Wolfgang Gerlach has worked as an engineer since 1978 and founded his own engineering consultancy in 1987. He has been a public appointed chartered surveyor since 1993. In this role, he visits and reports on building damage after storms, hail, fires or flooding and takes care of the final inspections of buildings for his clients. In the course of his work, he has inspected buildings with a total value of €3 billion. In one of his most extensive projects, he had to record 193,000 defects.
Wolfgang Gerlach encountered PlanRadar for the first time in 2018. He was commissioned to conduct an external defect inspection of an extensive renovation project in a commercial building in Frankfurt, Germany. The building was managed by Kamper, an Austrian general contractor. He was asked to create tickets using the app via an iPad. “I’ve had my own PlanRadar licence since 2020 and using anything else would be unthinkable. That’s because using the software is easy and intuitive — my first training session took less than 30 minutes. The service from PlanRadar’s team is also very good; even small customers are really valued,” said Wolfgang Gerlach.
Wolfgang Gerlach had already dealt intensively with the question of how to document building inspections clearly, quickly and efficiently and had developed his own Excel spreadsheet for his inspections. But he needed 6 columns just to record the exact location of a defect. With PlanRadar, that is no longer necessary – all plans are stored on the platform, a digital pin is precisely placed on the plan, a photo is added and everyone involved knows about the new task. “There is no need to carry thick folders or large cameras – everything is with you via the app,” explained Wolfgang Gerlach. He sees another significant advantage in the fact that clients can see the status of the project for themselves at any time without having to be on site themselves.
