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Use Cases

Defect Management: Workflows in PlanRadar

Overview

This article walks through the defect process from Defect Management: Overview in the order it happens: set up once in the office, record defects on site, resolve them, check and close them, and hand the lists to subcontractors and client.

The example is the general contractor finishing twelve apartments before handover, with six subcontractor trades, one Defect form and one plan per floor. The steps assume you know how the individual features work. Each step links to the feature article.

Set Up the Process (Office, Webapp)

Done once by the project manager on account level. Takes about an hour the first time, and the result is reused in every project.

Create the Lists

  • Trade: Drywall, Painting, Flooring, Electrical, Plumbing, Windows.
  • Severity: Minor, Major, Critical. Skip this list if you use the built-in Priority field instead.
  • Apartment: 1.01 to 3.04, only if you want to filter by apartment in addition to the plan position.

Create the Form

Create a form named Defect and add the fields below. Keep attachments, comments and plan position enabled in the form settings. Enable the numbering sequence with the prefix D so that defects are numbered D-1, D-2 and so on. Enable locking so that a closed and signed defect cannot be changed.

Field nameField typeEdited byPurpose
TitleDefaultSite managerOne line: what is wrong, for example "Scratch on door frame, bathroom"
TradeListSite managerWhich subcontractor is responsible. Used for filters and the per-trade defect list
SeverityListSite managerMinor, Major or Critical. Decides the deadline and whether handover is blocked
AssigneeDefaultSite managerThe subcontractor group that has to fix it
Due dateDefaultSite managerDeadline to remedy, set by severity
StatusDefaultAllOpen, In Progress, Resolved, Feedback, Rejected, Closed
DescriptionLong textSite managerWhat exactly is wrong and what is expected. Written so that the trade can act without calling
ApartmentListSite managerOptional. Coarse location for filters and reports
Proof of completionAttachmentSubcontractorPhoto of the fixed work, uploaded by the trade
Checked onDateSite managerDate the fix was checked on site. Leave empty if the check was done from the photo

The photos of the defect itself go into the ticket's general attachments, which every user can add to. Read more in Create & Edit Forms, Field Types and Edit Form Settings.

Create the Roles

  • Site manager: tickets Create, View all tickets, Edit all tickets that the user can view. Full field permissions.
  • Project manager: as site manager, or simply an account owner or a user with full user permissions.
  • Subcontractors need no role. The subcontractor user type already limits them to their assigned tickets, to status and progress, comments, attachments and the Proof of completion field. They cannot set Closed.
  • Client or architect: the watcher user type, which sees everything and edits nothing. If they record defects themselves at the acceptance inspection, they need an in-house user with the site manager role.

Create the Subcontractor Groups

Create one user group per subcontractor company and add their users: Drywall Ltd, Painting Ltd and so on. Defects are assigned to the group, not to a person, so anyone in the company can pick them up and a change of foreman does not leave tickets orphaned. Read more in Create & Manage Groups.

Set Up the Project

If you run several projects with the same trades, save this project as a project template and start the next one from it. Read more in Use Project Templates in the Webapp.

Record and Assign Defects (Site, Mobile App)

The site manager walks the apartment with the mobile app open on the floor plan.

  1. Tap the position of the defect on the plan and choose the Defect form. The ticket gets its number, for example D-14.
  2. Take one or two photos. Close enough to show the defect, wide enough to recognise the spot. Read more in Add Attachments to Tickets.
  3. Fill in the fields:
    Title: "Scratch on door frame, bathroom".
    Trade: Painting.
    Severity: Minor.
    Assignee: the group Painting Ltd.
    Due date: according to the severity rule, for Minor the date of the re-inspection.
    Description: what is wrong and what is expected, for example "Frame scratched over 10 cm at handle height. Fill and repaint in RAL 9010."
    Speak the description instead of typing it if your hands are full. Read more in Fill Ticket Fields with Voice.
  4. Save. The status is Open. The painting subcontractor receives an email and a push notification with the plan position, the photos and the deadline.

Record one defect per ticket. Four scratches in one apartment are four tickets, even if they go to the same trade, because each one is fixed, checked and closed on its own.

Without signal, keep recording. The app stores the defects and syncs when it is back online. Read more in Working Offline.

Resolve (Subcontractor, Mobile App)

The subcontractor opens the app and sees only their own defects, filtered to Open and In Progress if they saved a filter.

  1. Open the defect, read the description and find the position on the plan.
  2. Set the status to In Progress when work starts. Optional on small defects, useful on anything that takes more than a day.
  3. Fix the defect.
  4. Upload a photo of the result into Proof of completion.
  5. Set the status to Resolved. The site manager is notified.

Two other paths:

  • The trade has a question, for example the specified colour is not available. Write a comment and set the status to Feedback. The site manager answers in the comments and sets the status back to Open or In Progress.
  • The trade disputes responsibility, for example the scratch was caused by the flooring trade after painting was finished. Write a comment with the reason and set the status to Rejected. The site manager decides: reassign to the other trade, or set back to Open with a comment explaining why the painting trade remains responsible.

Check and Close (Site Manager)

The site manager filters for Resolved defects, per apartment or per trade, and checks them.

  1. Check the fix. Minor and self-evident defects can be checked from the Proof of completion photo. Major and Critical defects, and anything that will be covered by follow-on work, are checked on site.
  2. If the fix is acceptable: fill in Checked on, set the status to Closed. Only in-house users can do this.
  3. If the fix is not acceptable: write a comment saying what is still wrong, set the status back to In Progress and, if needed, a new due date. The trade is notified and the loop starts again at Resolve.

Every status change, comment and photo is recorded in the ticket journal with user and time, so the history of a disputed defect is always available. Read more in Track Activity on a Ticket in the Journal.

Report and Hand Over

Weekly: Open Defects per Trade

Before the site meeting, filter the project for Open and In Progress defects, grouped by Trade, and sort by Due date. Overdue tickets are marked. Create a ticket report per trade as PDF and send it to the subcontractor. In Germany and Austria this report is the Mängelanzeige. Read more in Filter Tickets and Create a Ticket Report (PDF).

You can ask the AI Assistant for the same list in plain language, for example "overdue painting defects on floor 2", and save the result as a filter. Read more in Search for Tickets with AI Assistant and Create Ticket Filters with AI Assistant.

At Acceptance: the Defect List

  1. Walk the acceptance inspection with the client. Record new defects as described in Record and Assign Defects above. Existing open defects are already in the list.
  2. Filter for all Open, In Progress and Resolved defects of the project and create a ticket report as PDF. This is the acceptance defect list, the Mängelprotokoll or snagging list.
  3. Have the client sign. Either sign individual tickets, which locks each one, or sign the ticket report on the tablet. Read more in Sign a Ticket and Sign, Annotate & Share Ticket Reports in the Mobile App.
  4. Defects the client accepts as not being defects are set to Rejected with a comment and are excluded from the list by filter.

Where the client's formal release is part of your process, use ticket approvals instead of or in addition to the signature. Read more in Approvals.

After Handover

Defects reported during the defects liability period are recorded with the same form in the same project. Add the reporting date and the warranty status if your contract needs them.

Across Projects

Statistics answer the questions that come up at the end of a project: how many defects per trade, how many per apartment, average days to resolve, which trade is overdue most. Because Trade and Severity are list fields on one form, the same charts work on every project that uses it. Read more in Statistics.

Updated September 11, 2026