A site office without internet is a site office standing still. Northern Star provides IT support for construction companies across the UK, covering head office, project offices and live sites.
We have supported growing businesses for more than sixteen years. We act as part of your team rather than a supplier hiding behind a ticket reference.
Support that moves with the job
Construction IT is not one office with one server. It is a head office, a design team, a fleet of tablets and a cabin that has to be live within days of mobilisation.
We build for that pattern rather than a template, and when a bigger decision comes up, our IT consulting team helps you weigh it up properly.
What our IT support for construction companies covers
Site setup and connectivity
New sites rarely have a fixed line waiting. We deploy 4G and 5G routers, switches, outdoor access points and cabling so a cabin has secure Wi-Fi from day one.
When the project completes, the kit comes back, gets refurbished and goes out to the next site.
CAD, BIM and large drawing files
We support AutoCAD, Revit, Navisworks, Bluebeam and Autodesk Construction Cloud, and we size storage, bandwidth and workstations around model files rather than spreadsheets.
Sync failures between site and office are diagnosed properly instead of blamed on the software.
Devices that survive a site
Standard laptops do not last long in a wet cabin. We procure and manage rugged tablets, laptops and phones, enrolled, encrypted and wiped remotely if one goes missing.
Starters and leavers are handled the same way, so a subcontractor’s access ends when their engagement does.
Cyber security and payment fraud
Contractors move large sums through long supply chains, which makes them a standing target for invoice redirection and mandate fraud.
We layer endpoint detection, multi factor authentication, monitoring and staff awareness training, then help you evidence it all for Cyber Essentials and tender questionnaires.
Telephony and communications
VoIP, mobile and Teams calling are set up so a call to head office reaches someone whether they are at a desk, in a van or halfway up a scaffold.
Backup and continuity
Backups are encrypted, held separately and tested. Losing a month of drawings mid build is not a recoverable position by hand.
Document control and collaboration
Drawings, RFIs, variations and O&M manuals need version control that people actually trust.
We configure secure remote access, managed devices and Microsoft 365 so a surveyor on site and a QS in head office are looking at the same current file.
Why contractors choose Northern Star
Our client satisfaction score sits at 95.4 across recent reviews, from sixty five responses in ninety days.
Clients stay because mobilisations are handled quietly, account managers know the projects rather than the ticket, and international coverage means an overseas site is supported under the same agreement.
Fixed monthly pricing keeps budgets predictable, and we support organisations from five to two hundred and fifty users.
How we take over your IT
We start with a review of devices, accounts, project software, security posture and supplier contracts. From there we agree a sequence of fixes and deploy them in stages.
Protection such as email security goes on early, because payment fraud costs contractors more than any other single incident. Onboarding usually completes within two to four weeks, planned around your mobilisation dates.
Speak to Northern Star
Tell us where technology is holding up your projects and we will tell you honestly what needs fixing first. Book a call with an experienced engineer, not a sales script.
Frequently asked questions
Can IT support for construction companies cover temporary sites with no fixed broadband?
Yes, and this is usually the most urgent part of any mobilisation. Very few new sites have a fixed line available when the cabin arrives, and a leased line can take months to install.
Northern Star deploys a self contained kit instead: a 4G or 5G router with a suitable data plan, a managed switch, indoor and outdoor wireless access points, and the cabling needed to link them, configured before it leaves us so it works when it is plugged in.
Where signal is poor we can add external antennas or point to point wireless from a nearby site. If the project runs long enough to justify a fixed line, we order it in parallel and switch over once it is live, so the site is never waiting on a circuit.
Does Northern Star support CAD and BIM software such as Revit and AutoCAD?
Yes. Design tools are where general providers most often fall short, because they treat a Revit model like an ordinary document. Our engineers support AutoCAD, Revit, Navisworks, Bluebeam, SketchUp and Autodesk Construction Cloud, along with the common project management and document control platforms that sit around them.
Practically, that means sizing workstations for the models your team actually opens, configuring storage and network bandwidth for large file transfers, and setting up local caching or synchronisation so a designer is not waiting several minutes for a file to open.
We also manage the relationship with your software vendors, logging cases and chasing progress on your behalf. Where a workflow is slow rather than broken, we will tell you which part of the chain is causing it.
How much does IT support for construction companies cost in the UK?
Pricing is normally per user per month, so it scales with headcount rather than with how many faults occur. Most UK construction businesses budget somewhere between thirty five and sixty pounds per user per month for fully managed cover, with the figure depending on how many sites you run, whether you still have on premises servers, the security tier you need and whether out of hours cover is required.
Site connectivity kit and rugged devices are usually quoted separately, either purchased outright or rented per project, which spreads the cost across the job rather than the year. Fixed monthly pricing removes any incentive for a provider to leave faults unresolved. Northern Star reviews your current setup and contracts before quoting, since consolidating existing lines and licences often funds part of the work.
Why are construction companies targeted by cyber criminals, and how does IT support help?
Construction is targeted for a commercial reason rather than a technical one. Contractors move large sums through long supply chains, with dozens of subcontractor invoices in flight at any time, so an intercepted email that changes bank details on a genuine invoice can succeed without anyone noticing until payment is due.
Project data is also valuable, since tender pricing and drawings have obvious worth to competitors. The controls that matter most are therefore practical: multi factor authentication on every account, email filtering that flags impersonation of directors and suppliers, a documented process for verifying any change of bank details by phone rather than email, and training so site and finance teams recognise the pattern. Tested backups cover the remaining risk, which is ransomware taking a project offline mid build.
Can Northern Star help us achieve Cyber Essentials for tenders?
Yes, and it is increasingly a commercial requirement rather than a nice to have. Cyber Essentials is now mandatory for many government and public sector construction contracts, and main contractors regularly ask subcontractors to hold it before awarding work.
Northern Star puts the underlying controls in place first, covering firewall configuration, secure settings, user access control, malware protection and patch management, then helps you gather the evidence each question requires and supports you through the assessment.
The same groundwork answers most of what appears in a tender security questionnaire or a supply chain audit, including joiner and leaver process, backup and recovery, and incident response. Having documented answers ready tends to shorten prequalification noticeably.
What happens when a project finishes or a new site opens?
Project work is cyclical, and your IT costs should follow the same shape rather than sitting flat. When a site completes, we demobilise the connectivity and hardware, wipe and refurbish the devices, and hold them ready for the next mobilisation, so you are not buying the same kit twice.
Data from the project is archived properly rather than left on a laptop in a store cupboard. When a new site opens, we work from your programme dates, so the cabin is connected and the team is logged in on the first morning rather than the second week. Head office user numbers can be adjusted monthly as project teams grow and shrink, which keeps the monthly cost honest across the year.
