Forge · the platform

The platform we run on. Now yours to run.

Forge is the operations platform every Intelligent Operations engagement delivers on. Built in-house for the way medium UK trade firms run, not adapted from a generic SaaS template. We own the platform, the roadmap and the code. There are two ways in: hire us and we run it on your behalf, or take a founding-customer workspace and run it yourself, your own AI agent driving it, your team holding the keys.

Book a discovery call → Compare the two ways in See how we use it Visit forge-base.com
What it does

Four things, one workspace.

Forge isn't a chatbot bolted onto your CRM. It's an actual workspace, your data, your templates, your project history, your AI tooling, all in one place, structured for the way a real construction project runs.

01 · Workflows

Custom processes: built per client, not per template.

Quoting, invoicing, project tracking, tender intake, application certification: the workflows your business actually runs. Forge holds the structure; AI drafts against it, the MD approves.

02 · Dashboards

Reporting that reflects your business, not vanity metrics.

Margin per project. Pipeline by stage. Application vs certification gap. The numbers your business actually needs: pulled live from Xero, your project data, and the workflows above.

03 · AI tooling

AI doing real, scoped work: operator-supervised.

Tender intake. Invoice coding. Quote chase. Document drafting. Each piece of tooling has a defined job, logs everything it does, and queues drafts for a single human approver. Not "an AI" running your business: specific tools doing specific tasks, under human governance.

04 · Continuity

One place, one source of truth, persistent context.

Replaces the sprawl of half-used project-management apps (Monday, Airtable, Basecamp and similar) and disconnected spreadsheets. Context doesn't reset between months: Forge remembers what your business looks like, so every cycle compounds on the last.

How you access it

Two ways in. By design.

One platform. Run for you, or run by you.

Forge started internal-only. Every workspace configured for the firm that uses it, with an experienced operator on top: designing the workflows, supervising the AI tooling, holding the line. That remains the retainer, and for a stretched MD it is still the best way in. The platform, the operator and the work, one monthly fee. No separate platform invoice, no per-seat pricing, no module unlocks.

We used to say we would only open a direct door when a tenant's own AI agent could read and write a Forge workspace without an operator in the middle. That is now true. You bring your own agent, it connects directly, the workspace holds the structure, and the work lands.

So the second door is open: a founding-customer workspace, configured for your firm. Your data, your templates, your team driving it. We stand it up with you, lay the groundwork, then step back. Founding-customer pricing, a fraction of the retainer, because the work is yours. Compare the two ways in →

Between the doors Start either side and move. Bring it in-house when your team is ready, or step up to the retainer when you want it handled. Nobody gets stranded on the wrong rung.
In the wild

Some of the work Forge runs.

Each piece is scoped tightly, documented, and operator-supervised. None of them try to be the whole business: they each do one job, well.

Construction · live

Tender intake + drafting

Reads incoming tender documents, extracts key requirements, drafts a response shell from the firm's last ten wins, flags gaps the team needs to fill. Operator reviews before send.

Operations · live

Invoice coding

Reads supplier bills (PDF and email), codes them in Xero against the right project, queues for human approval. Strong accuracy on a typical M&E firm's bills, and where it's wrong, the operator catches it before payment.

Solar · live

Handover documentation

O&M manuals, commissioning certs, DNO + MCS submissions all drafted from the proposal plus on-site capture. Output goes out the week the job finishes, not the month after.

Why we built it

Off-the-shelf wasn't cutting it.

By 2024 it was obvious AI could do real work for medium trade firms, but the available tools were either chatbots dressed up, or enterprise platforms costing what a mid-sized M&E contractor makes in a quarter. Neither fit how we needed to deliver.

So we built Forge: a workspace structured the way operations actually work, with AI tooling as first-class citizens. It's what makes a monthly retainer from £2k deliver more than a £15,000 traditional consulting engagement: same operator, same platform, persistent context, work that compounds.

It's not a SaaS product in the venture sense. There's no feature checklist, no enterprise tier, no annual contract. Each Forge workspace is configured specifically for the business that uses it.

The way to see it in action is to talk to us. We will show you what we would build for your firm, and which door fits: run for you on the retainer, or set up as a founding customer and yours to run. Rolling monthly, no minimum term, either way.

Want to see it

Thirty minutes. No pitch. Useful either way.

Tell us what's eating your time. We'll show you whether the way we use Forge fits the problem, or whether something off-the-shelf would do.