APROPLAN and GenieBelt merge to create a new force in construction technology

We are extremely proud to announce that GenieBelt and APROPLAN have agreed to enter into a merger agreement that will give customers an end-to-end digital solution covering the construction phase with on-site planning, progress communication, and on-site follow-up communication.

LetsBuild will be our new name, upon the completion of the merger. We believe that this name represents perfectly our shared values and vision for accelerating the transition of the industry and the construction phase, in particular, to the digital era.

For the past five years, GenieBelt CEO Klaus Nyengaard and APROPLAN CEO Thomas Goubau have met on a regular basis to discuss developments in the construction technology sector and how to increase efficiency and minimize – rework, miscommunication and errors.

The user base totals thousands of companies using GenieBelt and APROPLAN around the world, and they will now benefit from getting the strengths from both project planning and quality assurance.

Klaus Nyengaard, GenieBelt CEO, co-Founder and Partner, will be appointed as the new CEO of the Danish-Belgian company, and Thomas Goubau, the Belgian and former CEO of APROPLAN, will be CCO of LetsBuild.

In 2018, GenieBelt and APROPLAN had combined growth of 75 percent, and the ambition is to continue this development.

Table of Contents

Toggle

“We share the vision that ‘simple to use’ products will bring immense value to the construction sector. When we met in October 2018 we concluded that the way to realise this vision was to unite our companies to create a broader product and cover more needs in the market” – says the LetsBuild CEO Klaus Nyengaard.

“We could have decided to just cooperate and integrate features from each other. But we wanted to make sure that we were totally aligned in the market since our products complement each other extremely well and our companies have shared values. Our existing customers will have access to a broader range of innovative solutions to cover all core processes in the built phase” – says LetsBuild CCO Thomas Goubau.

Together, both companies are used in thousands of projects in more than 35 countries and have offices in Copenhagen, Brussels. London, Paris and Lodz.

LetsBuild rides the wave of change

Using pen and paper to manage on-site construction processes is inefficient and causes significant errors due to miscommunication, loss of information and a ton of admin work.

APROPLAN and GenieBelt were both formed from a vision to replace the use of pen and paper for managing on-site construction processes, since it causes miscommunication, lost information and a great administrative load.

APROPLAN chose to tackle on-site follow-up communication by digitising snagging, drawings and checklists, GenieBelt focused on on-site planning and progress communication giving customers a real-time schedule and progress reporting,.

The APROPLAN – GenieBelt merger follows a consolidation trend in the ConTech industry in recent years. There is a very promising future ahead for construction technology startups and the rise of LetsBuild is a step in that direction.

“Our customers tell us that switching between tools to manage processes is a pain on a busy site, and makes data collection cumbersome. Their dream is to have one simple-to-use solution where they can keep track of planning and progress, access all documents and support processes such as snagging and quality checking. That is exactly what we will provide with LetsBuild”  –  says Thomas Goubau.

Construction is an extremely complex business with a plethora of different players and processes and it doesn’t take much to realise that efficient communication and collaboration is key to a successful project. This is, also, where the integral role of data comes to light. The emergence of an open data ecosystem consisted of new innovative tech players seems to be around the corner, if not already here.

At LetsBuild, we want to be part of this integral change and transform the construction industry where it will make the biggest difference – on site. After all, we are on a mission: to build the future of construction. And this can only be done through the digitalisation of the construction phase.

As McKinsey points out, a digital culture is a decision culture. Simply put, a digital strategy is there to help you with adding more accuracy to your decision-making process. It’s the key to many of your day-to-day challenges as a construction project develops.

GenieBelt in a nutshell

Before we dive into more details with regards to the benefits that LetsBuild will bring to the construction phase and to your company, let’s have a quick look at what GenieBelt can do for your projects. In brief, GenieBelt connects the programme to project teams in real time, enabling everyone to communicate and collaborate effectively and rally around the plan.

Real-time schedule

With their shareable schedule, any changes made are reflected instantly and members can have text based conversations in real time against each scheduled task.  

• Interactive & shareable Gantt chart for desktop & mobile
• Assign tasks to project members and teams
• Schedule importing from MS Project / Primavera / Powerproject
• Full audit trail for each scheduled task
• Real-time Resource Management

Field progress reporting

With their mobile field reporting app, updating progress straight into the project schedule has never been easier.

• Instant communication from site to office
• Bring the schedule into the hands of the field workers
• Report progress, changes and problems from smartphones
• See immediately where workflows are ahead or behind.
• Get the right information to the right people, fast.

Business dashboards

With their Business Dashboard you get a top-down overview of all your projects and gather all the data into actionable reports and insights.

• Overview across all projects
• View project progress, delays and red flags in real time
• Complex data presented simply
• Decision making made easy

An insight into APROPLAN

APROPLAN brings together all the site stakeholders around the objectives of deadlines, budget, and compliance through a number of powerful features:

Snagging/ punch lists/ points

Easily add new points using photos, comments and annotations on the latest version of the plan. With an exhaustive view of all current and future tasks, improve visibility and communication on your site.

• Tracking the statuses of your snags/punchlists
• Assign statuses and levels of urgency to the various issues
• Distribute tasks to responsible stakeholders
• Get the complete and detailed history of your tasks
• Close out projects

Checklists and forms

All of your field reports, forms and checklists on your tablet. Collect accurate information through an automated checklist process:

• Library templates of forms
• Standardised inspections
• Customisable inspection forms
• Mobile inspections on site
• Task relevant checklists
• Notifications on the status of checklists in real time
• Immediately show checklists status across projects

Document and drawing management

With an easy-to-use application, guarantee transparency of construction projects and allow all employees to keep track of any changes to the site in real time.

• Central File management for all your documents and drawings
• Add notes using photos and comments on your drawings
• View and compare plan versions automatically
• Ensure you are always working to latest version of the plan
• Easily spot modifications to be made on your site.

How LetsBuild can help you

GenieBelt and APROPLAN embark to this journey with the ambition to deliver a complete end-to-end solution for managing your construction project on site. Without further ado, here are some of the main areas where LetsBuild can make a big difference for your business:

Design management

Design management is definitely one of the areas where LetsBuild can prove to be valuable. And this is how we can achieve this:

• Visualise drawings on site using mobile devices
• Add notes using photos and comments on drawings
• View and compare plan versions automatically
• Ensure you are always working to the latest version
• Easily spot modifications to be made on site

Scheduling

As Matt Ghinn, Project Director at VolkerFitzpatrick, smartly suggests, within the construction industry “Programme is king”. In LetsBuild, we have done our best to take scheduling to a whole new level by offering to our customers the following features:

• Interactive and shareable Gantt chart for desktop and mobile
• Assign tasks to project members and teams
• Track progress in real time
• Instantly notify workers and teams of changes
• Get full audit trail for all schedule tasks

Quality control

Ensuring that your project is living up to the expectations in terms of quality is one of our main priorities in LetsBuild. For that reason, we have invested a lot of attention in the following characteristics:

• Conduct remote site inspection using pictures and comments shared in app
• Update and track live snagging/punch lists across projects to expedite project closure
• Assign tasks and distribute them
• Get the complete and detailed history of your tasks

Contract management

Contract management covers a number of different phases (pre-contract, contract execution, post-award) and it is a very demanding area to deal with. LetsBuild can add more precision to the entire process since now you can:

• Update and track contract-compliance checklists
• Choose from a library of form templates
• Provide updated record of all project updates
• Conduct standardised inspections

Performance management

Construction projects are known for their perplexity, as they involve a vast number of tasks and stakeholders who come together with the ultimate goal of delivering results both on time and on budget. Naturally, the more agents involved the tougher it gets for everybody to be on the same page. LetsBuild stands by your side offering you full control over the progress of your projects:

• Monitor progress and performance across teams and work areas
• Benefit from automated dashboards updated in real time from real project data
• Get full project and portfolio overviews
• Immediately show checklists/inspections status across projects

Some more benefits of using LetsBuild

We have already presented most of the areas where the use of LetsBuild will have a great impact on the construction phase, but the benefits don’t stop here. In short, here are some more benefits of using LetsBuild in your construction projects:

• Save 15-20% of your time with a completely digital environment
• Digitise all your forms and workflows
• Friction-less communication across workflows and projects
• Gather data from all existing processes in one place
• Track the status of your project anywhere and anytime
• Cut down on-site inspection admin burden
• Reduce risk and cut project costs by 7%
• Increase project insight and learning
• Increase worksite efficiency by 50%

We are on a mission!

Responding to a rising need to deliver an all-in-one solution, supporting on-site planning, progress communication, snagging, drawings and checklists, GenieBelt and APROPLAN have taken on the mission to deliver an end-to-end solution to the global construction industry.

Construction needs to learn how to work smarter and more efficiently on site and at LetsBuild we embark to this exciting journey with the strong belief that we can live up to the expectations and make it happen.