AI for your painting or flooring business: more time on site, less office work in the evenings. We build AI for measuring, quoting, site work and the office.
Measurements on a notepad, the bill of quantities with pages of preliminaries, the customer’s colour choice by email, the notice of concerns because the screed is still too damp to lay on: in many painting and flooring businesses, all of this ends up on the owner’s desk, often after hours.
Painters and flooringOverview Page 1 of 3
AI Værk is your 360° partner for AI in mid-sized companies.
You work directly with us, the two founders, from the first question through to live operation. Together we pin down where AI can take work off your hands, and then we implement it.
We know the day-to-day work in painting and flooring businesses: measuring and billing under VOB/C (the German technical standards for each trade), render and external wall insulation on facades, notices of concerns about the substrate, CM tests and whether a screed is ready for the floor covering. We also know what holds things up everywhere: re-keying data from one system into another, or waiting for the one person who knows the answer.
You can start wherever you are: with an early idea, a workflow that takes too long, or a finished plan for us to implement.
Justus August and Elias Arndt
About us-
01
Consulting and AI audit
In a free initial call of about 30 minutes, we listen. In the €500 AI audit, we review your workflows, data and software, then agree with you where to start.
Pricing and AI audit -
02
Workshops and training
Your team practises on real tasks from their own day-to-day work and learns to use AI tools safely and check the results.
Workshops -
03
AI assistants and chatbots
Your team or your customers ask, your company knowledge answers: with sources, and only with what the person asking is allowed to see.
Internal AI assistants -
04
Process automation
Recurring workflows run on their own from intake to result, connected to the software you already use.
Process automation -
05
Custom development
We build custom software where off-the-shelf products fall short, for example a portal where property managers report flats for redecoration and see when the painters are booked in.
Custom development -
06
Operations and maintenance
We host, monitor and maintain the software and extend it when your workflows change.
Operations and monitoring
Where AI saves your business time
Measurements from dictation and a sketch
At the site visit, you dictate the laser measurements room by room and photograph your sketch. The software turns them into a room list with areas calculated to the measurement rules of DIN 18363, the VOB/C standard for painting and coating work: openings up to 2.5 m² are not deducted, and reveals are measured separately. For floor coverings, it works to DIN 18365, with skirting in linear metres. Any missing measurement is flagged in the list as an open question.
The bill of quantities before you quote
When the architect sends the bill of quantities as a GAEB file (the German exchange format for tenders), the software reads the items and the preliminaries. It shows which separately payable work (Besondere Leistungen under VOB/C) has no item of its own, such as masking or scaffolding for working heights over 3.50 m, and where the preliminaries fold it into the unit rates. Missing details and unclear substrates go on the list of tender queries, for example when the finish level for filling (Q1 to Q4) is not specified.
Screed readiness before laying
Before the laying date, the software brings together the CM readings (from the calcium carbide test for screed moisture), screed type, room temperature and humidity for each room. For heated screeds, it adds the marked measuring points and the logs of the functional heat-up and the drying heat-up. It checks the readings against the limit for the screed type, heating and floor covering, for example 2.0 CM-% for unheated cement screed. If a reading is too high, a log is missing or no measuring points are marked, the software drafts a notice of concerns (Bedenkenanmeldung), the formal written warning to the client. Whether to lay the floor is your call.
Use case
From friable plaster to a variation quote
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01
A finding in the stairwell
In the stairwell of a block of flats, the bill of quantities specifies two coats of paint on sound plaster. Once the walls are washed down, a wipe test shows the plaster on the whole second floor is friable and sands off at a touch. Your painter on site photographs the walls and records the finding in a voice note.
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02
Notice of concerns and extra costs
The same day, the software drafts the notice of concerns with photos and the notice of extra costs for stabilising and priming. You check both and send them to the client before any painting starts.
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03
A variation quote from the measurements
The 38 m² of wall area on the second floor comes from the stairwell measurements and is not guessed. Next to it, the software lists comparable items from the bill of quantities and your costings as a basis for pricing. You set the prices and send the variation quote from your trade software. The variations list in our software shows what is waiting with the client and what has been approved.
You decide where customer data and pricing are kept.
Your prices are a trade secret, and photos taken in people’s homes and your customers’ addresses are personal data. You decide where the software runs, and we set it up that way.
- A data processing agreement under the GDPR, signed before the software sees real data.
- Your customer data and your pricing are never used to train AI models.
- Every access is logged. You see who opened what, and when.
Connected to your software
In HERO, the job management software for trades, our software turns enquiries into contacts and projects with the photos from the enquiry, and writes colour approvals and records to the project logbook as text. In Craftnote, the site app, it creates projects, attaches photos and records, and reads working hours. From the project chat it reads text only; your team puts photos and voice notes in the Craftnote file storage, where the software reads them.
It reads bills of quantities as GAEB files. Items and quantities for the quote come back in the same format, as a file you import into WINWORKER, C.A.T.S. or any other trade software with GAEB import. For WINWORKER, the measurements for invoicing also come as an REB file, the German exchange format for measured quantities. Estimating and invoicing stay in your trade software.
Product names mentioned are trademarks of their respective owners. Mentioning them implies no partnership with the vendors and no endorsement by them.
Working safely with AI: training for office and site
Your team practises on an email that arrives in the middle of a job: what does the software handle, how much of it does the AI see, and what do you decide? The switch shows how customer data stays protected.
“Hello, the grey in the living room is too dark for us. Could you paint the sample area again in a lighter shade? In the hallway, we’d like smooth walls instead of woodchip. Can you still get the bedroom finished by Friday? Kind regards, Person 5207Julia Hansen, Address 1846Am Markt 9, Schleswig”
- Your server inserts placeholders
- Sent encrypted
- The cloud AI processes it
- Your server puts the names back
Only your server knows which placeholder belongs to which person.
- The message arrives
- The AI on your server processes all of it
Nothing leaves your business.
Paint a new sample area
Plan a new sample area in a lighter shade and offer it as extra work. Once the customer approves it, log the shade, sheen level and a photo in the colour approval record.
Offer smooth walls
Draw up a variation for smooth walls instead of woodchip in the hallway, and agree with the customer how smooth they need to be and under what light they will be judged.
Sort out the date
Schedule the sample area and the filling work in the hallway, then tell the customer whether the bedroom will be finished by Friday.
Questions before getting started
Does the AI price our quotes?
No. The software puts together items and quantities from the measurements and your item descriptions, and shows what is missing, such as stripping woodchip, filling or masking. You set the prices and send the quote from your trade software.
Does AI help with redecorating flats for property managers?
Yes. When a property manager reports a flat after the tenant moves out, the software creates the project with the address and photos, notes the preferred date in the logbook and pulls up the measurements from the last redecoration of the same flat. Before the next tenant moves in, it reminds you of the handover inspection with the property manager.
Does the software help with daywork sheets?
For agreed daywork, the software reminds you to notify the client before work starts. Afterwards, it turns the voice note and the recorded working hours into the daywork sheet, with hours, materials and a reference to the instruction, and records when the client received it. VOB/B sets the standard German terms for building contracts. Where a contract with a commercial or public client uses it, the sheet counts as accepted if it is not returned within six working days of receipt, Saturdays included.
Can the software help with funding for external wall insulation?
BEG is Germany’s federal funding for energy-efficient buildings. For external wall insulation (ETICS, WDVS in German), the software drafts the contract as the BEG application requires: it either takes effect only once funding is approved or lapses if funding is refused, and it states the expected date of the work. The owner applies with their energy efficiency expert before work begins. If the owner claims the tax relief under § 35c of the German Income Tax Act (EStG) instead, the software pre-fills the contractor’s certificate. You check and sign.
What does getting started cost?
The initial call is free. If the task is already clear, we move straight to a proposal. If a closer assessment is needed, the AI audit costs €500, fully credited towards implementation with AI Værk. If we find no useful AI application, the audit fee is waived; previously agreed expenses remain payable. Our proposal lists setup, licences, hosting and support separately.
How many evenings a month do you spend on measurements and quotes?
In the free initial call, tell us how a job runs at your business, from the site visit to the final invoice. We will show you where AI saves time, what that costs and how it connects to your software.