Meet Guymer Bailey Architects, a multidisciplinary architecture and landscape firm based in Australia. Grounded in a love of design and the intersection between architecture, landscape, and interior design, they've spent 36 years building some of the most meaningful spaces, and an equally strong business to back it up.
Their specialisation in education, social housing, and justice sectors, demands top-notch quality. Not just in what they build, but in how they manage it: accurate reporting at every stage, clarity in expenditure, and project information tailored to each client's specific needs.
Today, with a team of 70 and still growing, GB-A is proof that operational and creative excellence can go hand in hand.
How do you scale without data?
Like many architecture firms, GB-A is no stranger to the growing pains of running a project-heavy business. Unclear visibility into where each project stood, delays in invoicing, and workflows that couldn't keep up with an expanding team. These are the kinds of blind spots that make profitability hard to see and achieve.
With 36 years in the industry, they'd learned a thing or two about building spectacular infrastructure. The next challenge was applying that same rigour to managing the business.
They focused on the areas holding them back:
- Unclear and delayed invoicing that created gaps in cash flow and client trust
- Insufficient adaptability to the specific needs of each project
- Internal processes that added friction instead of removing it
Time To Growth With Intention
In 2015, GB-A introduced WorkflowMAX as their Job Profitability OS to handle their end-to-end operations, and they haven't looked back.
Over the past decade, they've been able to refine how they work across four core areas:
Reporting:
WorkflowMAX's built-in reporting gives the team real-time visibility into time already spent, as well as forward-looking insight into client expenditure and resourcing. When they need something more specific, third-party integrations extend those capabilities further. Project leads and directors alike can track profitability from start to finish.Invoicing:
Recent updates to WorkflowMAX's invoicing have been a change between day and night. The ability to create fully tailored invoice formats means every client gets exactly the level of detail their project demands, no more, no less. That clarity has strengthened client relationships and tightened the billing process across the board.Customisation: No two projects at GB-A are the same, and WorkflowMAX flexes to match. Whether it's custom reporting views or adapted workflows, the platform gives the team the adaptability they need without adding complexity.Customisation:
No two projects at GB-A are the same, and WorkflowMAX flexes to match. Whether it's custom reporting views or adapted workflows, the platform gives the team the adaptability they need without adding complexity.Integration:
The Xero integration in particular has made a tangible difference for GB-A's accounting team. Financial data flows seamlessly between platforms, eliminating double-handling and giving the finance side of the business the same clarity that project teams rely on every day.
A Partnership Built to Last
Ten years is a long time in any industry. For GB-A and WorkflowMAX, it's been a decade of shared growth.
What started as a solution to specific operational pain points has become something deeper: a platform so embedded in GB-A's daily rhythms that the team barely has to think about it. It's just how work gets done.
That adoption extends to new hires, too. Talent in all teams is getting up to speed on WorkflowMAX is fast, and the depth of what the platform can do reveals itself over time.
“When team members join us here at Guymer Bailey, it’s really quick for people to get on board with WorkflowMAX and understand initially the basic functions and then go across all the details that it allows us to achieve.”
Kavan Applegate
Director at GB-A
And as for what's next? Even if GB-A were to double in size over the coming years, WorkflowMAX is built to scale right alongside them.
