Drawings, site notes and client decisions beside the project tasks

The information problem in design and construction

An architecture or engineering project runs for months or years and passes through stages: brief, concept, schematic design, developed design, permit, construction documents, construction and handover. Along the way it produces hundreds of drawing revisions, site visit reports, meeting minutes, consultant comments and client decisions.

The difficulty is less about producing drawings than about knowing which revision is current and why something changed. A client approves a change on site; the note sits in a notebook. The structural engineer's comment arrives by email. The contractor works from last month's PDF. When a question comes up a year later ("who agreed to move that window?"), the answer is scattered across inboxes. The improve project visibility article describes the broader pattern.

One space per project

In Emitii each project gets a space, for example "Riverside Residence". The Project type turns on the Board and the Timesheet; switch on Docs & Files, which will carry most of the project record.

Drawings and documents

Docs & Files is organised however your office files a project:

• Folders by stage or discipline: "01 Brief", "02 Concept", "03 Permit set", "Structural", "MEP", "Site photos".
• File versions: upload revision B of a drawing as a new version of the same file, so the current revision is always on top and earlier ones stay in the version picker.
• In-app PDF preview for drawing sets exported as PDF, so a reviewer can check a sheet without downloading.
• Colour and tags to mark files "Issued for construction" or "Superseded".
• Links to large model files kept in your existing storage.

CAD and BIM files are stored and versioned like any other file, with the discussion kept beside them. For organising documents across projects, see how to organize company documents.

Site visits and decisions

A site visit report can be a doc in Docs & Files, with photos uploaded beside it and comments from the team. If AI is enabled for the space, Emit can turn written site notes into a tidy doc, or turn action items from the notes into to-dos, and it asks for approval before saving.

Client decisions deserve a permanent record. Posting them as a Post ("Decision: clerestory windows on the east elevation, agreed 14 May") gives each decision a title, a date, comments and a pin, and the space Activity feed keeps the trail.

Stages and tasks

The Board can follow the project's stages, with cards for each deliverable: "Concept options", "Permit drawings", "Structural calculations", "Door schedule". Labels mark the discipline; priority and due dates show urgency. A card waiting on someone else can be marked as blocked with a reason, such as "Awaiting soil report".

Tasks suits checklists: permit submission requirements, a handover checklist, snagging items after a site walk. Recurring site visits can be repeating events on the Schedule, with invitees and RSVP. The project management use case covers general project setup.

Meetings and minutes

Design team meetings, client reviews and site meetings go on the Schedule with invitees, and each event has its own comments. Write the minutes as a doc in a "Meetings" folder and list the actions as to-dos with owners, so nothing agreed in the room depends on someone's memory. Meeting rooms in your office can be booked from the event, and Emitii prevents double bookings.

Clients, consultants and contractors

Clients join the project space as guests and see only what the team shares, perhaps Posts, the meetings they are invited to and a Docs & Files folder of issued drawings. Docs follow their folder, so sharing "Issued" shares every drawing in it while working files stay internal. Consultant engineers or a contractor's project manager can also be guests on the relevant project. Guests talk with the team in Guest Pulse and in comments, so coordination stays on the project record. See guest access.

Fees and hours

Many firms work to fixed fees per stage. Staff log time in quarter hours against the project's cards, billable or non-billable, and submit weekly for approval. The By work view answers "how many hours did the permit set take?", and CSV export feeds your fee tracking. See timesheets.