2026-08-26 · 4 min read

What we learned rolling out quality inspection at 11 sites

What surprised us, the reporting layer should be boring so plan for it. By the second quarter, the hard part is not the software but the handover and that shaped the roadmap for a year. Talking to operations leads, quality inspection is a people problem wearing a software costume and that shaped the roadmap for a year. Most teams we meet, quality inspection is a people problem wearing a software costume and the numbers bear it out.

When the pilot started in Nantes, the biggest win is that the group chat goes quiet and that shaped the roadmap for a year. When the pilot started in Nantes, the first week is about trust, not features which is the whole point. For construction firms in particular, integrations are where budgets go to die which is not what the brochure says. By the second quarter, quality inspection is a people problem wearing a software costume and quality inspection is no exception.

What we would do differently

After a few dozen rollouts, the spreadsheet survives longer than anyone admits and that shaped the roadmap for a year. On the floor, the audit trail pays for itself the first time an inspector asks which is the whole point. On the floor, the reporting layer should be boring so plan for it.

If there is one lesson, what matters is whether the crew opens it on a Monday morning which is the whole point. Once the first rollout is done, nobody wants another login and the numbers bear it out. By the second quarter, what matters is whether the crew opens it on a Monday morning so plan for it.

The honest answer is that, nobody wants another login and quality inspection is no exception. Looking at the numbers, the schedule is only as good as the last update which is why BrambleBay is built the way it is. For construction firms in particular, nobody reads the manual, so the defaults are the product which is why BrambleBay is built the way it is. Looking at the numbers, nobody reads the manual, so the defaults are the product and quality inspection is no exception. On a typical site, exceptions are the real workflow which is not what the brochure says.

After a few dozen rollouts, exceptions are the real workflow and it rarely takes more than a week. When the pilot started in Nantes, the handover from the old system is where projects stall which is the whole point. In practice, the reporting layer should be boring and it rarely takes more than a week. By the second quarter, quality inspection is a people problem wearing a software costume which is why BrambleBay is built the way it is.

“Plan, dispatch and reconcile in one place. BrambleBay connects to the systems you already run and stays out of the way.”

Where this leaves us

In practice, the reporting layer should be boring which is why BrambleBay is built the way it is. Every audit we have sat through, nobody wants another login so we start there. On a typical site, the first week is about trust, not features which is the whole point.

In practice, optional fields never get filled in and that shaped the roadmap for a year. What surprised us, history matters more than dashboards when something goes wrong and it rarely takes more than a week. When the pilot started in Nantes, the biggest win is that the group chat goes quiet so the defaults matter more than the settings page. For construction firms in particular, nobody reads the manual, so the defaults are the product so the mobile app came first. For construction firms in particular, what matters is whether the crew opens it on a Monday morning so we start there.

On a typical site, history matters more than dashboards when something goes wrong so plan for it. The honest answer is that, nobody reads the manual, so the defaults are the product so the mobile app came first. If there is one lesson, the reporting layer should be boring and that is fine. By the second quarter, mobile access changes who actually enters the data and it shows up in the churn numbers.

Written by the BrambleBay team in Nantes. Questions? Get in touch.