When Remedial Costs Hit £100k Per Month
Rapid growth was eroding margins through rework. Mandatory evidence and audit loops transformed quality economics.
£100,000
Monthly Remedial Costs
Significant
Reduction in Rework
Margin
Recovery Achieved
The Challenge
A solar installation company was scaling successfully, but quality was drifting. Monthly remedial costs were approaching £100,000-a massive erosion of margin that made growth unsustainable. As the business scaled, informal quality practices that worked at small scale weren't keeping pace with increased volume and team count.
Business Impact
£100,000+ monthly remedial costs destroying profitability at scale. Margin erosion made growth economically unsustainable, customer satisfaction declined, team morale suffered from constant rework, and the company faced difficulty scaling further without a quality foundation.
Who This Affected
Key Pain Points
Quality processes that worked informally broke down at scale
Verbal checklists and spot-checks couldn't maintain standards across growing team count
£100k monthly remedial costs eroding all profitability
Rework costs were growing faster than revenue, making the growth trajectory unsustainable
No mandatory evidence meant late issue discovery
Problems weren't caught until customer complaints arrived, when fixes were most expensive
The Solution
Introduced mandatory evidence requirements in mobile forms, implemented audit queue with 24-hour SLAs, and created remedial dispatch workflow with close-out proof. The system caught quality issues early while fixing them was still cheap and prevented them from becoming expensive customer complaints.
Features Implemented
- ✓Mandatory photo evidence in installation forms (clamps, flashing, isolators)
- ✓24-hour desk audit queue with SLA enforcement
- ✓Exception-based workflow flagging quality issues immediately
- ✓Remedial dispatch with required close-out documentation
- ✓Quality metrics dashboard showing rework trends by team
Implementation Approach
Critical installation steps were configured as mandatory photo fields in mobile forms. Audit team reviewed submissions within 24 hours, flagging issues into remedial queue. Remedial visits required before/after photos proving correction. Dashboard tracked rework rate by team, creating accountability and improvement cycles.
The Results
Significant Reduction
Monthly remedial costs dropped dramatically from £100k peak through proactive quality control
Measurable Margin Recovery
Profitability improved as rework costs fell and quality-driven customer satisfaction rose
Quality at Scale
Maintained consistent quality standards even as installation volume continued to grow
"The cost of the remedials was hitting about £100 grand a month… that was what brought the auditing in originally."
— Operations Director
Why This Story Matters
Business Owner
Why It Matters
£100k monthly remedial costs prove that quality control isn't overhead-it's essential margin protection at scale.
Key Focus
Invest in systematic quality control before growth erodes profitability through rework.
Operations Director
Why It Matters
Proactive 24-hour audits cost pennies compared to reactive customer-driven remedials costing thousands.
Key Focus
Implement mandatory evidence and audit loops to catch issues while fixing them is still cheap.
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