Kevin Oakley

How Raw Fire doubled their revenue and team size with Uptick

Since 2017, Raw Fire has been providing leading quality fire and security services. As their Bristol-based operation grew, so did the challenges of staying organised—managing schedules, paperwork, and ensuring the team had the right information at the right time.

By August 2023, directors Paul Williams, Harvey Russell, and Kevin Oakley knew it was time for a change. That’s when they decided to switch to Uptick's job management software.

Fast forward less than two years, and Raw Fire has doubled both its revenue and team size.

Here's how Uptick helped them get there.

One system for everything

Kevin Oakley paints a vivid picture of the company's operations before Uptick:

“It was hectic. We were juggling Google Calendars for scheduling, Excel spreadsheets for tracking costs, and Google Drive for storing information. Everything was disjointed, and nothing was centralised."

Kevin Oakley, Director.

After implementing Uptick, everything changed. They suddenly had a single, streamlined system that kept their entire operation in sync.

With everything in one place, Raw Fire’s team could focus on what they do best—delivering leading quality fire and security services without getting bogged down by admin work.

Growing the team

When Raw Fire first adopted Uptick, they had seven engineers and no admin staff. Two years later, they now have grown to a team of 15 while maintaining an efficient 5:1 engineer-to-office staff ratio.

“When we started, we had seven staff and no admin team. The engineers were doing everything behind the scenes to keep things running. Now we’ve got two full-time office staff handling Uptick—inputting assets, running reports—so the engineers can focus on their job and being in front of the customer.” — Kevin Oakley

Kevin Oakley, Director.

Raw Fire has been able to grow at a healthy ratio of engineers to support staff, ensuring smooth operations without unnecessary overhead.

Empowering their engineers

For Raw Fire’s engineers, Uptick’s mobile app has been a game-changer.

“The app is brilliant. Everything’s in one place—it tells you where to go, what time to be there, and who to speak to. The productivity is far superior to what we were doing before.”

Paul Williams, director

It also have reduced the constant back-and-forth between engineers and management.

“Before, all the information was in our [directors] heads. If the engineers had questions, they had to ask us. But with Uptick, everything is in the system. The internal notes and technician notes answer most of their questions before they even need to ask.” — Kevin Oakley.

Kevin says this has allowed the directors to take a step back on the day to day and focus on revenue generating tasks.

 That allows us to step away from the day to day operations, and then look at future revenue generation. That's been huge for us. It's something we've never managed to grasp. We've never managed to get to that position before Uptick.

Kevin Oakley, director

Faster quotes, happier customers

Before Uptick, quoting jobs at Raw Fire was a slow and frustrating process.

Executive Assistant, Maya Trueman, explains, "It used to take two to three days to put a quote together. We had to use Excel, get supplier quotes, and manually piece everything together."

Now, that same process takes as little as two hours.

"Two hours is the longest it takes us now to send a quote. It’s so much faster."

Maya Trueman, Executive Assistant.

This streamlined process has not only built trust with customers but also made it much easier for them to approve work and fully understand the value of Raw Fire's services.

Support that goes the extra mile

For Raw Fire, choosing the right software wasn’t just about the features—it was about having a product support team that had their back. From the start, Kevin says Uptick’s customer service stood out, making the onboarding process smooth and offering ongoing support that made the transition easy.

“Uptick's support is second to none. We email a question, and within 10–15 minutes, we get a response. One time, I asked for help, and 18 minutes later, I had a 17-minute video showing me exactly what to do. The level of detail was unbelievable.”

Kevin Oakley, director

Kevin says this kind of responsiveness and care gave Raw Fire full confidence in their decision to switch to Uptick. Whether it was a quick question or an in-depth walkthrough, the team always knew they could rely on expert support.

Thinking about switching to Uptick? Here’s Kevin’s advice.

Making a big change can feel overwhelming, but for Kevin, switching to Uptick was a no-brainer.

“People think it’s going to be painful to switch systems, but change is necessary if you want to grow. If you want to double your revenue and double your team, you’re not going to do it unless you move to something like Uptick.”

Kevin Oakley, director.

Raw Fire’s journey is proof that with the right tools, scaling a business doesn’t have to be chaotic. Uptick has streamlined their operations, improved customer service, and given them the foundation to keep growing—without the growing pains.

Ready to see what Uptick can do for your business?

If you’re looking for a smarter way to run your fire and security operations, it’s time to take a closer look at Uptick.