Site inspection processes, site inspection tech, how does your shop do it?

[thatguyhazza]

Curious how different shops are handling site inspections these days - i've been in the industry 10 years and nothing has really changed but I see other trade industries miles ahead in the tech space.

Our process has always been pretty messy. Usually something like:

Photos on phone
Notes in a notebook or notes app
Measurements scribbled somewhere or in notes app
Then emailing everything to myself later so I can compile it for quoting


Recently I started experimenting with structuring the whole survey process a bit more. I actually ended up getting an app for our shop built to log all signs by locations -> photos with annotations -> substrate selector. assessment -> access notes/ challenges -> Electrical notes (if any) -> Overall site checklist to prompt to double check stuff -> then everything syncs from my phone to an online portal on the computer back at the office where i can directly download all annotated and raw images along with all notes.


It's been interesting seeing how much easier quoting becomes when the survey info comes back organized instead of a pile of photos and measurements to marry up.


Always feels like site surveys are one of the most important steps but also the least standardized part of the process.

Curious what everyone else is doing...

from down under in NZ!

 

[ProSignTN]

Digital photos are as close to free as anything in the world. I take serious amounts from every angle possible, but I still use a pen and paper for notes. But, I'm old and have been doing it this way for years.

 

[tulsagraphics]

Ah, another new account, ready to onboard / peddle their AI-powered wares. Asking a question which is the equivalent of "How can I train my AI to help your barber give your a better haircut? Then sell you on it? I've been struggling with all the technical issues barbers deal with on a daily basis."

"I see other trade industries miles ahead in the tech space." Um, so what did you find out about tech-space industries that apply to the site survey aspect of the sign trade? Do tell!

You emailing yourself -- ha! Tell your programmer to train you on something newer than a 1990's tech model.

So here ya go thatguyhazza --put this in your digital pipe and smoke it, and hopefully burn down the data center where you came from. I'll put it in ASCII to make it easier for you to understand.

....................../´¯/)
....................,/¯../
.................../..../
............./´¯/'...'/´¯¯`·¸
........../'/.../..../......./¨¯\
........('(...´...´.... ¯~/'...')
.........\.................'...../
..........''...\.......... _.·´
............\..............(
..............\.............\...

 

[Kev-O-Rama]

Curious how different shops are handling site inspections these days - i've been in the industry 10 years and nothing has really changed but I see other trade industries miles ahead in the tech space.

Our process has always been pretty messy. Usually something like:

Photos on phone
Notes in a notebook or notes app
Measurements scribbled somewhere or in notes app
Then emailing everything to myself later so I can compile it for quoting


Recently I started experimenting with structuring the whole survey process a bit more. I actually ended up getting an app for our shop built to log all signs by locations -> photos with annotations -> substrate selector. assessment -> access notes/ challenges -> Electrical notes (if any) -> Overall site checklist to prompt to double check stuff -> then everything syncs from my phone to an online portal on the computer back at the office where i can directly download all annotated and raw images along with all notes.


It's been interesting seeing how much easier quoting becomes when the survey info comes back organized instead of a pile of photos and measurements to marry up.


Always feels like site surveys are one of the most important steps but also the least standardized part of the process.

Curious what everyone else is doing...

from down under in NZ!

We use the CompanyCam app for taking photos (time-stamped), notes, video documentation, etc. It has built-in GPS so it knows where you are when you want to open an existing project or ones nearby. Everything is stored on the cloud so it doesn't take up space on your phone. Easy to download to your home base. I haven't seen anything that comes close, but I stopped looking for anything else to replace it since it ain't broke.

 

[visual800]

old school show up take measuremnts and pictures this doesnt have to be difficult....unfortunately these damn sign brokers want you to fill out 14 pages and have it notarized and signed off by a judge

 

[thatguyhazza]

Ah, another new account, ready to onboard / peddle their AI-powered wares. Asking a question which is the equivalent of "How can I train my AI to help your barber give your a better haircut? Then sell you on it? I've been struggling with all the technical issues barbers deal with on a daily basis."

"I see other trade industries miles ahead in the tech space." Um, so what did you find out about tech-space industries that apply to the site survey aspect of the sign trade? Do tell!

You emailing yourself -- ha! Tell your programmer to train you on something newer than a 1990's tech model.

So here ya go thatguyhazza --put this in your digital pipe and smoke it, and hopefully burn down the data center where you came from. I'll put it in ASCII to make it easier for you to understand.

....................../´¯/)
....................,/¯../
.................../..../
............./´¯/'...'/´¯¯`·¸
........../'/.../..../......./¨¯\
........('(...´...´.... ¯~/'...')
.........\.................'...../
..........''...\.......... _.·´
............\..............(
..............\.............\...

Hahaha. classic response from a someone so closed minded and clearly intimated by innovation... The app has absolutely nothing to do with Ai, so i'm not sure where that has come from and i have absolutely no intent to sell anything on here. But hey, forums wouldn’t be forums without a bit of scepticism.

It’s literally just a structured way of capturing survey info on our phones or ipad and made for our OWN site surveyors and estimators so it doesn’t come back to the office as a pile of photos and notes to sort through later. After a short 10 years in the trade and young enough to not be SCARED or INTIMIDATED by technology like yourself i'm trying keep the industry progressing forward. Which I don't see as a bad thing?

My whole idea of asking how others do theirs was a way to capture and integrate more ideas that may be missing from what we've already got....

Cheers for the feedback champion!

 

[tulsagraphics]

Hahaha. classic response from a someone so closed minded and clearly intimated by innovation... The app has absolutely nothing to do with Ai, so i'm not sure where that has come from and i have absolutely no intent to sell anything on here. But hey, forums wouldn’t be forums without a bit of scepticism.

It’s literally just a structured way of capturing survey info on our phones or ipad and made for our OWN site surveyors and estimators so it doesn’t come back to the office as a pile of photos and notes to sort through later. After a short 10 years in the trade and young enough to not be SCARED or INTIMIDATED by technology like yourself i'm trying keep the industry progressing forward. Which I don't see as a bad thing?

My whole idea of asking how others do theirs was a way to capture and integrate more ideas that may be missing from what we've already got....

Cheers for the feedback champion!

Your response is just a classic marketing rebuttal re-vomited by AI. You may not be posting PayPal buy buttons in chat, but you're clearly doing market research to benefit your own interests. Examine what you said -- you didn't address a single concern I pointed out. TBH, your AI is getting pretty good, but you failed on so many things. I have a reliable B.S. meter and I know a good deal about AI.

Sign up as an S101 merchant, then we'll talk. !beepboop

 

[thatguyhazza]

Your response is just a classic marketing rebuttal re-vomited by AI. You may not be posting PayPal buy buttons in chat, but you're clearly doing market research to benefit your own interests. Examine what you said -- you didn't address a single concern I pointed out. TBH, your AI is getting pretty good, but you failed on so many things. I have a reliable B.S. meter and I know a good deal about AI.

Sign up as an S101 merchant, then we'll talk. !beepboop

You must be trying to rage bait at this point, your 'BS meter' yeah nice one pal, can't get anything by you clearly hahaha.

 

[MrDav3C]

Regardless of whether this is a BS thread or not, you don't need to pay for an app for site surveys.

I created a simple form I can access online from any device, has a page for the project details and separate page for each part of the project with a + button to duplicate the page as required, complete with drop down menus, fields to fill in if necessary and a button to attach photos.

The reality is although I created this I barely use it as I can't get out of the habit of writing everything down. I think site surveys often require 2 people and this form didn't really save us any time anyway!

 

[pro-UP]

Curious how different shops are handling site inspections these days - i've been in the industry 10 years and nothing has really changed but I see other trade industries miles ahead in the tech space.

Our process has always been pretty messy. Usually something like:

Photos on phone
Notes in a notebook or notes app
Measurements scribbled somewhere or in notes app
Then emailing everything to myself later so I can compile it for quoting


Recently I started experimenting with structuring the whole survey process a bit more. I actually ended up getting an app for our shop built to log all signs by locations -> photos with annotations -> substrate selector. assessment -> access notes/ challenges -> Electrical notes (if any) -> Overall site checklist to prompt to double check stuff -> then everything syncs from my phone to an online portal on the computer back at the office where i can directly download all annotated and raw images along with all notes.


It's been interesting seeing how much easier quoting becomes when the survey info comes back organized instead of a pile of photos and measurements to marry up.


Always feels like site surveys are one of the most important steps but also the least standardized part of the process.

Curious what everyone else is doing...

from down under in NZ!

Now I'm curious. What's the app?

We are in development for a new site survey, installation, and install module that we plan to roll out for free to our clients (we provide takeoffs from construction plans, concepting if there are no sign designs available, art submittal packages (shop drawings & proofs), programming (message schedule & sign location plans), evacuation / egress map designs, as well as remote project management.

This is not ai (LLMs) although we do implement ML (machine learning) and computer vision which is typical in construction tech software. We also do not rely on agentic agents. There is not much trust in their reliability and it's too important that we get everything right the first time.

Our goal is to improve the version control on projects. It's also important to maintain a clear history of every design alteration throughout the project life cycle (who made what decision and when). When projects can take a couple of years, it's very important to carefully track all the thousands of data points (especially when even the people working the project change over time which has happened multiple times on projects we've been partnered on).

I'd be interested in someone giving our modules a review. That would be invaluable feedback since we are still in alpha. We've successfully rolled out our Proofing / Review Module and have gotten great feedback from our clients. This is where people can see the sign designs, their exact locations, approve or add notes directly from the Proofing Module. It's not an app but a direct link to access private projects. So if anyone is planning on doing a site survey soon, please reach out so we can discuss the project.

 

[Gino]

Evidently, you're not the person doing the survey, so you seem to be lost.... after the the people you send out to do the work fail to meet your demands. This always happens with third party surveys. You don't need special cameras or cheat sheets. Just have written directions as to what and how you want our specs handed in or not receive your pay. I'd usually go out in the bucket, so I could give accurate height measurements and a clipboard. If you're looking for a way to make your job easier, do it yourself.... then tell me your people are lacking

 

[thatguyhazza]

Now I'm curious. What's the app?

We are in development for a new site survey, installation, and install module that we plan to roll out for free to our clients (we provide takeoffs from construction plans, concepting if there are no sign designs available, art submittal packages (shop drawings & proofs), programming (message schedule & sign location plans), evacuation / egress map designs, as well as remote project management.

This is not ai (LLMs) although we do implement ML (machine learning) and computer vision which is typical in construction tech software. We also do not rely on agentic agents. There is not much trust in their reliability and it's too important that we get everything right the first time.

Our goal is to improve the version control on projects. It's also important to maintain a clear history of every design alteration throughout the project life cycle (who made what decision and when). When projects can take a couple of years, it's very important to carefully track all the thousands of data points (especially when even the people working the project change over time which has happened multiple times on projects we've been partnered on).

I'd be interested in someone giving our modules a review. That would be invaluable feedback since we are still in alpha. We've successfully rolled out our Proofing / Review Module and have gotten great feedback from our clients. This is where people can see the sign designs, their exact locations, approve or add notes directly from the Proofing Module. It's not an app but a direct link to access private projects. So if anyone is planning on doing a site survey soon, please reach out so we can discuss the project.

Isn’t this very similar to what sign agent already do?

 

[pro-UP]

Isn’t this very similar to what sign agent already do?

Sign Agent has similar functions (as I understand it, although I have never used their products), however they are a software application where you do the work yourself. While we are a service that does the work for you so that you can maximize your time.

 

[thatguyhazza]

That sounds awesome, would love to hear more. Any where I can contact you on directly for a chat?

Sign Agent has similar functions (as I understand it, although I have never used their products), however they are a software application where you do the work yourself. While we are a service that does the work for you so that you can maximize your time.

 

[Boudica]

You must be trying to rage bait at this point, your 'BS meter' yeah nice one pal, can't get anything by you clearly hahaha.

Don't agree with your rage bait accusation, but the legit sign professionals are keen with BS detectors in all forms.

 

[thatguyhazza]

Don't agree with your ragebait accusation, but the legit sign people are keen with BS detectors in all forms.

What classes someone as a legit sign person? I’m 28 with 11 years in the industry. Worked from apprentice to estimator/ PM in that time….. or to have a say in this so called forum do I need to be a 30 year Vet? Seems that way….

 

[unmateria]

I made a custom llm bot for our erp (an 29 years old access gui with mssql behind) , i have trained with chromadb and some agents so he knows how to use everything (i have been trying everything during a year, and that has been the best aproach... Is perfect in fact) A custom whatsapp bot take orders from our workers... We go to field, take measures in an aruco based custom app and we send everything to the bot vía secured whatsapp. We just have to say "attach all this to the latest order of Pepito" from whatsapp. Measures in measures, photos in photos... I even made an app to take more measures in office. If i need more, i take 3df and i rebuild the facade 3d model to study or animate. Old school designers + nano banano (the day it want to works) do the previews and are shared with the customer via a custom "wetransfer" (controlled to by the llm bot). So... Well... That give us more time which is the most expensive thing we have on little companies... After wasting TONS of hours on training the beast and development. That is our path since end of past year. Maybe u can take ideas for burn tokens on CC hahahaha. If u want the measures app or the pc version just tell me, i will upload to github.

 

[thatguyhazza]

I made a custom llm bot for our erp (an 29 years old access gui with mssql behind) , i have trained with chromadb and some agents so he knows how to use everything (i have been trying everything during a year, and that has been the best aproach... Is perfect in fact) A custom whatsapp bot take orders from our workers... We go to field, take measures in an aruco based custom app and we send everything to the bot vía secured whatsapp. We just have to say "attach all this to the latest order of Pepito" from whatsapp. Measures in measures, photos in photos... I even made an app to take more measures in office. If i need more, i take 3df and i rebuild the facade 3d model to study or animate. Old school designers + nano banano (the day it want to works) do the previews and are shared with the customer via a custom "wetransfer" (controlled to by the llm bot). So... Well... That give us more time which is the most expensive thing we have on little companies... After wasting TONS of hours on training the beast and development. That is our path since end of past year. Maybe u can take ideas for burn tokens on CC hahahaha. If u want the measures app or the pc version just tell me, i will upload to github.

Thats an absolutely awesome approach, if you could share the github repo with me that would be much appreciated, always looking for new ways to approach things.

 

[Boudica]

Post's 16-18.....…...

 

[Boudica]

Ah, another new account, ready to onboard / peddle their AI-powered wares. Asking a question which is the equivalent of "How can I train my AI to help your barber give your a better haircut? Then sell you on it? I've been struggling with all the technical issues barbers deal with on a daily basis."

"I see other trade industries miles ahead in the tech space." Um, so what did you find out about tech-space industries that apply to the site survey aspect of the sign trade? Do tell!

You emailing yourself -- ha! Tell your programmer to train you on something newer than a 1990's tech model.

So here ya go thatguyhazza --put this in your digital pipe and smoke it, and hopefully burn down the data center where you came from. I'll put it in ASCII to make it easier for you to understand.

....................../´¯/)
....................,/¯../
.................../..../
............./´¯/'...'/´¯¯`·¸
........../'/.../..../......./¨¯\
........('(...´...´.... ¯~/'...')
.........\.................'...../
..........''...\.......... _.·´
............\..............(
..............\.............\...