The paperwork is not the problem. Finding it is.
Going paperless on site is not a system to roll out. It is one printed code, in the one place where something goes wrong every week — and nothing else changing until that has earned its keep.
Where paper actually costs you on site
The drawing lives in the van
So the answer to a two-second question is a walk to the van, and the walk is made by whoever is least busy rather than whoever knows. On a small site that happens several times a day and nobody records it as a cost.
The office holds the only copy
Method statements, certificates, delivery notes — filed correctly, in a building nobody on site is standing in. Whoever needs one rings up and interrupts the person least able to be interrupted.
The sheet gets filled in on Friday
A sign-in sheet or a cleaning log completed from memory at the end of the week is not a record of anything. It looks like paperwork, it costs time like paperwork, and it proves nothing at all.
What is worth taking off paper first
Four documents cover most of what goes wrong on a small site. Each one already exists in your office — the change is where it can be reached from, not what it says.
Drawings and method statements
One code per area or per package. Replace the file, and the code already printed serves the current revision — so no superseded sheet stays in circulation.
Who is on site
A code at the gate instead of a clipboard. Scanned on the way in and out, timed by the server, with the position checked before it counts.
Permits for high-risk work
Signed at the work area rather than back at the cabin, time-stamped, and expiring on their own. There is a free printable template if you are not ready for the code version.
Rounds, checks and readings
Cleaning rounds, security checks, meter readings. Each entry carries the time it actually happened, which is the whole difference with a sheet on a wall.
Not sure where a code belongs on your site? The place-by-place guide goes from the gate to the plant room, and the waste and environmental paperwork has a page of its own.
This is not the software that runs your business
Quotes, invoices, payroll, CIS: not here, and not planned. What this handles is the paperwork that has to be reachable at the work face — drawings, permits, and the record of who did what and when. It sits alongside whatever you already use for the money side.
It also does not work where there is no signal, and it does not make you compliant with anything. Both of those are worth knowing before you start rather than after.
An afternoon, not a project
Print one code, stick it where the problem is, and see whether it gets scanned. The free templates below need no account at all — they are a fair way to find out whether the paper version was the problem in the first place.
Going paperless — frequently asked questions
Do I have to put the whole site online?
No, and we would advise against it. Take one thing that goes wrong often — usually the sign-in sheet or a permit — put a printed code there, and leave everything else exactly as it is. If that one code has not earned its keep within a fortnight, you have lost an afternoon rather than committed to a system.
Do the lads need an app, or a login?
Neither. Whoever scans a code sees the page immediately: no app, no account, no email address. That matters more on a small site than anywhere else, because half the people on it are there for a day and would simply not bother.
Does this replace my accounts or estimating software?
No. Quotes, invoices, payroll and CIS are not what this is. BuildQR handles the paperwork that has to be reachable at the work face — drawings, permits, records of who did what and when. It sits alongside whatever you use for the money side rather than replacing it.
What if there is no signal in part of the site?
Then the code does not open there, and we would rather say so than pretend otherwise. Scanning needs a connection, and basements and steel frames are exactly where phones struggle. The printed sheet still wins in those spots; the code replaces the folder in the office, not the copy you keep where you already know there is no signal.
Who owns the records if I stop paying?
You do, and you can export them. Registers export in full as CSV rather than as a capped preview, so leaving does not mean leaving your records behind. That is deliberate: a record you cannot take with you is not really yours.
What does it cost to try?
Nothing. The free plan covers the first codes, including document codes, site sign-in and the site log, and it does not ask for a card. Paid plans raise the volume and the retention, and add work permits. The pricing page has the detail.
Our other free tools
Built for site work, with no sign-up: the document is produced in your browser and you print it.
Hot work permit
Fill in the form, download a permit that is ready to sign on site.
Site sign-in sheet
A printable sign-in sheet, plus the geofenced QR code version.
Site log sheet
A printable log for cleaning rounds, checks and readings.
RAMS sign-off sheet
Record who was briefed, on which revision, and what they asked.
Site induction form
Your site rules to display, with the register of who has read them.
Goods received note
Filled in and signed at the delivery: quantities, condition, discrepancies.
Equipment maintenance log
Identity of the machine, documents kept with it, and the service history.
Concrete volume calculator
Work out how much concrete to order — in cubic metres or cubic yards.
Scan me sign
The printable A4 sign, with your own QR code dropped straight in.
Everything else on site
Free templates you can print today, and the QR code version for the day paper stops being enough.
Hot work permit
The free template to fill in and print — and the QR code version signed on site.
Site sign-in
A printable sign-in sheet, plus the geofenced QR code check-in.
Site log sheet
Cleaning rounds, security checks, readings — printed or QR.
RAMS sign-off
Who was briefed, on which revision, and what they asked — printed or QR.
Site induction
The site rules read and acknowledged at the gate — printed or QR.
Goods received note
Quantities, condition and two signatures at the delivery — printed or QR.
Equipment maintenance log
Make, serial number, warranty and service history — printed, or stuck on the machine as a QR.
Concrete calculator
How much to order, in cubic metres or cubic yards, with quantities.
Site safety documents
Method statements and permits reachable where the work actually happens.
QR code types
What each type does on site, and which paper it replaces.
Where codes go
Gate, hoarding, welfare unit, risers — place by place, with a free sign.
Going paperless
What is worth taking off paper on a small site, and what is not.
Environmental records
Skip tickets, segregation instructions and product data, kept at the compound.
Ready to get started?
Your first QR code takes about two minutes
✓ No credit card required•✓ free plan for good, or a 14-day trial•✓ Email support, answered by a person
BuildQR makes site documents reachable at the point of work and records who consulted or signed them. It is not accounting, estimating or payroll software, and it does not certify your site against any national regulation.