Site diary software for property developers: inspection, floor plan, defect and retention

What your site management sees on site is in the system the same day

For a property developer an inspection is more than a protocol: a crack in a wall is a defect, a defect has a party responsible, and that party sends its next instalment invoice soon. In the kanbau site diary this is one path without re-entry – from the inspection to the defect to the retention.

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• Inspection date, weather, photos and participants.
• Entry in the protocol, optionally with an AI suggestion.
• Locate as a marker on the floor plan of the storey.
• Defect with purchase contract, photos and first deadline.
• Retention reduces the subcontractor's incoming invoice.
• Done the marker changes colour, the deduction can be suspended.

1. Create the inspection: weather, participants, photos

Choose the project; date and author are pre-filled. kanbau fetches the weather for the project location, and you can fetch it again for your current location. Tags such as “site inspection”, “unit handover” or “warranty” classify the inspection. Add incidents and instructions, general notes, companies on site with their staff, equipment, meter readings and keys. Additional info links the sales contract of a unit. Photos come from the device camera; further files are attached. Questions are settled in the comments on the inspection.

2. AI helps with recording

With the AI analysis you dictate the walk-through or upload photos, a PDF or a text. The AI sorts the content into protocol entries, companies on site, material, weather and notes. kanbau adds them to the inspection, where you check and edit them.

For a single entry the AI evaluates text, dictation and photos, suggests a factual description and recognises whether it is a defect, damage or outstanding work. The suggestion is only applied once you confirm it. The AI analysis requires the usage-based AI support.

3. Pin entries on the plan

Floor plans are uploaded in the project as PDF or image, per storey and with revisions. In the inspection you choose the plan and place an entry right where it belongs by right-click or tap. Existing entries without a location are attached in the same menu. Each entry becomes a numbered marker; its colour shows the state of the defect. The printed protocol shows a floor plan excerpt for every located entry, so the contractor finds the spot without calling back.

4. The entry becomes a defect

Flag an entry as a defect and choose the purchase contract of the subcontractor who has to fix it. If defects are flagged but not yet transferred, kanbau points this out. “Synchronise defects” creates a record in defect management. It takes over text, project, photos and location, the party responsible with trade from the purchase contract, and a first deadline according to your default setting.

In defect management you notify the contractor by e-mail, track the second deadline and set the status. The status feeds back: when the defect is done, the marker on the plan changes colour.

5. Defect retention on the incoming invoice

Store a retention on the defect. If “Deduct retention from contract” is active, kanbau includes the sum of these retentions as a defect retention in every incoming invoice for the purchase contract. It is deducted from the checked total before the contractual deductions follow. The rest of the calculation is described on the page invoice processing.

• Checked total of this invoice, net: €48,000 accepted work.
• Defect retention: − €1,500 from the defect “Crack in drywall”.
• Total after defect retention: €46,500 followed by the contractual deductions.

The figures are sample data. When you set the defect to done, kanbau asks whether the deduction should be suspended from now on. Until then the retention reappears on every invoice from that subcontractor without anyone having to remember it.

6. Protocol, signature and overview

Before sending, a preview shows the protocol. You choose whether photos and floor plan excerpts are included and whether only the defect report is output. Participants sign on the device. The protocol goes out by e-mail as a PDF and is filed as PDF/A with the inspection, documented in a traceable way. For unit handovers kanbau creates a handover protocol with an acceptance declaration; a custom template is possible.

The overview shows all inspections as a list or as tiles, with date, weather, number of entries, project and tags. Filters for period, project, user and tag narrow the selection, and full-text search finds individual entries.

The site diary is part of the Standard package. Terms for the AI support are listed in the price list – request it here.

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