Answer what you know — this goes straight to my inbox and becomes the start of your build. Prefer paper? Download the full intake questionnaire and email it back.
Opens your email app with everything filled in — nothing is stored on this site.
Tony Dolan · Founder
Thirty-five years on site, from the tools up.
🌐 dcms.uk.com
A twenty-minute walkthrough on your own project costs nothing — bring your drawings and your dates, leave with the programme your answers would build.
Not ready for the full Hub? Start with one tool: toolbox talk packs · RAMS review checklist · COSHH assessment · permit-to-work set · plant & materials registers. Priced £4.99–£9.99 each. Email tony@dcms.uk with the template you need — paid link and file back the same day.
Construction Phase Plan (CPP) — from £295. Drafted from your project details, CDM-shaped, issued for you to review and sign off as duty-holder. Traffic Management Plan — from £195. Same process: your site, your logo, your signature. Consultants charge double and take a fortnight — email the job details and it starts today.
1. The product. DCMS products are digital Excel workbooks and documents, delivered by download link or email after payment. Delivery of the link is delivery of the product.
2. Business sale. Products and services are sold to businesses and construction professionals for use in their trade.
3. Refunds. Because products are digital and delivered instantly, orders cannot be cancelled and payments are not refundable once the product has been sent or downloaded — except where the product is faulty or not as described, in which case we will fix it or refund as the law requires. Where a purchase is made as a consumer, you consent to immediate delivery and acknowledge that you lose the 14-day cancellation right under the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013 on delivery.
4. Licence. One company, unlimited projects, unlimited internal copies. No resale, redistribution, sharing outside your company, or adaptation for resale. Intellectual property remains with DCMS.
5. Services. Built-For-You installs, programme builds, CPP and TMP drafting are quoted per job and delivered for your review; your written sign-off is acceptance. You remain the duty-holder for statutory plans.
6. Support. Guides are included with every product; ongoing support is provided under the aftercare plan where purchased.
7. Liability. Our total liability for any claim is capped at the price you paid. Nothing in these terms excludes liability that cannot lawfully be excluded.
8. Law. These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales. Questions: tony@dcms.uk.
