Martin Adams has been running Durham Tees Care for over 12 years, building a business that’s as much about compassion as it is about coordination. Based in the UK, the company provides homecare, specialist care services, and support for those looking to start their own care businesses through franchising.
It’s a sector that demands high standards, strict compliance, and a personal touch—and behind all that, there’s a mountain of admin to manage. From staffing and scheduling to client relationships and internal projects, Martin’s team was juggling it all with a patchwork of CRMs, spreadsheets, and manual processes.
We were using different CRMs for different parts of the business, plus a mix of spreadsheets and manual work. It was messy.
Martin AdamsOwner of Durham Tees Care
What he needed wasn’t just more software—it was one platform that could hold the business together behind the scenes, without making daily operations more complicated than they already are.
Why Flowlu?
Before landing on Flowlu, Martin and his team had looked at other solutions. But most either didn’t do everything they needed or came with a price tag that didn’t make sense—especially in a highly competitive, low-margin industry like healthcare.
Then came Flowlu via a marketplace website. It ticked enough boxes to give it a real try:
Broad feature set
Flexibility across different areas of the business
Affordable enough to make the switch feel worth it
We needed something flexible, all-in-one, and cost-effective. Flowlu fit the bill better than anything else we tried.
Martin AdamsOwner of Durham Tees Care
Getting the whole team on board took time. As Martin puts it, some staff were hesitant because switching systems is always tough.
They’re still rolling it out gradually, but even with partial adoption, they’ve started to see small wins in productivity.
We’re slowly starting to understand what it can do. The potential is there—it’s just taking time.
Martin AdamsOwner of Durham Tees Care
What They’re Using (So Far)
Even without full adoption, a few Flowlu tools are already part of Durham Tees Care’s daily workflow—and they’re starting to make life easier:
Sales Pipelines & Contacts – Keeps client and franchisee relationships organized. Each lead or contact gets its own space, so nothing slips through the cracks and the team can track deals from first contact to close.
Project Workflows – Helps manage internal initiatives and business development. They can map out every step of a project, assign responsibilities, and keep tabs on what’s moving (and what’s not).
Task Tracking – Keeps everyone on the same page. Tasks are easy to assign, follow up on, and prioritize—so fewer things fall off the radar, even on the busiest days.
Team Chat – A handy way to cut down on email clutter. Quick messages, updates, and follow-ups happen in real time, without the dreaded inbox overload.
Dashboards & Reports – For a quick snapshot of how things are going. Whether it’s sales, tasks, or project progress, the team can get the big picture without digging through spreadsheets.
While Flowlu’s finance module isn’t a fit for UK compliance just yet, Martin sees that as more of a "not yet" than a dealbreaker. For now, he’s sticking with Sage for accounting, but he’s hopeful that future updates will close that gap.
The business is also heavily regulated by both central and local government, which has created a few bumps along the way. Adapting any platform in such a tightly controlled environment takes extra care—and a bit of patience.
His goal is to bring as much of our operation into Flowlu as possible. Once a few more pieces fall into place, he thinks that the rest of the team will get on board.
The Bottom Line
Flowlu isn’t a magic switch—but for a complex business like Durham Tees Care, it’s helping to slowly bring everything under one roof. It’s flexible and affordable enough to build on.
Martin’s ultimate goal is a simpler, more streamlined business that doesn’t rely on a patchwork of tools to keep things running. Flowlu is helping him get there—step by step.
