Knowledge hub
Expert knowledge for the construction phase.
What is owed in construction supervision (service phase 8 of the German HOAI, 'Leistungsphase 8'), how an acceptance inspection runs in a legally sound way and what belongs in the site diary — written for people who need it on the construction site tomorrow.
Practical knowledge for digital construction execution.
The knowledge hub gathers all Open Experience expert articles in one place: the guide to HOAI service phase 8 with the detailed articles on site supervision, formal acceptance under VOB (German construction contract procedures) and the site diary, the articles on the route into the digital construction site — evidence, error prevention, digital twin —, the technology topics 360° documentation, BIM and artificial intelligence, plus honest comparisons with PlanRadar and Capmo. All articles are written so that the answer comes first and the details afterwards — for people and for search engines alike.
The guide to HOAI service phase 8
The starting point: all duties of service phase 8 on one page — with jump links into the detailed articles.
Service phase 8 (HOAI) — the complete guide
Basic services, site-diary duty, acceptance, warranty, liability — answer first, details afterwards.
Read the guideSite supervision — duties, liability, checklist
What the site supervisor owes, which trades must be monitored closely and how to keep the proof.
Read the articlePractical guides
Six topics that, in a dispute, decide between evidence and assertion.
VOB acceptance — process, report, reservations
Types of acceptance, the seven steps of formal acceptance, the mandatory contents of the report and the deadlines that follow.
Read the articleSite diary — duty, contents, evidential value
What belongs in it, who keeps it, digital or paper — and the five most common mistakes.
Read the articleWarranty periods — VOB/B versus BGB
Four years or five, when the period starts, suspension — and what a defect notice really extends.
Read the articleDefect notice — content, deadline, receipt
What belongs in it, which deadline is reasonable — and why receipt decides everything.
Read the articleDefect management — the VOB/B process
Before, at and after acceptance: one chain from finding to warranty.
Read the articleSecuring evidence — what counts in court
Reversal of the burden of proof, records that hold up, and independent evidence proceedings.
Read the articleWorking aids to download
Templates and checklists from construction supervision practice — as PDF and Word, no form. Samples, not legal advice.
LPh 8 duties checklist — ready to tick off
16 basic services in four phases, each duty with the evidence that must exist. PDF and Word, no sign-up.
Get the checklistDefect notice templates — three letters
Notice, grace period and substitute performance under VOB/B as a Word template with placeholders — and the explanation why every sentence is there.
Get the templatesAcceptance record template — seven parts
Parties, declaration of acceptance, defects with deadlines, outstanding work, reservations and start of the limitation period under § 12 VOB/B — as a Word file to fill in on the day.
Get the templateSite diary template — with a completed example
Daily report in ten sections as a Word form — and three completed site days showing what an entry looks like that counts in a dispute.
Get the templateDefect list template — Excel with status model
Nineteen columns following the Construction Defects data model, drop-down lists, a deadline traffic light — and twelve completed example defects across all statuses and three escalation levels.
Get the templateThe route to the digital construction site
The maturity path in three stages — from the defect that holds up as evidence to the living digital twin. Every stage pays off on its own.
The digital construction site in three stages
The overview article: what each stage changes, what you hold afterwards and why the order matters.
Read the articleLegal certainty in construction — stage 1
Why most site photographs prove nothing, and the four details a capture needs to carry.
Read the articleDefect handling — from the notepad to a tracked case
What a digitally recorded defect has to contain — and the three precise points where spreadsheets break down.
Read the articleDefect prevention — stage 2
How experience turns into an inspection plan, and why release before closing up is the most important appointment.
Read the articleError prevention in construction
The same error costs five different amounts at five stages — the timing is more expensive than the error.
Read the articleQuality assurance — stage 3
Virtual walkthrough, target-actual comparison and collaborative review on a fully captured as-built condition.
Read the articleTechnology for the construction phase
What lies behind 360° documentation, BIM and artificial intelligence — with a clear line between what runs in production and what is research.
The digital twin in construction
Not a 3D model but a continuously updated as-built record: data sources, use cases and limits.
Read the article360° construction documentation in practice
Capture points, rhythm, positioning — and what a complete walkthrough proves in a dispute.
Read the articleBIM for construction execution
Project structure from IFC, defects located in the 3D model, exchange via BCF — and where the model reaches its limits.
Read the articleArtificial intelligence on site
Three applications run in production, two come out of research — state of the art instead of buzzword.
Read the articleAutomatic defect detection
How cracks and scratches are found in the image, located and turned into a tracked case — findings from the ESKIMO project.
Read the articleLocalization on the construction site
Why GPS fails inside a shell construction, and how image recognition and model matching determine the position.
Read the articleInterplay with adjacent systems
Nobody builds inside a single system: weather data, the project file, mobile devices, time recording and the project room all border on site documentation. Five articles on the question of what belongs where.
Weather in the site diary
Which weather details a daily site report needs — and what a measurement proves in a dispute, and what it does not.
Read the articleFrom site inspection to the project file
Four handovers between the construction site and the construction records — and why something is captured twice at every one of them.
Read the articleIntroducing site tablets
Selection, operation, loss: what device rollouts actually fail on — and what they do not.
Read the articleDaily site report and time recording
The same hour, three purposes: what belongs in the report, what in time recording and what on the daywork sheet.
Read the articleCDE and the construction phase
What belongs in the project room, what only arises on site — and how the drawing revision that was built stays provable.
Read the articleSoftware comparisons and selection
Honest side-by-side comparisons with source and as-of date — including the question of when the competitor is the better choice.
PlanRadar alternative
Specialist versus generalist, own hardware, warranty module — and when PlanRadar fits.
Go to the comparisonCapmo alternative
Price transparency, hardware ecosystem, HOAI language — and when Capmo fits.
Go to the comparisonThe right strategy for software selection
Off-the-shelf or custom build: how to tell which process deserves which solution.
Read the articleAnswers and dates
When the question is short — or you would rather see it live.
Frequently asked questions
Twenty answers on the platform, pricing, security and getting started — in one place.
Go to the questionsWebinars
Every two weeks, one product in real use — 45 minutes, free of charge, with time for your questions.
Go to the datesExpert forum
Research and practice at one table: eight conference volumes on the digital transformation of construction, ISSN 2512-8108.
Go to the forumWhat we are writing
Everything from our former blog has been moved into the knowledge hub — revised, updated and with the answer first. What comes next is decided by what people ask.
- Brought over from the archiveThe stages series, the AI series, BIM, the digital twin, 360° documentation and software selection now stand as articles of their own — with sources instead of unsubstantiated figures.
- Kept up to dateThe comparison pages carry an as-of date; we review the professional guides whenever the underlying rules and regulations change.
- Coming nextTopics from day-to-day work in service phase 8 for which there is still no usable answer online.
Missing a topic? Write to us — we most enjoy writing about questions that are actually asked.
Frequently asked questions
Are the articles useful even without Open Experience software?
Yes. The guides first explain the professional situation — HOAI, VOB, BGB — and only then how a digital solution helps. You can read every article without using our software.
How up to date is the content?
The comparison pages carry an as-of date and are updated when prices or feature sets change. We review the professional guides whenever the underlying rules and regulations change.
May I quote from the articles?
Yes, with attribution and a link to the respective page. For press inquiries, please contact the management.
Where do I find the research results behind the products?
In the expert forum: the series "Digitale Transformation" (ISSN 2512-8108) documents the projects digiBau, ESKIMO and MAROON in eight conference volumes.
Questions an article doesn't answer?
45 minutes on your project — with people who know construction sites.