Case Study: How RTB Roofing Switched from Eque2 and Now Runs Its Whole Business on Coreloops

Overview

RTB Roofing switched from Eque2 to Coreloops in spring 2026. Today the team runs job costing, payment applications, variations and Xero accounting in one platform, across more than 80 live projects.

They made the move because Eque2 could not give them what they actually wanted: a clear margin number, job by job, without re-keying every invoice.

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The Challenge

RTB runs more than 80 live jobs at once, from small repairs to projects worth several hundred thousand pounds. The commercial side ran on Eque2's Construction Manager, with Excel and Xero filling the gaps. The result was a lot of re-keying and very little visibility.

Before Coreloops:

• Every invoice was typed in by hand. Supplier invoices were forwarded to the Eque2 pending tray, then each line was copied or retyped. That meant 50 to 70 invoices a week, roughly six to seven hours of work.
• No budget on the system. Jobs went in as a single contract value. In Andy's words: "we literally just input a 10 grand job, nothing else, and then just have a look at the end and see what's what."
• Costs booked in bulk. Even a job with five rooms was booked as one materials line, so cost by roof or plot stayed hidden.
• Reporting went unused. Andy confirmed the cost reporting in Eque2 was difficult to use, so the team did not rely on it.
• Applications lived in Excel. Payment applications were built in a separate spreadsheet, then re-keyed into the purchase ledger. "It's hard work," as Andy put it.
• Variations travelled by email. They were added to the application at month end, and some were historically left out.
• CIS never got set up. The team tried it in Construction Manager, never followed it up, and built CIS worksheets by hand in Xero.
• No stock tracking. Bulk buys of liquid roofing and tiles were booked to one job. "It's always been one job wins and one job loses."

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The Switch

RTB found Coreloops through a new collague, who had used it at a previous firm before joining RTB. Andy saw a full demo in April and compared Coreloops with another platform. Then he made the call: he cancelled the Eque2 contract.

There was no big-bang cutover. Coreloops set up RTB's live projects from their own bills of quantities, connected Xero, and ran a kick-off session with the whole office team. New jobs started in Coreloops from day one. Older jobs finished out in Eque2 while its licence ran down.

By mid-August, about 80% of live projects were in Coreloops, and everyone except one colleague had moved across. Andy's verdict: "It's actually been quite easy, to be fair."

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Reporting That Eque2 Couldn't Give Them

Before the switch, Andy kept his ask simple: "We just get a clear number out of it on a couple of clicks of a button — we care about the margin." RTB couldn't get that from Eque2. They get it from Coreloops.

• Cost against budget, per job. In Eque2, no budget was held on the system and jobs were compared at the end. In Coreloops, the bill of quantities is imported and mapped to cost codes (labour, materials, plant and access, prelims), and forecast against actual updates as invoices are approved.
• Cost by roof or plot. In Eque2, invoice lines were booked in bulk to one materials line. In Coreloops, tags show cost by roof, house or plot.
• Margin on a job. In Eque2, it was pulled together by hand in Excel. In Coreloops, it's live per job in a couple of clicks.
• Payment applications. In Eque2, they were built in a separate spreadsheet and re-keyed. In Coreloops, they're raised in the platform, exported for the client to certify, then re-imported, and sales invoices are raised straight from the application.
• Variations. In Eque2, they went by email and were added at month end. In Coreloops, they're logged against the project with a status, next to the application.
• Overspend. In Eque2, it was spotted after the invoice arrived. In Coreloops, the budget impact shows when the purchase order is raised.
• A simple job list for non-finance users. Eque2 offered job number, address, value and project manager. Coreloops offers configurable views: a plain job-by-job list for project managers, and margin and forecast for management.

The last point matters. A clear job-by-job list was the one thing Andy liked about Eque2's Construction Manager. Coreloops matches it, then goes further: an all-projects overview with forecast value, forecast budget and actual cost for every live job.

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One Platform for the Whole Business

RTB no longer splits its work across Eque2, Excel and Xero. The whole team works in the same system, and every new job starts there.

• Accounts: Supplier invoices arrive by email or WhatsApp. Coreloops reads them, matches them to the job by address or PO number, suggests cost codes, and syncs them to Xero. RTB's workload is around 600 documents a month: purchase invoices, purchase orders and labour invoices.
• Contracts: Andy runs applications and variations in one place, and raises sales invoices straight from the application. "That's made life a little bit easier rather than having to double up on everything."
• Project managers: Purchase orders are raised from supplier quotes inside the job, and the budget impact shows before the order goes out.
• CIS and labour: Subcontractor invoices are split into labour and materials and sent to Xero against the right CIS codes. RTB never got CIS working in Eque2.

RTB's feedback has shaped the product too. Job numbering, domestic reverse charge VAT on sales invoices, retention handling on invoices raised from payment applications and CIS verification have all come out of working with Andy and the team.

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The Bigger Picture

"We were using Construction Manager, but we were still taking figures from the platform into Excel by hand and trying to keep up with certifications across different accounts. It was hard work. With Coreloops, client applications and supplier invoices are read in automatically, and I can see the margin on each job in a couple of clicks without the re-keying. This saves me a good 3–5 hours each week vs putting these reports together in Excel." Andy Cramp, Construction Director - RTB Roofing

"When a team has to re-key every invoice, the reports always arrive late. Get the data in once, automatically, and the margin is there when you need it." Gabriel Makinwa, Founder & CEO - Coreloops

For RTB, Coreloops has replaced Eque2 as the place where costs, contracts and margin live.

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Results

Invoice entry in Eque2 - 50–70 purchase invoices a week keyed by hand, roughly six to seven hours

Reporting time saved - 3–5 hours a week compared with building reports in Excel

Margin visibility - Per job, in a couple of clicks

Live projects - 80-plus, with every new job started in Coreloops

Workload - Around 600 documents a month

Accounting - Two-way Xero sync, with CIS handled

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RTB Roofing is a roofing contractor based in Essex, delivering flat roofing, metal roofing, cladding and residential development work.