Aztec Labour Management BOS
A bespoke enterprise platform engineered to restore transparency, modernise operations, and demonstrate serious commitment to your client
Prepared by: Cold Lava
Date: 12th December 2025
Re: Custom Business Operating System for Aztec Landscapes Labour Management
Background & Current Position
Aztec's labour model is currently reactive, fragmented, and heavily reliant on agency and sub-contract labour. Recent analysis reveals significant operational challenges:
£600K
Agency Spend
Annual expenditure on agency labour
£557K
Upskill Uplift
Annual uplift passed to Elite due to workforce imbalance
£46K
Monthly Impact
Average monthly uplift cost
The business requires a modern, structured and controlled labour management solution to address these challenges and restore operational efficiency.
Where the Overspend Is Happening
The Core Issue
  • Upskilling primarily occurs when ground workers are upgraded to Exceptionally Skilled roles
  • WhatsApp labour allocation culture encourages mismatched skills in urgent situations
  • Exceptionally Skilled workers represent the highest cost category, now almost half the workforce
  • Groundworkers are heavily underused, creating inefficiency
  • This imbalance creates avoidable uplift of £557k per year
Proposed Solution
Bespoke BOS
Implement a custom Business Operating System tailored to Aztec's requirements via Cold Lava
Labour Manager
Employ a Labour & Compliance Manager to manage the comprehensive system effectively and maintain operational excellence
Labour & Compliance Manager Role
Salary: £70,000
Dual role potential due to BOS efficiencies
A candidate has already been identified who can support labour allocation and business development
Key Responsibilities
  • Manage all labour requests & reallocations
  • Manage rates schedules and prevent upskilling
  • Maintain skills-rate matrix
  • Ensure compliance across all sites
  • Run BOS workflows efficiently
  • Technical/White Collar Recruitment
  • Support directors by managing accreditations (updates/renewals)
  • H&S document control
  • Plant/Tools/PPE management
  • Review & rationalise biometric timesheets
  • Assess outgoing costs and streamline operational procedures
The BOS requires a dedicated Labour & Compliance Manager to manage the comprehensive system effectively and maintain operational excellence.
Recommended Labour & Compliance Manager – Liam Butt
(Full CV available)
Key Qualifications
  • Strong construction background across BD, operations & estimating
  • Experience building large operative databases
  • Labour management for multi-trade environments
  • Skilled in engaging operatives, maintaining labour pools, and rapid fulfilment
  • Experienced with compliance, accreditations & process control
  • Ability to support directors with wider BOS-enabled responsibilities
  • Strong work ethic, capable of dual-role delivery
Cold Lava × Aztec Landscapes
Who We Are
Cold Lava builds bespoke automations, websites, agents and business operating systems that automate and modernise the way organisations operate.
The Collaboration
A focused collaboration where Aztec defines the operational requirements and Cold Lava builds the custom business operating system to meet them.
The result is an exclusive enterprise platform engineered around Aztec's labour model and compliance needs.
Introduction to BOS
The BOS is a fully bespoke operating system built specifically around Aztec's labour challenges, compliance requirements and multi-site operational structure.
It is not a traditional CRM; it is a complete operational platform designed to run labour-heavy environments with speed, accuracy and control.
It's 100% scalable and can become the operating layer for the entire business, streamlining every moving part.

What the BOS Offers
Real-Time Labour Control
  • Centralises all labour allocation
  • Stops upskilling and misallocation
  • Enables central oversight and coordination across multiple live sites
  • Ensures correct trades at correct rates
Compliance Management
  • Digital CSCS, Right-to-Work storage
  • Automatic expiry alerts
  • Reduces risk and supports audits
  • Maintains clean workforce
Automated Communication
  • WhatsApp, SMS and email workflows
  • Instant notifications
  • Removes spreadsheet dependency
  • Streamlined messaging
Advanced System Capabilities
1
Document Capture & Verification
  • Operatives upload and update documents instantly.
  • BOS validates and stores everything centrally
  • Removes manual chasing and admin noise
2
Performance & Reliability Tracking
  • 1–5 rehire scoring system
  • Flags non-conformance including no-shows, conduct, and safety issues.
  • Prioritises high-performing operatives
  • Protects quality on every site.
3
Internal Labour Pool Growth
  • Builds a long-term, searchable labour database
  • Reduces agency usage and associated uplift
  • Strengthens Aztec's resilience and protects margins
AI Capabilities Built In
Over time, Aztec will hold a database stronger than current recruitment agencies.
AI Secretary
AI secretary for operatives supporting both chat and voice interactions
Data Capture
AI data capture from applications and enquiries for instant processing
Job Advertising
AI job advert generation with direct posting to social channels
Applicant Qualification
AI qualification of applicants before reaching the labour manager
Availability Matching
AI-driven availability matching and workflow automation for optimal allocation
Labour Fulfilment Automation Flow
Our intelligent automation platform streamlines the entire labour sourcing process, from initial job request through to confirmed assignment. This end-to-end workflow eliminates manual coordination, reduces time-to-fill, and ensures compliance at every stage.

aztecjobs.coldlava.ai

Work with Aztec Landscapes - Skilled Landscaper Jobs

Join Aztec Landscapes. We're hiring skilled landscapers and groundworkers in London. £170-£200/day, long-term work, CSCS required. Apply now via WhatsApp.

Key System Functions
Workforce Database
Complete workforce database with skills, experience, grading, availability, and comprehensive history tracking
Skills Cards & ID Management
Automated skills card and ID management with expiry tracking and proactive reminders
Automated Onboarding
Streamlined onboarding, right-to-work workflows, and digital sign-off documents
AI Communication
AI-assisted communication via WhatsApp, SMS, and Email for seamless coordination
Job Assignment
Intelligent job assignment with prioritisation by grading, recency, and availability
Performance Tracking
Incident logging, performance scoring, and do-not-rehire flags for quality control
Why It Matters for Aztec
Labour drift, upskilling and fragmented communication currently create significant operational and financial challenges:
£557k Annual Uplift
Yearly uplift cost passed to Elite due to workforce imbalance
£600k Agency Spend
Annual expenditure on external agency labour
Skills Imbalance
Mismatched workforce deployment across multiple sites
Commercial Pressure
Reputational risk and margin erosion
The BOS is designed specifically to solve these challenges, increase control, protect margin and provide the operational foundation Aztec needs to scale confidently. It doesn't replace your business, it becomes the operational layer that supports and standardises how the business runs.
Why This System
Significantly reduces uncontrolled upskilling
Prevents costly skill category drift through systematic allocation
Removes agency dependency
Potentially increases Aztec margins by building internal labour pool
Ensures correct allocation
Right trades at right rates, consistently
Transparent governance
Clear skills and rates management framework
Protects compliance
Automated expiration tracking for skills cards
Builds Elite confidence
Demonstrates controlled costs and professional operations
Current Process vs BOS Labour Allocation
Current System
  • Labour allocated through WhatsApp groups
  • PMs/SMs circulate operatives finishing jobs
  • Pavers/landscapers reassigned to lower-skilled roles due to urgency
  • Creates upskilling drift
  • No visibility, no governance, no rate control
  • High operational noise & inefficiency
  • Agencies or sub-contractors are the natural go-to which costs money
With BOS + Labour Manager
  • PM/SM logs in BOS: "2 Pavers available from X date" OR "Need 2 ground workers"
  • Labour Manager receives notifications from all sites
  • Labour Manager reallocates exactly the right skills
  • Eliminates uplift & mismatched workers
  • Ensures compliance and visibility
  • All communication centralised
  • Creates accountable workflow
  • Manages subcontract and agency rates – only uses if no other option
  • Aztec's own labour database becomes invaluable across all skill levels
Build Time and Technical Delivery
14-16
Weeks Development
Full custom development delivered within 14 to 16 weeks
100%
Secure Infrastructure
Hosted on Cold Lava's secure, insured, global infrastructure
✓
Enterprise Grade
Data stored on globally distributed enterprise-grade systems
∞
Scalable Platform
Built for long-term scalability and future expansion phases

Future Scalability Options: The BOS can expand to manage plant hire, small tools & PPE, health & safety compliance, accreditations, accounts workflows, project documentation, and cost controls. BOS becomes the central operating system for Aztec.
High-level encryption, redundancy, and role-based access ensure security and reliability from day one.
Investment and Ongoing Support
Development Investment
~£55,000
Depending on automation depth, required AI agents and reporting modules
Managed Support - Year 1
£500 per month
Introductory rate providing full £1,000 support service level
  • Hosting, maintenance, updates
  • Monitoring and optimisation
  • Future improvements
Managed Support -Year 2+
£1,000 per month

Standard service levels
  • All Year 1 features included
  • Each new build or module includes a 3-month fix window at no cost
Each new build phase includes a three-month fix period at no cost.
What's Included in Support
Ongoing Services
  • Hosting, maintenance, updates
  • Monitoring and optimisation
  • Future improvements
  • Security patches
  • Bug fixes
  • Feature updates
  • Workflow adjustments
  • Backups
  • Infrastructure monitoring
First 3 Months Coverage
  • All critical bug fixes and system adjustments
  • Performance optimisation and fine-tuning
  • User training and onboarding support
  • Workflow refinement based on real-world usage
  • Priority response times for any issues
Each new build or module includes a 3-month fix window at no cost.
Communication Costs
£0
Email
Unlimited email communication at no additional cost
£0.03
WhatsApp Messaging
Typical AI qualification cost: ~£0.30 per applicant
£0.06
SMS Messaging
Per message for text-based communications
Financial Case & ROI
This project is not positioned as cost-saving, however operational ROI is a natural consequence.
£46K
Current Monthly Uplift Exposure
Current uplift passed to Elite due to misallocation (£557,640 per year)
£120K-£180K
Potential Annual Saving
20–30% reduction in agency dependency alone
£187K
Improved Labour Margin
Annualised benefit of replacing agency labour with in-house operatives (based on approx. 20% of the workforce being labourers)
£40K
Recruitment Fee Savings
Avoided agency fees if Labour Operations Manager fulfils white-collar roles internally
Margin Improvement Strategy
Transforming Labour Costs into Sustainable Profit
Margin Comparison Per Hour
The difference between using agency labour versus in-house labour creates a significant margin opportunity. Let's examine both scenarios side by side.
Current Scenario
Using Agency Labour
Elite Payment
£21.95 per hour received from client
Agency Cost
-£21.00 per hour paid to agency
Aztec's Margin
£0.95/hr ❌
Minimal profitability with current model
Target Scenario
Using In-House Labour
Elite Payment
£21.95 per hour received from client
Worker Cost
-£18.00 per hour paid to worker
Aztec's Margin
£3.95/hr ✅
316% improvement in margin per hour
Annual Impact Analysis
When we scale this margin improvement across 30 labourers working full-time, the financial impact becomes transformational for the business.
£3.00
Additional Margin
Per hour gained by switching to in-house labour
£120
Weekly Improvement
Additional margin per worker per week (40 hours)
£187K
Annual Impact
Total margin improvement across 30 labourers
R&D Claim Eligibility
Eligibility Criteria
Because the BOS is fully bespoke, technologically innovative and not available off the shelf, Aztec may be eligible for R&D tax relief under HMRC guidelines.
This may offset a percentage of your development investment, providing additional value beyond the operational benefits.
Financial Impact
This can offset a significant portion of the development investment, further improving the project ROI and reducing the effective build cost.

Consult with your tax advisor to determine eligibility and potential savings.
Business Continuity & Client Protection
System Ownership, Continuity & Protection
In the event that Cold Lava were no longer operating, Aztec's Business Operating System remains fully protected and accessible.
Code Ownership
Upon completion and handover, Aztec owns its bespoke BOS, including all custom workflows, configurations, and business logic developed specifically for its operation.
Hosting & Infrastructure
The system is hosted on enterprise-grade global cloud infrastructure with automated backups and redundancy ensuring resilience, security, and continuity. Hosting accounts and credentials can be transferred or provisioned to Aztec upon project completion or as part of agreed continuity arrangements.
Access & Control
Aztec retains full administrative access at all times and is not dependent on Cold Lava-exclusive control. The BOS continues to operate as delivered and may be maintained internally or by an appointed third-party provider if required.
Long-Term Support
Comprehensive documentation, system architecture, and access provisions are supplied to enable long-term operation, third-party support, or migration if required, ensuring continuity beyond Cold Lava’s involvement.”
Risk Management, Insurance & Continuity Safeguards
Professional Indemnity Insurance
Cold Lava maintains professional indemnity insurance to protect clients against financial loss arising from system design, implementation, or advisory services, ensuring recourse and protection throughout the engagement.
Cyber & Data Protection Insurance
Insurance coverage is in place to support cyber security, data protection, and operational risk management, reinforcing safeguards around system access, integrations, and hosted services.
Key Person Insurance
Key person insurance is maintained to ensure business continuity in the event of unexpected absence or incapacity of critical personnel, enabling Cold Lava to fund transition, replacement expertise, or structured handover where required.
These insurance measures operate alongside contractual ownership, access rights, and documentation to ensure clients are never dependent on a single individual or supplier.
Client Success Stories
Liverpool Cotton Brokers / Earlam & Partners
Sector: Commodity Brokerage
Build Timeline: 8 weeks
Comprehensive cotton & commodity brokerage tracking, deal management system & accounting. 9 core modules unified in single platform with <2 second dashboard load times, real-time data updates across all exchanges, and 100% multi-exchange price tracking coverage.
Teething Issues: Minor issues with API data feeds and expiry of private tokens. Worked with client to correct some data display issues and comparison metric hallucinations. Ongoing UI tweaks throughout. All initial issues resolved within 3 weeks.
Case study provided
Greenstar Solar
Sector: Renewable Energy & Solar
Build Timeline: 13 weeks
Database Reactivation Platform with automated SMS sales agent + full website build + BOS with location tracking, accounting, document storage + Full Website Redesign. Managing 1000s of leads, 10,000s messages via AI automation, 9+ n8n workflows. 95+ Lighthouse score with 18% reply rate on cold database reactivation.
Teething Issues: Multi view tab switching between datasets errors with combined data displays. Initial connection to internal systems proved problematic with regards to calendar bookings, custom solution built and integrated. Tweaks to AI agent communication style and success metrics. All issues resolved within 4 weeks.
Case study provided
Detail Dynamics UK
Sector: Automotive Detailing & Valeting
Build Timeline: 10 weeks
Complete detailing BOS with custom automation building functionality, drag and drop interactive job cards. 40+ database tables with 6 major third-party integrations (Xero, DVLA, Google Calendar, Twilio, WhatsApp). 10-20x performance improvement via custom PostgreSQL functions. Handling hundreds of jobs monthly with zero downtime.
Teething Issues: Initial calendar sync with google. Mobile vs unit based jobs allocation to client ID confusion. Mobile display required extra work. Issues resolved within 7 days.
Case study provided
Upmarket Hotels & Leisure
Sector: Hospitality
Build Timeline: 8 weeks
45+ database table system built to manage in house and external staffing requirement across 9 restaurants . Major platform integrations to manage rotas, tips and holiday entitlements. (Whatsapp, Calendar, Accounting integrations)
Teething Issues: Minimal issues, communication system changes and document storage upgrades.
Karl Tatler Estate Agents
Sector: Real Estate
Build Timeline: 8 weeks
Client requested NDA
Next Steps
Alignment Confirmation
If this BOS aligns with your operational objectives, Cold Lava will prepare the full technical project scope, including system architecture, data structure mapping, automation framework, compliance workflow design, integration requirements, and phased delivery plan.
Collaboration with Donna
All build specifications will be finalised in collaboration with Donna, leveraging her construction-recruitment background to ensure workforce processes, labour allocation, and operational workflows accurately reflect your real-world requirements.
Technical Consultation
Cold Lava will make the lead developer available to attend any board or stakeholder meetings to answer technical questions and provide detailed system demonstrations.
Implementation Phases
We begin scoping, data extraction, architecture planning and execution phases to deliver Aztec's exclusive labour management solution. This includes comprehensive training and support throughout the deployment process.
Elite Discussion Requirement
As part of addressing the labour imbalance and upskilling drift, it is important to recognise that this is not solely an operational issue but a commercial one. Aztec is prepared to invest heavily in improving labour control through the BOS and a dedicated Labour Operations Manager, but the long-term success of this approach relies on having the right work continuity and client alignment in place. This requires an open discussion with Elite.
Key Points
  • Current upskilling drift is partly a result of Aztec teams protecting good labour and avoiding losing strong operatives to competitor sites as well as relying on agency labour in times of urgent need.
  • Elite is aware that some upskilling has been unavoidable in order to maintain quality and delivery standards.
  • The BOS, supported by a dedicated Labour Operations Manager, will provide full control of labour allocation and eliminate unnecessary upskilling going forward. This will take time and won't be an instant fix.
To maximise the impact of this investment, Aztec will require:
  • Consistent workflow
  • Better forward visibility
  • Greater allocation of work where possible
  • Expansion of scope to stabilise labour continuity
A stable workload enables Aztec to retain skilled operatives and reallocate them correctly across sites rather than risking losing them externally. Aztec will also look to expand its wider client base to increase reallocation options and further protect labour continuity.

Proposal
Aztec commits to implementing the BOS and Labour Operations Manager as a significant operational investment. In return, seek Elite's support in maintaining workload continuity and, where possible, increasing opportunity. Looks to increase business from other clients.