Site managers checking plans on a tablet on the construction site

For engineering offices, technical planners and expert witnesses

Hours budget for phase 5 exceeded, interim invoice not yet issued. When does any planning actually get done at your office?

ivato digitalises the office organisation of planning and engineering offices and expert witnesses: hours and project controlling per service phase, interim invoices, variations, minutes, plan distribution and expert reports. CAD, tendering software and your office software stay. Your engineers plan and review again, instead of searching, retyping and calculating after the fact.

Callback from an industry adviser →See the service phases ↓

Clients from this industry

Starting point

What findings would appear in a report on your office day-to-day?

In planning offices, time is rarely lost in the planning itself, but alongside it: in timesheets nobody analyses, in variations that are never submitted, in minutes, plan distribution lists and expert reports that are produced by hand. Here are the typical points from our initial consultations.

    You recognise 0 of 0 statements

    Tap the statements you recognise from your day-to-day work.

    Summary: Engineers spend their time on administration, and the fee they are entitled to is not billed in full.

    Talk about it ↓Start the digital check-up →

    Service phases

    In which service phase does your office lose the most time and the most fees?

    First choose how your office works, then a phase. You will see how it works in many offices today, what ivato implements there and what changes as a result. The bars show the fee share of the basic services per service phase.

    Today

    Enquiry by email, documents scattered

    Existing plans, photos and client requirements arrive via different channels. Project folders and master data are set up by hand.

    With ivato

    Structured project start

    • Project set-up with folder structure and master data at the push of a button
    • Upload link for client documents
    • AI summarises requirements and open points

    What changes

    Clean start, fewer queries

    All documents are in the right place, and the team knows from the outset what the client wants.

    Fee shares of the basic services according to the service profile for building and interior design (§ 34 HOAI). Other service profiles differ. We calculate the effects for your office in the business case.

    Project sheets

    What does this look like in an office like yours?

    Four project sheets from building services design, civil engineering and expert witness work, each with key data, starting point, solution, result and calculation. What they all have in common: CAD, tendering software and office software stayed, and after 8 to 12 weeks the solution was running in daily operations.

    • Building services designSaxony35 employeesHVAC, electrical, LPH 1-8

      Budgeted vs actual hours per service phase and interim invoices according to progress

      Starting point
      Hours were recorded but not analysed against the fee per service phase. Interim invoices went out irregularly, and overruns were noticed only at the end of the project.
      Solution
      Time recording per project and service phase via app, budgeted vs actual comparison against the agreed fee, traffic light on budget overrun, interim invoice prepared according to degree of completion.
      Result
      Project managers control their budget continuously. Interim invoices go out monthly, liquidity is plannable.
      Investment
      €28,000
      Funding
      €11,200
      Own contribution
      €16,800
      Payback
      6 months

    • Structural designBavaria18 employeesLPH 1-6, construction supervision

      Plan distribution with index control and minutes from the site meeting

      Starting point
      Plans dispatched by email, plan distribution list in Excel, regular uncertainty about which index is where. Minutes of the site meetings were written in the evening.
      Solution
      Digital plan distribution list with index history and confirmation of receipt, recording of the site meeting, AI creates a minutes draft with item, person responsible and deadline.
      Result
      Every participant demonstrably has the current index. Minutes go out on the same day, reviewing instead of writing.
      Investment
      €22,000
      Funding
      €8,800
      Own contribution
      €13,200
      Payback
      7 months

    • Construction expert witnessesNorth Rhine-Westphalia6 employeesPrivate, court and insurance reports

      Draft report in two working days instead of six

      Starting point
      Site inspection with photos and notepad, dictation afterwards, report pieced together from old templates. Court deadlines became tight.
      Solution
      Site inspection app with photo documentation, voice notes and measurements per room or building element, AI creates a structured draft report from findings, text modules and your own model wording.
      Result
      The expert witness reviews, assesses and signs. More reports per month, deadlines are met.
      Investment
      €19,000
      Funding
      €7,600
      Own contribution
      €11,400
      Payback
      5 months

    • Infrastructure planningLower Saxony60 employeesTransport facilities, engineering structures

      VgV applications to participate from the reference database

      Starting point
      Public clients demand suitable references, project sheets and staff qualifications for every bid. Compiling them took days each time.
      Solution
      Reference database with project key figures, service phases and participants, AI selects suitable references for the contract notice and pre-fills the forms.
      Result
      More bids with the same effort and better scoring, because the references fit the task precisely.
      Investment
      €32,000
      Payback
      4 months

    More case studies from Services & consulting · Funding programmes

    Service description

    What services does the digitalisation of a planning office include?

    Here as a bill of quantities. Each item is a proven building block that we adapt to your office, your discipline and your software. You choose which items are commissioned. Professional responsibility always remains with the engineer.

    1. 01.01

      Time recording & project controlling per service phase

      Recording via app or browser per project and service phase, budgeted vs actual against the fee, traffic light on overrun, analysis per project manager.

      Reducing costs →
    2. 01.02

      Interim invoicing & variation management

      Interim invoices prepared according to degree of completion, change services and special services documented and prepared as a variation.

      Implementation →
    3. 02.01

      Plan distribution & index control

      Plan dispatch with index history, recipient lists per project, confirmation of receipt and proof of who received which version.

      Scaling with AI →
    4. 02.02

      Minutes, site diary & defects

      AI minutes draft from the meeting with item, person responsible and deadline, site diary with photos, defect list with deadlines and follow-up.

      Scaling with AI →
    5. 03.01

      Site inspection app & draft report

      Photos, voice notes and measurements per building element, structured draft from findings and your own text modules, deadlines and invoicing in view.

      Strategy →
    6. 03.02

      Knowledge base & references

      Office standards, detail solutions, experience values and reference projects retrievable by question. Basis for onboarding, VgV bids and succession.

      Securing succession →

    Interfaces

    Do we have to replace CAD, tendering software or office software?

    No. Your CAD and BIM tools, your tendering software and your office or project software stay. We start alongside them: hours, invoicing, communication, minutes and expert reports. Data is taken over via interfaces and exports instead of being maintained twice.

    Your systems stay

    • Connection to common office, project and invoicing software for planners
    • Plan versions from your project storage are read, not changed
    • Client and developer data GDPR-compliant, expert reports confidential
    • Data stays on servers in Germany
    HOAI2021 · JVEG

    Do you negotiate fees with real figures from your projects?

    Since HOAI 2021, the fee tables are only a guide, and fees are agreed freely in text form. Anyone who knows from completed projects how many hours a service phase really cost can calculate and negotiate with more confidence. For court-appointed expert witnesses, remuneration under the JVEG continues to apply, and properly recorded times pay off there too.

    As of: 10/2026 · simplified presentation, not legal advice

    Clarify in a conversation ↓

    Process

    How do we start without deadlines suffering?

    In three steps, similar to how you set up a project yourself: clarify the basics, plan, execute. Your effort is a few appointments with office management, a project manager and administration.

    1. Step 1 · Basic evaluation

      Initial consultation

      30 minutes with an adviser who knows planning offices and expert witnesses. We clarify goals, bottlenecks and software.

      free of charge

      Request a callback ↓

    2. Step 2 · Planning

      Strategy

      Review of your office, business case in euros and hours, roadmap with priorities.

      Fixed price depending on scope · eligible for funding

      To Strategy →

    3. Step 3 · Execution

      Implementation

      Implementation of the chosen items, connection of your software, training and acceptance.

      from €20,000 net · 8-12 weeks

      To Implementation →

    Estimate your funding

    Funding rate
    Funding
    €12,000
    Your contribution
    €18,000

    Simplified calculation. Rate and maximum amounts depend on the programme, federal state and company size. Consulting can additionally receive a grant of up to €5,600.

    projects successfully supported
    1,000+
    projects successfully supported
    years of experience with mid-sized companies
    25+
    years of experience with mid-sized companies
    funding for implementation
    up to 60%
    funding for implementation
    dedicated contact person on the project
    1
    dedicated contact person on the project

    Frequently asked questions

    What office owners and expert witnesses want to know beforehand

    Your question is not here? In the initial conversation we take 30 minutes for your specific topic.

    The AI produces drafts, outlines and minutes. Assessment, professional statement and signature remain with the engineer or expert witness. How this is disclosed in court reports is up to you. We set up the process so that every statement is checked before it leaves the office.

    Then we build on it. Often the data is there but is not analysed or not recorded consistently. We provide simple recording, clear analysis per service phase and processes that actually trigger interim invoices and variations.

    Yes. In small offices in particular, the owner writes invoices and minutes personally. If one building block frees up half a day per week or bills a forgotten variation, it pays for itself quickly. The business case shows this before the investment.

    Data is processed in compliance with GDPR and transmitted encrypted. AI services do not use your data to train other parties' models. Access is granted by project and role, and we settle the details in a data processing agreement.

    Yes. An office with documented standards, a clean project history and verifiable key figures is considerably more attractive to successors and buyers. With our Exit check we additionally prepare the handover in a structured way.

    For the consulting, a grant of up to €5,600 is possible; for implementation up to 60%, depending on federal state and programme. We check the suitable programmes in the initial consultation and take care of the application documents. As of: 10/2026, programmes change regularly.

    Read on

    Contact

    Exchange ideas with one of our specialists from your industry.

    30 minutes, free of charge. You describe where things get stuck, and we tell you openly which items are worthwhile for you and roughly what that costs.

    • Callback within one working day
    • Gladly after the site inspection or before the site meeting

    Request a callback

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