Successful automation of as-built documentation at Seliger City residential complex construction
SU-10
SU-10 is a major general contractor and notable participant in Moscow's development market. There are simultaneously 20 or more projects in progress from several developers. Timely receipt of as-built documentation for closing completed volumes before customers (which include MR Group and Specialized Developer 'Spartak') is an important but difficult-to-achieve goal for the company.
At one time, I used HARDROLLER to compile a complete set of as-built documentation for my site in three days and submitted it. However, proving the need for comprehensive automation in a large company is not so simple, so it was decided to start working on one pilot project, which became 'Seliger'. We were lucky to be able to start managing the site in the system right from the excavation pit, so we quickly entered all the information from the very beginning of the works, and then proceeded to generate documentation. Moreover, we immediately agreed and connected our Client's construction control to the verification process.
The first entries in the digital general work log were made in March 2021, and since then, for almost a year and a half, the system has maintained an up-to-date model of actually performed construction and installation works: what general construction and special works were performed, in which areas, according to which working documentation, what materials were used, what laboratory tests were conducted; scans of all necessary documents are uploaded, and executive geodetic schemes are also linked to the completed works.
Multiple automatic checks for completeness and consistency of information are applied to the model: checking for necessary documents according to checklists, scan uploads, correspondence of document dates, deliveries, works, laboratory conclusions. Special reports with convenient built-in project navigation are generated for missing data.
Generating as-built documentation based on the collected and verified model has essentially turned into 'clicking through' completed works from the list (as long as they are marked in blue status in the system indicating 'no problems, ready to generate documentation'). In addition to concealed work acts, special work logs are also automatically generated (concrete, various welding, installation, and many others), incoming control logs (any necessary type), incoming control acts, as well as numerous documents for special types of work (for example, electrical installation).
Through automation, SU-10 was able to significantly reduce labor costs for preparing as-built documentation on this project:
At 'Seliger City', all as-built documentation is now prepared by 3 people, and one more helps occasionally when it's necessary to scan incoming or print already approved documents in large quantities. Under normal conditions, we need at least 5 people on such a project, not counting the assistant. And on the Client's side, just one person completely checks all the documentation. This is not only significant savings for the company but also a completely different level of convenience and comfort for all employees. The most unpleasant and error-prone routine part of working with text documents has disappeared.
Client verification of as-built documentation directly in the system is another serious advantage for the company. Thanks to the fact that documents are not submitted for verification in paper form, we not only saved at least 150,000 rubles on paper and toner (we calculated based on automatically generated registers) but also measured the actual time for preparation and approval of documentation.
After obtaining real indicators and eliminating discovered problems, we managed to reduce the lag of approved documentation from the date of completion of billable works by a whole month. And this indicator is tracked based on completely objective data from the system. Also, thanks to centralized information storage, you can see which specific comments from the customer occur most frequently and solve specific problems in work organization.
Even before the completion of the pilot project, SU-10 decided to start replicating the successful automation experience to other sites, agreeing to work together with other customers:
It wasn't easy to get approval for replication. HARDROLLER is not the most budget-friendly solution on the market, so we had to study quite a large number of solutions available on the market, and get to know several main competitors in great detail.
As a result of studying the market, the key advantages of the chosen solution over others became apparent:
The HARDROLLER team throughout our project promptly responded to emerging questions and helped with addressing comments on documents raised by the Client. At the same time, we haven't yet needed the ability to create adapted configurations in the system based on standard ones: HARDROLLER developers, with our help, made quite a lot of improvements immediately available to all service users.
The result of the pilot project was the selection of 'HARDROLLER: As-Built Documentation' as the main solution for preparing as-built documentation at SU-10, despite the presence of notable competitors in the market. We are glad that our choice is ready to be supported by construction customers who also see their benefit in automating these processes.
The pilot project on automating work with as-built documentation and the beginning of system implementation at other construction sites of the Company showed that this long-standing problem can and should be solved. We expect that, working together with our customers and the HARDROLLER team, we will permanently close the issue of missing as-built documentation when closing performance. And from next year - we will also completely abandon paper, including for keeping work logs.
