StairCon is a powerful, yet intuitive, software package that offers staircase manufacturers the ability to draw, design, and create photo-realistic presentations of staircases at the touch of a button. The concept is not new – there are several other products that offer designers and manufacturers similar options, some of which have been established in the UK market for years. So why is it that Consultec UK is making a success story in an already well-established market?
StairCon already boasted a 65% share of the Scandinavian market when Eleco plc purchased the rights to the software in 2003. Since then StairCon has made significant inroads into the US and Benelux countries and will soon move into Poland where a new distributor agreement is imminent. Popular in the UK, StairCon has a 10% share of the home market.
Flexible control
StairCon has a number of advocates among CNC manufacturers, including SCM, which manufactures and supplies CNC routers in the UK. When SCM sells its machines to the joinery and staircase industry, it promotes StairCon due to its flexibility in controlling the different CNC machines it offers. Other CNC machinery manufacturers with which the StairCon team has linked the software are CMS and Masterwood, with Reichenbacher soon to follow.
In an already established market sector, what factors have contributed to Consultec’s success, and why has the market embraced a relative latecomer to the staircase design space?
Consultec which is part of the Eleco group which has a technology-driven approach to construction, has designed its StairCon software with usability in mind. It is a Windows-based application – a familiar environment that makes operation instinctive. Designers do not need to spend valuable time learning new operating packages before work can begin.
Tailored product
Consultec has also made StairCon extremely flexible and, due to its high level of customer communication, is able to tailor the product to specific client needs. This enables the company to offer StairCon as a bespoke solution – an attribute that persuaded Devon Woodworks to switch to StairCon. Alistair Magor of Devon Woodworks said: “StairCon is much more flexible than other, similar software packages. It is extremely easy to use, being Windows-based, and Consultec has adjusted the software to our specific needs, which is invaluable as our trade customers have such a wide variation in their requirements and specifications.”
Lee Miller, managing director of staircase manufacturer Belfield Joinery Ltd, said it was StairCon’s flexibility that made it stand out from the pack. “Most of the companies we spoke to simply showed us what their software could do, but Consultec were more concerned with using StairCon as the foundation for a solution that met our exact needs,” said Mr Miller.
“For example, in a three-storey house, the two staircases are usually positioned on top of each other, sharing the same stairwell to make the best use of space. StairCon was the only package that would allow us to design and visualise both staircases in one screen. Other packages we saw required each staircase to be designed as an entirely separate structure. It may seem like a small thing, but when you’re designing staircases every day of the week, it can make a big difference.”
StairCon users can select from a library of predefined designs or create their own stair layouts from scratch, with a little help from the package’s comprehensive store of macros. Designs can then be easily modified, viewed in 3D and rotated to give the customer a photo-realistic image of the finished product.
The ability to show customers their ‘dream staircase’ in 3D before it is even built can play an important role in accelerating the sales cycle.
Estimates and quotations
Production estimates and quotations, along with detailed production information, can be readily obtained and add to StairCon’s functionality and ease of use. Drawings can be exported into AutoCAD (dxf-format) and to o2c, the Eleco application which then allows for highly compressed files to be viewed by anyone via the web or by e-mail using StairCon’s Export module. Because errors can be identified and corrected during the design phase, the software helps to improve the quality of the final product.
In a rapidly changing construction environment, where efficiency, speed and accuracy are paramount in meeting new targets to increase production levels, software such as StairCon is assisting by enabling companies to design and produce products quickly, effectively and to tight specifications. And we believe that companies that listen to customers’ needs and translate them into usable software packages will see the fastest growth and lead the construction industry forward through innovative technology developments.
