Site diary and defects: record them by voice and photo

With a photo and a voice note you record construction progress and defects where they occur. The AI turns the note into text and prepares the entry, and you check it in the evening instead of typing. Assessment, deadline and approval stay with site management (Bauleitung).

What the site diary is for

The HOAI (the German fee regulations for architects and engineers) describes in section 34(3) no. 8, for buildings and interiors, work stage 8 (Leistungsphase 8): site supervision (Objektüberwachung, also called Bauüberwachung) and documentation. Which basic services it covers is set out, under section 34(4), in Annex 10 no. 10.1. There, item (e) lists as a basic service the “documentation of the construction progress (for example, site diary)” (my translation). The work stage also includes establishing defects at acceptance (item k) and supervising the remedying of the defects established at acceptance (item p). These are the provisions as published on gesetze-im-internet.de as at November 2026.

The HOAI regulates the services of planners. It does not say what a site diary must contain. That is stated, if anywhere, in your contract.

The benefit lies in the evidence. Anyone who later has to clarify when which firm built what, with how many people, needs an entry that was made promptly. In my assessment, an entry made weeks later from memory is usually weaker as evidence. How a court weighs that in an individual case is for your lawyer to clarify.

What belongs in it

The content is not fixed by law. As a draft I propose these fields, which you adapt to your contract:

• date and weather
• firms present with the number of their workers, without the names of individuals
• work carried out
• hindrances and special occurrences
• defects with location and photo

Dictation on site

Speak in a fixed order: first the location, then trade and firm, then the finding. People speak tersely on a building site, so the following example with invented data consists of short statements rather than full sentences:

Building B, second floor, room 2.14. Drywall, Example GmbH. Joint between wall and ceiling is cracking open, photos three and four. Rectify by Friday.

The AI converts this to text and matches location, trade and firm to your project’s lists. Values that are not in the project list it should leave open instead of inventing them. I expect noise on the building site to be the most frequent source of error, but I have not measured it. Mishearings of names and figures only show up at the check.

Speak dimensions, figures and names slowly and in short sentences. One note per defect is easier to check than one long walk-round recorded in a single go.

1. Capture on site Take a photo, briefly speak the location and finding
2. Convert to text The voice note becomes text AI prepares
3. Prepare entry Match location, trade, firm to your lists AI prepares
4. Check in evening Site manager checks, corrects, sets the deadline
5. File Approved entry goes into list and site diary

Text version of the graphic

• 1. Capture on site: Take a photo, briefly speak the location and finding
• 2. Convert to text: The voice note becomes text (the AI prepares)
• 3. Prepare entry: Match location, trade, firm to your lists (the AI prepares)
• 4. Check in evening: Site manager checks, corrects, sets the deadline
• 5. File: Approved entry goes into list and site diary

The defects list

From the notes a list with uniform fields is created: serial number, location, trade, firm, description, photo, date of finding, deadline and status. With the status you reflect the supervision of defect remedy, which the annex names alongside establishing defects. A list with open and completed status shows that without an extra slip of paper.

You enter hindrances at once, with date and cause where known. Whether a notice of hindrance has to be given to the client is for you to decide on the basis of your contract and, in case of doubt, with your lawyer.

Photo with location and deadline

The photo is the evidence, because it records the condition. In this process the AI does not evaluate it. You choose the location from a list of building, floor and room, so that it is not only in the voice note.

You set the deadline. The AI can at most suggest a standard deadline that you have fixed in advance. You send the defect notice to the firm yourself, because it can have legal effect.

Two rules apply for data protection. Do not photograph people where it can be avoided, because Article 5(1)(c) GDPR requires limiting personal data to what is necessary. And speak into the note yourself only: anyone who, without authorisation, records another person’s non-publicly spoken word on a sound recording can be liable to prosecution under section 201 StGB. What to clarify for meetings with several participants is covered in Recording meetings: what to clarify first. The process can be run in line with the GDPR; there is no guarantee. Your data protection officer or a lawyer clarifies the individual case.

The check in the evening

From the day’s entries a defects list per project is created with photo and date and, on request, a draft of the daily report. The software creates the draft only when you request it, so that you approve nothing you have not seen. You check every entry: is the firm right, is the location right, is the defect described correctly, is the deadline yours?

The author’s working assumption, the same as in the values on this website, is this: an entry with photos and defects takes 30 minutes per working day today. If the AI saves 30 to 45 per cent of that, about 17 to 21 minutes remain (30 × 0.55 = 16.5 and 30 × 0.70 = 21), mostly spent on the check. Neither value is a measurement. They hold only if site management really speaks the notes on site, and the time for speaking shifts to the building site. How to measure your own time is described in Measuring time savings: cases times minutes, before and after.

todaywith AI

• Per working day, 30 % savedAssumption, 30 × 0.70

  today 30 min
  with AI 21 min

• Per working day, 45 % savedAssumption, 30 × 0.55

  today 30 min
  with AI 16.5 min

Source: Author’s working assumption (the values on this website), not a measurement

Text version of the graphic

• Per working day, 30 % saved: today 30 min, with AI 21 min (Assumption, 30 × 0.70)
• Per working day, 45 % saved: today 30 min, with AI 16.5 min (Assumption, 30 × 0.55)
• Source: Author’s working assumption (the values on this website), not a measurement

Slips of paper and messenger groups

Today defects often end up on slips of paper or in messenger groups, and photo, location and deadline are lost along the way. As soon as recording runs in a shared application, these routes should not continue in parallel, otherwise you keep two lists, and neither is right. Decide who may record, for example site management and site supervision.

The application then shows who entered what and when. That is practical, but it can also be suited to monitoring employees. If there is a works council (Betriebsrat), you need to check whether section 87(1) no. 6 of the Works Constitution Act (Betriebsverfassungsgesetz, BetrVG) applies. It gives the works council a right of co-determination over the introduction and use of technical devices intended to monitor the behaviour or performance of employees. Whether that is the case here is a legal question for the individual case. Speak to the works council before the start.

Limits

A defect is a technical and often a legal assessment. The AI hears “crack in the joint”, but it does not know whether that is a tolerance or a defect. If there is no network on the building site, recording must store the notes locally and send them later. Check this in a test. If you already have defects software, first clarify whether it can already handle voice and photo before you set up something new.

This is how I would set up a test: one building site, one site manager, four to six weeks. During that time, count the errors (wrong firm, wrong trade, mishearing) and measure the time before and after. Only then is it worth using it on further building sites.

What you can do now

1. For one week, time how long the site diary and defects list really take.
2. Create lists: buildings, floors, rooms, trades, firms. Without them no software can match entries cleanly.
3. Write down your dictation order and practise it on three examples.
4. Decide who sets deadlines and who sends defect notices.