N2N Autos
A marketing website became a connected garage platform, from tablet check-in and vehicle lookup to invoices, payment tracking and accountant exports.
The project
Starting with a logo and a reference website, I designed and built N2N Autos' public presence. When the owner returned with a reporting problem, I shaped a garage operations platform connecting customer check-in, jobs, invoicing, payments and accountant exports.
N2N Autos is an independent garage in Northampton, offering vehicle repairs, servicing and used car sales.
What I worked on
- Product Strategy & Technical Advisory
- Website & Experience Design
- Full-Stack Product Build
- Tablet Check-in & Vehicle Lookup
- Garage Operations & Invoicing
- Reporting & Workflow Automation
It started with a logo and a reference.
The owner came to me with a logo, a website he liked and a straightforward request: could I build something like it for his garage? N2N Autos already had the business and the expertise. My job was to give that work a clear, credible presence online. I used the reference to understand his expectations, then shaped an experience around the garage itself.
A digital front door worth building on.
I designed and built the marketing website, bringing services, vehicle listings and enquiries into one mobile-friendly experience. Behind it, I gave the team control over their content and stock, and set up their domain and professional email. The owner was pleased with the result, and the site established a visual standard we could build on.
The next brief came from the day-to-day work.
A few weeks later, the owner returned with a different problem. Preparing information for his accountant meant manually pulling figures together in spreadsheets. I looked beyond the final report to the work that produced it: recording customers and vehicles, managing jobs, raising invoices and tracking payments. The opportunity was to connect those steps so reporting could come from the work itself.
Make check-in useful beyond the front desk.
I built a customer-facing check-in experience for the garage tablet. Customers enter their registration, confirm their details and select the services they need. A DVLA-connected lookup brings vehicle information into the form, with MOT and tax details shown where available and a way to correct or enter details manually. Saving the form links the customer, vehicle and visit to the garage's jobs board, giving the team a consistent starting point without retyping the same information.
Run the job and billing in one place.
The staff portal brings customer records, vehicles and jobs together. The team can turn a check-in into a draft invoice, review the work and prices, then issue it and record payments against it. Paid amounts and outstanding balances stay with the invoice. I built this as an installable progressive web app, with a separate customer check-in surface so the tablet experience stays focused on arrival while billing remains with the team.
Send the invoice from the same place.
Once an invoice is ready, the team can send the customer a branded email with the invoice PDF directly from the portal. The system handles generating the document, attaching it and recording the send, rather than asking the owner to download a file and compose a separate email. Print and PDF download remain available too. It is a small part of the journey, but it connects the garage's internal work to a professional customer experience.
The accountant's report starts with everyday work.
The owner can choose a date range and export billing records as CSV files, including invoice totals, payment information and VAT breakdowns. The spreadsheet exercise that prompted the second brief no longer needs to be rebuilt by hand: the information is drawn from the records created while running the garage. The accountant still does the accounting; the product gives them a structured starting point.
A website earned the next conversation.
This project shows what I mean by product building. I started with the immediate brief, listened when a deeper problem emerged and brought design, technical advice and implementation together to solve it. N2N Autos now has more than a marketing website: it has a connected workflow from customer arrival to accountant export. The relationship grew because the work kept responding to what the business actually needed.
A few more ideas, brought to life.
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