A better-organised site thanks to Archireport: Aurélie Vérité’s testimonial

How long have you been using Archireport?

We’ve been using Archireport for 2 years. I discovered it through the Rennes start-up scene, as it’s a company based near us.

What convinced you to use Archireport?

What convinced us to use Archireport was being able to take photos on site, annotate them, insert them automatically into a list of observations, and then generate a site report for the contractors. And what really makes our day-to-day work easier with Archireport is that, throughout the project, we can record observations, note the tasks still to be done and assign them to a contractor. Then, when we review things with a contractor, a tradesperson for example, we can bring up all the tasks that concern them, which makes it efficient to go through them together and see how the works are progressing.

We make sure Archireport adapts to every way of working. What’s yours?

We use Archireport right from the start of the project. We use the pre-site visits. They let us start organising the costing of a project, by inviting contractors to come and see the premises, having initial plans and sketches to show what we want to achieve, and technical specifications that can be stored directly in Archireport. Then, as discussions progress, we adjust the project based on the contractors’ feedback, constraints and everyone’s requirements, and we record all of this in Archireport. So we use Archireport upstream, during the costing phase with the pre-site visits, and then throughout site monitoring. Something else we find handy is that we add the quotes signed by the client to Archireport. So as soon as the project is confirmed, we almost automatically send an email to confirm the works with the contractors, with the signed quotes, the schedule and the plans to follow. And what’s practical is that during the works, we often ask ourselves: was this partition, for example, actually included in the costing? We can then quickly bring up the quote. Since we’re already in the Archireport environment, we don’t need to leave it to add a note, check that it was costed, or check the work done or the notes that were recorded on it.

What feedback do you get from your clients or contractors?

The better organised we are, the better the works go. That’s where we see the feedback and the benefits with clients and contractors. What contractors appreciate about our work and our collaboration is precisely the rigour: that things are organised, well framed, clear, and that we’re responsive. And I think Archireport is a tool that helps us stay well organised and follow things up properly. It helps us write everything down so we don’t forget anything, and above all clear our minds so we can keep track. The more is written down, the better organised it is. It also lets us hand over. Right now, I’m taking over site monitoring from my colleague who is on leave, so it’s very handy.

Do you have an anecdote to share?

One anecdote: I had the opportunity to meet a contractor on site to see how we were going to fit out a space and position the speakers and the video projector. During the meeting with the contractor, I took notes on the plan to show where we would position everything. And it went very smoothly. I didn’t need to send the plans back to the contractor, because everything was online and up to date straight away. That’s a real time saver, and I was surprised myself that the contractor immediately found the plan with the notes.