Made for the site, not just the office
Site managers fill in reports on a phone, often with gloves on and a weak signal. Big buttons, photos, ticks and offline drafts matter more than a long feature list.
Works on site
Construction and manufacturing software systems
Manage projects, schedules and stock in one system your site and office teams share
On many sites the schedule lives in one spreadsheet, the stock in another and the day’s progress in a chat group. The office finds out about problems a day late. We build systems where site reports, schedules, materials and documents sit in one record for each job, shared by site managers, the warehouse and the office. You can start with the process that causes the most delays, without replacing your ERP.
- Site reports with photos and checklists, from a phone
- Schedules that move when the site reports progress
- Stock and material movements in one place
- Drawings and instructions always in the current version
Why it works.
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01 -
02 One record for each job
The schedule, materials, photos, defects and documents for a job sit together. Nobody has to ask which spreadsheet is the current one.
Shared job records
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03 Problems seen the same day
Delays, missing materials and defects reach the office on the evening they happen, not at the Friday meeting.
Same-day overview
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04 Start where the delays are
Daily site reports, material requests or defect lists can each be a first version. You don’t have to replace your ERP or accounting system to fix one of them.
Practical scope
From the site to the office in one day.
A typical day once the system is in place. The site manager spends a few minutes on a phone, and the office gets the rest without chasing anyone.
- The site manager opens the job Today’s tasks, drawings and planned materials for the site or the workshop
- Photos and a checklist Work done, hours, defects and missing materials, ticked off on a phone
- Rules check the report A missing safety item or a task behind schedule is flagged automatically
- AI drafts the summary Voice notes and photos become a short report for the client or management
- Schedule and stock update Progress moves the plan, used materials come off stock, reorders are suggested
- The office sees the day Delays, defects and orders in one view, the same evening
What we’ve learned.
From the projects we’ve built in this area.
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01 If the report takes ten minutes, nobody fills it in.
The site report is the part most systems get wrong. Nobody types paragraphs at the end of a shift. We design the form with the people who fill it in during the first week, using photos, ticks, a few numbers and an optional voice note. Everything else can be worked out in the office.
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02 Decide which system holds the truth.
Before building, agree where job costs, the schedule and stock levels really live. If your ERP keeps the costs, the new system should read them from there, not keep a second copy. These projects go wrong when two systems both think they are right.
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03 AI helps with paperwork, not with the plan.
AI is good at turning voice notes into reports, reading delivery notes and supplier invoices, and answering questions such as “which jobs are waiting for windows?”. It is not good at scheduling a site. Sequencing crews and machines is a job for clear rules and an experienced planner.
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04 Offline is not optional.
Basements, new builds and factory halls often have poor signal. The app has to save drafts on the phone and send them when the connection returns. Otherwise people go back to paper, and the office goes back to phoning around.
What we can build.
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Site and field work
- Daily site reports with photos, hours and checklists
- Defect and snag lists with photos and owners
- Safety and handover checklists
- Offline drafts that send when the signal returns
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Planning and projects
- Job schedules and crew planning
- Tasks with owners and deadlines
- Progress against plan for every job
- Subcontractor and supplier details per job
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Materials and production
- Stock levels and material movements
- Material requests from site to warehouse
- Production orders and job cards for the workshop
- Delivery notes matched to orders
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Documents, reports and AI
- Drawings and instructions in their current version
- Client and management reports built from site data
- AI summaries of voice notes and site photos
- Delivery notes and invoices read into the system
Spreadsheets, construction SaaS or a custom system?
All three are reasonable choices. It depends on how standard your process is and how many systems need to work together.
| Spreadsheets and chat groups | Construction SaaS | Custom system | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost to start | None | Monthly fee | From €5k, one-off |
| Works on site from a phone | Partly | Yes | Yes |
| Follows how your crews actually work | Partly | Partly | Yes |
| Connects to your ERP or accounting | No | Partly | Yes |
| Stock and production in the same record | No | Partly | Yes |
| Time to get going | Today | Days to weeks | 6 weeks–3 months |
Projects like this.
What we’ve built for clients in this field.
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Operations platform Treva
Lift construction operations platform · Europe
The problem
The company needed one place for project planning, delivery, shared know-how and warehouse coordination.
What we built
- Project management tools
- Planning and scheduling
- Internal wiki and knowledge base
- Warehouse workflows
What changed: Project planning, internal instructions and warehouse work brought together in one system.
How the first version comes together.
A typical timeline. We confirm yours after the project workshop.
- 1
Day 1
30-minute callYou describe the process that causes the most delays. You leave with what we’d build first and a rough price.
- 2
Week 1
Project workshopWe map the process with site managers, the warehouse and the office, then agree a fixed price before any build starts.
- 3
From week 2
Build in 2-week stagesA working demo every week. Site managers try the app on a real job early, while changes are still cheap.
- 4
Launch
One site firstWe start with one site or one crew, fix what gets in the way, then roll out. You own the code, the repositories and the accounts.
- 5
+3 months
Free bug fixesThen optional monthly support, or the next process on your list.
Case studies.
Systems we’ve built that are close to this one.
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Managing construction projects
A construction project platform combining progress dashboards, assigned tasks, documents and team collaboration.
Read the case study -
Interactive floor plan builder
Platform that allows users to create floor plans for their passive homes.
Read the case study -
Charlie: Ask questions about construction data
An AI assistant that answers questions about building permits and contractors using current database records.
Read the case study
Further reading.
- How to find the first AI use cases worth building A four-step method to find AI use cases in your company: list repetitive work, estimate the hours, check risk and data, then score and pick one or two. Read the article
- AI document processing for invoices, contracts and forms How AI reads invoices, contracts and forms, how rules catch its mistakes, what to leave to a person, and how to test accuracy on your own documents. Read the article
Questions people ask.
Is this for smaller contractors and manufacturers too?
Yes. Most teams we work with are small or mid-sized, with a few crews or one workshop and more jobs than their spreadsheets can follow. A first version can cover a single process, such as daily site reports, so the cost stays in proportion.
Can it replace our Excel schedules?
Yes, and that is one of the most common starting points. We import your current sheets, keep the columns your team relies on and add what a spreadsheet does badly. That means a phone view for the site, a history of changes and alerts when a job slips.
Will site managers actually use it?
Only if it is faster than what they do now. We design the site screens with them in the first week and test them on a real job early. Photos, ticks and voice notes beat typing, and the app keeps working when the signal drops.
Can it connect to our ERP, accounting or planning software?
Usually yes, through the software’s API, a database connection or regular file exports. Common examples are ERPs, accounting systems, Excel or MS Project plans and cloud storage for drawings. We check what your tools allow before we quote.
What does it cost?
It depends on the scope. As a guide, one process such as a site report app connected to 1–2 systems costs €5–10k. A connected system with planning, stock and reports costs €10–30k, and replacing older software with many integrations starts at €30k. We agree a fixed price after the project workshop, before any build starts.
How long does a first version take?
Our past projects took 6 weeks to 3 months to reach a first version. You see a working demo every week, and site managers can try the app on a real job well before launch.
Where does AI actually help in construction and manufacturing?
In the paperwork around the work. AI turns voice notes and photos into site reports, reads delivery notes and supplier invoices, and answers questions about jobs from your own records. Scheduling and pricing decisions stay with your people, and if a simple rule does the job, we use the rule.
Who owns the system and the data?
You do. At launch you get the code, the repositories and the accounts. We fix bugs free of charge for 3 months, then you can choose monthly support or have your own team take over.
Where does information get stuck between site and office?
Tell us how a job runs today, from the order to the final invoice. We’ll tell you which part to build first and roughly what it would cost.
JurajCEO, QikBuild
You leave the call with
- What we would build first
- A rough price range
- Whether custom software makes sense for you
Or write to hello@qikbuild.com