The importance of accurate daily documentation for construction inspectors
Accurate daily documentation is inevitably a must for construction inspectors. It is crucial to document a daily log in which one keeps records of the work performance in conformance with the specs and plans, quantification of the work per bid item, day to day activities, equipment used or idle, and labor force. The repetition of completing each daily log can become both inefficient and time consuming, thus allowing documentation to fall behind. Robert Valle who is an inspector with more than 30 years of experience commented “When laptops and iPads came into the normal everyday use of an inspector, you could copy and paste information that could be useful, but in the long run it was still time consuming.”
To rectify and correct those inefficiencies, Orange Vest has provided an innovative solution that facilitates and accelerates daily project documentation.
“This thing about Orange Vest is that it is not just a data entry tool for daily reports, but an entire construction management tool,” explains Robert. Orange Vest allows one to manage the entire project from both an inspector’s and manager’s perspective. Without having to prepare individual reports, Orange Vest adds the quantities for the inspector at the end of each month, so they can focus on just confirming the data.
“It is quantifying the work as you go, so all you must do is go to the last report at the end of the month and see the total quantity. No more having to go back and look at every individual inspection report and add everything up for every single line item, or track using separate individual Excel sheets,”
expresses Robert.
Orange Vest's Construction Management Tool
When it comes to managing the unexpected, Orange Vest facilitates the documentation of extra work allows it to be reflected in real-time. Unlike stand-alone documentation, last minute reports are combined and incorporated all within one app, Orange Vest.” It allows you to begin building a potential contract change order and then track on a time and material basis,” says Robert.
And when it comes to capturing visual evident and photographs to show progress, Orange Vest includes a feature that can incorporate and merge photographs into each report. This feature allows the client to not only receive written documentation but also perceive the project advancement through photographs.
“As a construction manager, that is the type of report that I would like to review, not just written verbiage, but the visual progression of all the work for that day,”
comments Robert. The fact that this can all be done quickly and formatted automatically allows the inspector to just focus on taking the pictures and lets Orange Vest worry about formatting and uploading.
When asked what his favorite feature was, Robert expressed that it was Orange Vest’s ability to save line items from previous daily reports. Once a line item is created it is saved and ready to use for another date.
“You can quickly add a line item with all the established people in no time. No more having to write things down bit by bit or copy and paste on the fly. It is already there from the previous day,”
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Orange Vest’s overall documentation process encompasses projects efficiently and requires minimal training. As someone who was reluctant to use technology to prepare their reports, Roberts states that
“if you want to spend less time in the documentation process then you should give Orange Vest a try because you are going to see, how user-friendly it is and how amazing it captures all of the important documentation that is needed on the project.”
