The Open Build · for UK distributors, wholesalers, multi-store retailers and manufacturers

We’ll build one UK supplier an AI order desk or quote desk. Free, in public, measured on your own numbers.

One company gets the whole thing: the diagnostic, the build of one workflow, and three months of us running it, with a report on your KPI every month. Everyone who applies gets a one-page read of their own workflow, whether they win or not.

Apply in five minutes

Applications close Friday 6 November 2026, 5pm UK time

What the winner gets, and gives

A working system on your real orders or quotes, and a public record of what it did to your number.

You get, free

The diagnostic: the division, its number, the baseline and what “done” means, in writing.
The build of one workflow, such as orders arriving by email or PDF turned into checked draft orders in your system, or quote requests turned into draft quotes for your estimator.
Live within six working weeks of starting, then three months of us running it.
A written report on the division’s KPI against its baseline every month.

You give

An owner or director who owns it, and about an hour a week of their time.
Access to the data and systems the workflow needs, under a data processing agreement we sign first.
Permission to publish a weekly build log and the measured result, whatever it is. You approve every post first, and anything commercially sensitive stays private.
Nothing after the three months unless you want to carry on.

How it’s chosen

Four criteria, published here, so you can judge your own chances.

The number
A KPI you already track
Order processing time, order errors, quote turnaround, stock-outs: a number someone reports on now.
Volume and a way in
Enough work, reachable
Around 20 or more orders or quote requests a day by email, PDF or similar, and a system we can draft into.
Commitment
An owner who’ll own it
An owner or director, an hour a week, and happy to publish the result.
Fit
Live in six weeks
A workflow we can honestly get live and measured in the time.

AI helps us read and sort applications against these four. Elad Cohen, who runs Harrowell, makes the shortlist and the final choice after a 30-minute call with each shortlisted company. Shortlist calls by Wednesday 11 November; winner announced by Friday 13 November. If no application meets the criteria, we’ll say so here and not choose a winner.

Apply

Five minutes. Paste one real example and we’ll read it back to you straight away.

Your name

Your roleOwner, managing director or another director

Work email

PhoneOptional, for the shortlist call

Company

Companies House numberOptional

Staff

What you do

The division, and the number it lives byFor example: “Sales office of six. Order processing time, reported weekly.”

How the work arrives, and how muchFor example: “About 60 orders a day: half by email, a third by phone, the rest PDFs from two chains.”

The systems you useERP or accounts package, order system, estimating software

One real example, pasted as it arrivedAn order email or a quote request. Blank out names and prices if you like. We read it back to you on submit.

How did you hear about the Open Build?Optional

I’m an owner or director and can commit the company to an hour a week if we win. If we win, we’re happy for the build log and the measured result to be published, with our approval of each post. I’ve read the terms and the privacy notice.

We’ll build one UK supplier an AI order desk or quote desk. Free, in public, measured on your own numbers.

A working system on your real orders or quotes, and a public record of what it did to your number.

You get, free

You give

Four criteria, published here, so you can judge your own chances.

A KPI you already track

Enough work, reachable

An owner who’ll own it

Live in six weeks

Five minutes. Paste one real example and we’ll read it back to you straight away.