Carter Towler

Carter Towler

Carter Towler is the largest independent property management and surveying practice operating in the north of the UK. The firm manages a diverse portfolio of 6,500 properties on behalf of approximately 350 landlord clients.

As a trusted managing agent, Carter Towler provides professional management services across both residential and commercial portfolios. Their responsibilities span routine maintenance, tenant liaison, supplier coordination and statutory compliance obligations.

A central part of the service Carter Towler provides is ensuring that every property in its managed portfolio meets the relevant legal and regulatory requirements. For landlord clients, this assurance is critical. The consequences of falling short are not merely administrative. They can be legal, financial and, in the most serious cases, a matter of safety.

Carter Towler also works closely with Lighthouse, a specialist health and safety consultancy, who carry out compliance audits across the managed portfolio.

Project Background

Carter Towler needed a better way to manage statutory compliance across a large and varied property portfolio.

The compliance team was responsible for tracking a wide range of time-sensitive obligations across both residential and commercial properties. These included gas safety certificates, electrical installation condition reports, fire risk assessments, legionella risk assessments, health and safety audits, asbestos surveys, lift maintenance, fire safety asset maintenance and other statutory inspections.

Each compliance requirement had its own applicable frequency, expiry date and renewal process.

Prior to using Gridfox, Carter Towler relied heavily on spreadsheets to manage this information. Whilst spreadsheets can function adequately at a smaller scale, Carter Towler’s growing portfolio meant that the risks and administrative burden were increasing.

Compliance deadlines were spread across multiple files. Updating records was a manual and time-consuming process. There was no reliable mechanism to ensure that obligations were never overlooked.

The spreadsheet-based approach also made it difficult to share live compliance data with wider stakeholders in a controlled and meaningful way.

Property managers, directors, landlord clients and trusted external consultants all had legitimate needs for compliance information. However, the existing process made it hard to provide role-appropriate access to up-to-date data.

As a result, the compliance team found themselves fielding frequent requests for status updates, manually extracting information and spending valuable time producing reports that were already out of date by the time they were shared.

A further challenge was the handover of audit actions from Lighthouse.

Following each audit, Lighthouse would identify actions that needed to be recorded, tracked and resolved. Without a shared digital system, this process relied on emails and documents. Carter Towler’s team then had to manually re-enter information into internal tracking records.

This introduced unnecessary delay and created a very real risk that actions could be lost, duplicated or overlooked.

Carter Towler required a solution that could centralise compliance data, reduce manual administration, provide live visibility and support structured collaboration between internal teams, clients, consultants and contractors.

The Build

Carter Towler partnered with Gridfox to design and deploy a bespoke compliance management application built on the Gridfox no-code platform.

Rather than adapting working practices to fit a generic off-the-shelf product, Carter Towler were able to model the system precisely around their own data structures, terminology and processes.

The resulting application reflects the real-world complexity of managing a mixed property portfolio on behalf of multiple landlord clients. It connects properties to their landlord owners, organises compliance obligations by test type and renewal frequency, and links every inspection record to its corresponding property, geographical area and responsible manager.

This gives Carter Towler a joined-up, always-current picture of their compliance position.

A Structured, Interconnected Data Model

The Gridfox project built for Carter Towler captures every entity and relationship that matters to their compliance operations.

Properties

Each property record holds key information including the owner, area, region, property type, assigned manager and complete compliance history for that property.

This allows Carter Towler to see every compliance obligation, audit task and contractor relationship associated with a property in one place.

Owners

Owner records represent the landlord clients on whose behalf properties are managed.

Each owner can be assigned a status and contact, giving Carter Towler a structured account management view alongside their operational compliance data.

Areas

Area records provide geographical or management groupings of properties.

These areas can be linked to both properties and approved contractors, helping Carter Towler identify which suppliers operate in which parts of the portfolio.

Clients and Client Directors

The platform also includes records for commercial client relationships and key individuals associated with the portfolio.

This enables Carter Towler to manage account relationships in the same system as the compliance work being delivered for those clients.

Test Types

Test Types form the full library of compliance obligations tracked by Carter Towler.

These include gas safety, EICR, fire risk assessments, legionella assessments and more. Each test type can be configured with its applicable frequency, test group, priority order and whether a fee is required.

Test Groups

Test Groups allow related compliance obligations to be managed and reported on collectively.

This gives the compliance team a structured way to understand categories of obligation across the portfolio.

Frequencies

Frequencies define renewal intervals such as annual, three-yearly and five-yearly requirements.

These frequency records help determine when each obligation falls due, ensuring upcoming compliance deadlines are calculated consistently and accurately.

Audit Tasks

Audit Tasks represent individual compliance actions.

Each task is linked to a specific property, test type and status, with fields for assignee, notes, attachments, dates, duration and fee tracking.

This gives Carter Towler a clear operational view of what needs to be done, who owns it and when it needs to be completed.

Contractors

Contractor records hold details of Carter Towler’s approved supplier network.

Each contractor record can include full contact details, area coverage, SSIP accreditation information and liability insurance details.

This means supplier compliance credentials can be managed alongside the compliance work itself.

Contractor Audit Tasks

Contractor Audit Tasks create a dedicated link between contractors and the audit tasks they are responsible for delivering.

This gives Carter Towler a clear and auditable record of who is doing what and when.

Eliminating Missed Deadlines

At the heart of the solution is a rigorous approach to tracking compliance obligations over time.

Each property has a structured record of every applicable test type, its required frequency, the date of the last inspection and the calculated date by which the next inspection must be completed.

This is driven by the Frequencies and Test Types records within the Gridfox data model, which together determine precisely when each obligation falls due.

Configurable views and dashboards surface upcoming deadlines proactively, giving the compliance team a clear view of what needs to be actioned and when.

The team no longer needs to manually scan spreadsheet date columns to identify upcoming work. Instead, Gridfox presents the right information with sufficient lead time to schedule and complete work before any obligation lapses.

The system has also been configured to provide a weekly email overview of upcoming compliances falling due, helping the team stay on top of obligations across the entire managed portfolio.

Controlled Visibility for Every Stakeholder

One of the most significant improvements delivered by Gridfox is the ability to give different stakeholders precisely the level of access they need, and no more.

Gridfox’s built-in permissions model allows Carter Towler to configure role-based access across every part of the system.

Property managers can access compliance records relevant to their part of the portfolio. Senior colleagues and directors can access broader oversight. Landlord clients can, where appropriate, be given visibility of the compliance status of their own properties.

This reinforces the value Carter Towler delivers as managing agent and gives clients confidence that their obligations are being handled with professionalism and rigour.

This self-service visibility has dramatically reduced the number of ad hoc requests for compliance updates. The compliance team can spend less time producing manual status reports and more time proactively managing compliance.

Seamless Integration with Lighthouse

A particularly valuable feature of the Gridfox implementation is the controlled access granted to Lighthouse, Carter Towler’s trusted health and safety consultancy.

When Lighthouse completes an audit at a managed property, they can log directly into Gridfox and record the actions arising from that audit against the relevant property and test type records.

Each action is captured as an Audit Task within the system, with full details of the issue identified, the action required, the assigned owner and the target completion date.

Audit outcomes now flow directly into the compliance workflow without manual re-keying of data.

Actions are assigned, tracked and resolved within the same system, giving Carter Towler’s team full oversight of every outstanding item. What was previously a slow, email-heavy handover process has become a streamlined, transparent and fully auditable workflow.

Contractor Management and Accreditation

Gridfox also supports Carter Towler’s contractor management processes.

Each approved contractor is held on the system with full contact details, the areas they cover, their SSIP accreditation body and expiry date, and their liability insurance details and expiry date.

This ensures Carter Towler always has visibility of contractor compliance credentials and can readily identify when accreditations or insurance cover are approaching renewal.

Contractors can also be linked directly to audit tasks through the Contractor Audit Tasks relationship. This creates a clear and auditable record of which supplier is responsible for delivering each piece of compliance work.

Return on Investment

The business case for replacing manual compliance management with a structured platform is compelling.

For Carter Towler, the return on investment operates on two distinct levels: the cost of time spent managing compliance inefficiently, and the cost of getting compliance wrong.

The Cost of Manual Compliance Management

Spreadsheet-based compliance management is deceptively expensive.

The visible cost is the time staff spend maintaining records, checking dates and responding to information requests. The hidden cost is the cognitive burden of keeping track of obligations across a complex, growing portfolio, and the risk that something falls through the cracks.

For a firm like Carter Towler, managing compliance obligations across a mixed residential and commercial portfolio, the time investment is substantial.

A compliance manager spending five hours per week on spreadsheet maintenance, date checking and manual reporting equates to over 250 hours per year. At a fully loaded cost of £35 per hour, that represents more than £9,000 in staff time annually before accounting for the cost of errors or missed deadlines.

Audit action processing from Lighthouse visits previously added further overhead. Actions had to be manually extracted from emails and documents, re-entered into internal records and chased for updates. Saving two hours of processing time per audit visit, across a regular audit programme, conservatively represents several thousand pounds per year.

Ad hoc reporting to landlord clients and internal stakeholders also adds up quickly. Each request might take 30 to 60 minutes to compile and send. Across a large portfolio and a busy compliance team, that time becomes a significant operational cost.

Gridfox eliminates or dramatically reduces each of these costs. The system maintains structured records, surfaces deadlines without prompting and gives every stakeholder self-service access to the information they need.

Staff time is redirected from manual administration to higher-value compliance activity.

The Cost of Non-Compliance

The more significant element of the return on investment case is the cost of getting compliance wrong.

UK property legislation is demanding, and the penalties for non-compliance can be severe. A single missed obligation can trigger costs that dwarf the investment in a compliance management platform.

For a managing agent operating across a large portfolio, the risk is not theoretical.

Compliance obligations are numerous, renewal cycles vary and the consequences of a single missed deadline can be severe and immediate.

The question is not whether a compliance management platform represents value for money. It is whether a firm can afford to operate without one.

Return on Investment Summary

The table below summarises the key areas where Gridfox delivers measurable financial value for a firm like Carter Towler.

Figures are indicative and based on conservative assumptions. Actual value will vary depending on portfolio size, staff costs and the specific compliance profile of the properties managed.

Note: The estimated savings above are illustrative and based on conservative assumptions for a mid-sized managing agency. Actual figures will vary based on portfolio size, staff structure and compliance profile. They are intended to support a business case conversation, not to represent a formal financial projection.

Results

Since going live with Gridfox, Carter Towler has seen a step change in its compliance management capability.

The team now has real-time visibility of compliance obligations across the portfolio, with sufficient lead time to act before anything lapses.

Gridfox has replaced a fragmented landscape of spreadsheets and email threads with one structured, searchable and always-current system.

The compliance team no longer spends as much time manually maintaining records, checking dates or distributing spreadsheet data. Instead, upcoming work is surfaced through configurable views, dashboards and email notifications.

This has created a single source of truth for compliance data and given the wider business greater confidence in the accuracy and availability of information.

Landlord clients also benefit from improved transparency. Where appropriate, they can view the compliance status of their properties and see that Carter Towler is managing their obligations diligently.

The collaboration with Lighthouse is now structured and efficient. Audit actions are captured directly in Gridfox and tracked through to resolution within the platform, removing the risk of actions being missed between audit and completion.

Carter Towler also has more robust contractor oversight, with SSIP accreditations and liability insurance expiry dates visible at a glance and linked directly to the compliance work being delivered.

Most importantly, Carter Towler has achieved zero missed compliance deadlines since going live on Gridfox.

Why Gridfox?

Gridfox is a no-code application platform that enables businesses to build bespoke operational tools without writing a single line of code.

Unlike generic property management systems or rigid off-the-shelf software, Gridfox is built around your data, your processes, your terminology and the real-world relationships between your people, properties and obligations.

For property managing agents and landlords, this means a compliance management solution that reflects exactly how the business works and can evolve as the portfolio, team and regulatory environment change.

Whether managing a handful of properties or a large mixed-use portfolio, Gridfox scales with the business.

What Gridfox Delivers

• Build your own data model without compromise
• Control who sees what with flexible role-based permissions
• Give external partners and suppliers controlled, auditable access
• Surface the right information at the right time with configurable dashboards
• Track contractor accreditations and insurance alongside compliance work
• Eliminate manual reporting with live, always-current data
• Scale as your portfolio grows with no rebuilding required
• Build operational systems without an IT department or development resource

Key Features

• Explorer for managing complex property, contractor and compliance relationships
• Role-Based Permissions for secure stakeholder access
• Dashboards for monitoring upcoming compliance deadlines
• Email Notifications for weekly compliance overviews
• Parent-Child Relationships for linking properties, clients, contractors and audit tasks
• External User Access for consultants, suppliers and landlord clients
• Report Exports for efficient compliance reporting
• Contractor records for SSIP accreditations and liability insurance tracking

Ready to Take Control of Your Compliance Data?

If you manage properties on behalf of landlords and want to eliminate the risk of missed compliance obligations, Gridfox can help.

Get in touch with our team to find out how we can build a solution tailored to your business and see for yourself how quickly you could be up and running.