BL Harbert International uses CloudScaff in live operations worldwide to manage scaffolding and formwork inventory. Two accounts, connected through CloudScaff’s branch feature, give each equipment operation its own records while allowing authorised users to switch between them.
The need began with a practical challenge: material could leave one international project and move directly to the next, often without returning to Birmingham, Alabama. Hubert “Tip” Tipton, Senior Construction Manager, wanted a clearer view of what each project held, what remained in a warehouse and what had been issued to the field.
BL Harbert’s public project map shows work across the Americas, Europe, Africa and Asia. That geographic breadth gives context to the inventory challenge: equipment records need to remain useful as material passes between widely separated teams.
| BL Harbert International at a glance | CloudScaff use |
|---|---|
| Operating reach | Live use across worldwide operations |
| Inventory scope | Scaffolding and formwork |
| Account structure | Two accounts linked through the branch feature |
| Access | Branch switching for authorised users; branch-specific visibility for other team members |
| Spokesperson | Hubert “Tip” Tipton, Senior Construction Manager |
A record that needed to travel with the material
At the first call, Tip described a process built around Excel spreadsheets, packing lists and shipping and receiving records. Those documents provided information when material left one site and arrived at another, but the team needed a more connected view of the inventory between those events.
BL Harbert’s operating model made that continuity important. Formwork was company-owned equipment used internally. It could pass through several projects over its working life, with each project’s warehouse responsible for shipping and receiving it.
The team wanted the accountability associated with issuing and returning equipment, without treating every internal movement as a rental invoice. It also wanted a focused inventory system for formwork alongside its wider purchasing processes.
The starting task was to establish the quantities each project actually held. From there, the team needed a repeatable way to keep the record current as the material moved.
Separate scaffolding and formwork accounts
BL Harbert now uses one account for scaffolding and another for formwork. The branch feature connects the two, allowing users with the appropriate access to switch between those operations.
For team members who only need one branch, visibility stays within that branch’s data. Someone assigned solely to scaffolding sees the scaffolding operation; someone assigned solely to formwork sees the formwork operation. Users responsible for both can move between the accounts.
This makes access part of the operating structure. BL Harbert can manage both equipment categories in CloudScaff while giving each team a workspace that reflects its responsibilities. Wider oversight does not require every user to see both sets of records.
Giving every project the same component list
BL Harbert wanted head office to define a common inventory catalogue. Project teams would work from that list and confirm the quantities they held, using consistent component codes and descriptions.
This addressed a practical concern raised during the calls: different people could describe the same component differently. A shared list would give warehouse teams recognisable items to select and give the office a consistent basis for reviewing stock across locations.
The initial inventory spreadsheet was imported into CloudScaff and reviewed during the setup sessions. The team then worked through how to distribute that catalogue across the warehouse locations and validate opening quantities before relying on the balances for ongoing work.
That distinction mattered. Having a component list in the software was one step; confirming the quantities at each location was another. BL Harbert’s rollout discussions treated both as necessary parts of establishing a useful inventory record.
Separating warehouse stock from material in use
Each international project had a local inventory process. Material could sit in the project warehouse, be issued to the field, return to that warehouse and eventually move to a different project.
The team therefore needed two levels of visibility. Locally, a warehouse manager needed to understand the material under that location’s control. At head office, the team needed to review inventory across projects and distinguish stock in storage from stock already in use.
The setup sessions explored how warehouse locations and sites should represent that structure in CloudScaff. The aim was to make the software’s records match the way BL Harbert managed its equipment, with movements between storage and field use reflected in the inventory history.
This gave the training a specific focus. The team worked through its own warehouse-to-site and project-to-project scenarios, checking that the resulting balances and records made sense for its operation.
Keeping local actions and central decisions connected
Permissions were another part of the design. The team wanted people at each project to carry out the tasks relevant to their location while retaining head-office control over wider allocation decisions.
A request for material could require a decision about where it should come from. Equipment listed at another project might already be needed there. The office therefore wanted to review requests and determine how to fulfil them, rather than assuming every visible component was available to move.
Within a project, warehouse and field responsibilities needed to remain clear. The calls covered issuing material, checking quantities on receipt and recording movements back to storage. Roles and permissions were reviewed alongside these workflows so that access could reflect the job each person was expected to do.
The broader purpose was a shared record with clear responsibility: local teams recording their work, and the office able to review the information needed for decisions across projects.
Testing the movements before a wider rollout
BL Harbert took a staged approach to learning the system. Office users worked with the imported inventory, training materials and movement scenarios before extending the process to project teams.
By the July call, Tip reported that he and Marcus Lyons had worked through transfers between sites, movements involving Birmingham, warehouse-to-site activity, deliveries and returns. Describing that testing, he said:
“Returning material, deliveries, transfers, everything works great.”
Hubert “Tip” Tipton, Senior Construction Manager, BL Harbert International
The feedback described those workflow tests during implementation. The team was still working through opening-stock questions at that point. BL Harbert has since moved into live use across its worldwide operations, covering both scaffolding and formwork.
Connecting deliveries with container shipments
The July discussion also explored how an overall material request could be fulfilled as equipment was loaded into shipping containers. The team reviewed split deliveries as a way to keep the full requirement visible while recording the portions dispatched.
Marcus described using the complete formwork requirement for a job as the request, then processing deliveries as loads were prepared. Container references could help the receiving warehouse connect the shipment arriving on site with the corresponding transaction in CloudScaff.
For the logistics team, the useful questions were concrete: what had been shipped, what was still outstanding and which record should the receiving team complete? The discussion connected the inventory workflow to the shipping process the teams already used.
From separate records to worldwide use
| Starting point | CloudScaff approach |
|---|---|
| Excel files and separate shipping and receiving records | Shared component records connected to inventory movements |
| A need to distinguish project warehouse stock from field use | Warehouse and site structures reviewed against BL Harbert’s operating model |
| Allocation decisions spanning several projects | Requests and permissions designed around local responsibilities and head-office oversight |
| Shipments moving directly between projects | Delivery, return and transfer scenarios tested by the team |
| Initial focus on formwork inventory | Live scaffolding and formwork use through two linked accounts with branch-specific access |
The result is an inventory setup used across BL Harbert’s worldwide operations, with scaffolding and formwork managed separately and connected through controlled branch access. The implementation began with the detail of material movements: warehouse stock, field use, returns and onward shipment.
Those everyday movements explain the value of the wider structure. Local teams need records that match their work, while users with broader responsibilities need access across the relevant operations. CloudScaff’s account and permission model supports both within BL Harbert’s global equipment management process.
Based on four evaluation and implementation call transcripts and subsequent confirmation of current worldwide use and branch access, supplied by CloudScaff’s Byron Wood in October 2026. The quotation concerns workflow testing during implementation. BL Harbert’s public project map provides geographic context; it is not a count of live CloudScaff sites.