# The five time sinks at architects and engineers

> Checking tenders, hunting for drawings and minutes, writing up meetings, watching deadlines, assembling references.

- Kategorie: Industry knowledge
- Autor: Robert Schröder
- Letzte Prüfung: 2026-09-20
- Basis: Präsentation Folien 02 und 07
- URL: https://saits.ai/wissen/zeitfresser-architekten-ingenieure

Time is not lost in the core business, it is lost in coordination.

## The working day today

Design and planning happen between meetings. In between lie searching for documents, sorting e-mail, transferring information and chasing things up. The planning itself gets what is left.

## Time sink 01 — Checking tenders

Spotting the relevant tenders means reading many irrelevant ones. The documents are long, and the criteria are scattered through them.

Hours per week: varies from client to client.

## Time sink 02 — Hunting for drawings and minutes

Drawings, contracts and minutes sit in project folders, e-mail attachments and on drives. People search by memory, not by structure.

Hours per week: varies from client to client.

## Time sink 03 — Writing up meetings

Every meeting produces tasks and decisions. Noting them down, assigning them and passing them on regularly takes more time than the meeting itself.

Hours per week: varies from client to client.

## Time sink 04 — Watching deadlines

Dates, deadlines and project status are spread across projects and parties. Anyone who wants to keep track of them checks them by hand.

Hours per week: varies from client to client.

## Time sink 05 — Assembling references

For every application the same reference projects are searched for, described and formatted all over again. The content exists, it just cannot be found.

Hours per week: varies from client to client.

## What can be automated

Tenders · Documents & knowledge · Communication · Project controlling · Bids & references

**01 Finding & qualifying tenders** — Spot relevant tenders, read the documents and pre-sort them against your criteria.

**02 Document & knowledge management** — Structure drawings, contracts, minutes and project knowledge centrally and make them quick to find.

**03 Project communication & minutes** — Summarise meetings, capture tasks and decisions automatically and assign them.

**04 Project controlling & deadlines** — Watch budgets, hours, dates, deadlines and project status automatically and evaluate them.

**05 Bids, applications & references** — Carry content over from existing data and assemble matching reference projects automatically.

## What stays with people

Approvals, negotiation and judgement. The design, the professional assessment and the decision on which application is submitted stay with you.

How SAITS automates these five processes: [AI for architects and engineering firms](/branchen/architekten-ingenieure).

Whether one of them is worth it is shown by [four tests](/wissen/lohnt-sich-diese-automatisierung). How the first workflow comes about: [How a first workflow goes live in four weeks](/wissen/erster-workflow-in-vier-wochen).