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The AI assistant for engineering consultancies, on WhatsApp

Between site visits, progress meetings and applications to close out, the time left for design keeps shrinking. Ugo keeps your diary, email and project documents in order: you type or send a voice note, and it asks you to confirm before every action.

Try UgoHow an engineering consultancy uses its AI assistant

An AI assistant for engineering consultancies shouldn’t do the design for you: it should clear away everything that stops you doing it. Ugo is a contact on WhatsApp. You type or send a voice note from site, and it uses the tools you’ve connected: your diary, your inbox, your project folders on Google Drive or OneDrive. It tells you what you’ve got tomorrow, finds the latest revision of a drawing and drafts the email to the client.

Sole practitioners, small partnerships, the design office of a larger consultancy: the job title changes, the day looks much the same. Site visits to book, site notes to write up, specifications to update, contractors and suppliers sending quotes, clients asking “where are we up to?”. Then the deadlines: design issues, planning and building control submissions, requests for further information. It all lands while you’re out of the office, and you usually catch up in the evening.

Let’s be clear about one thing: Ugo doesn’t do calculations, doesn’t size systems or structures and doesn’t sign anything. That stays your work and your responsibility. Ugo organises: diary, email, documents, reminders. Every email, appointment or new file goes out only after you tap “Confirm”. Further down you’ll find pages for building services engineers, electrical design engineers and mechanical design engineers, with examples for each discipline.

What eats into design time at an engineering consultancy

The design is the part you enjoy. The trouble is everything else.

Revisions that multiply

Rev P02, rev P03, “final”, “final v2”. Between the shared folder, email attachments and versions passed back by the client, finding the right drawing takes far longer than it should.

Site visits that don’t fit

A site visit in Leeds, a progress meeting in Bradford, a client asking for one more meeting. Reshuffling your diary in the car, phone in hand, is awkward and unsafe too.

Email from every direction

Clients, contractors, suppliers, local authorities, colleagues from the other disciplines. Requests for information arrive from building control, questions from site by email. One day out of the office and you lose the thread.

Site notes and specs written at night

The site visit report, the draft specification, the drawing issue letter. Repetitive documents that always end up after dinner, when the office is shut and your head is tired.

How an engineering consultancy uses its AI assistant

Short requests, typed or dictated between one site visit and the next.

The site visit report, dictated in the car

You leave site and, before setting off, send a voice note with what you saw. Ugo fills in your site report template on Google Drive with the project details and saves it in the right folder, ready to read through and sign at the office.

Skills used

Ugoonline

  1. 🎤 Voice message (0:52)

  2. Here’s what I’ll do on Google Drive: Create “Site visit report – Manor Road flats” from your template, in the folder “2026-031 Manor Road”, with: • Present: you, Dave Ferris (contractor’s site manager), Sarah Bates (managing agent) • Status: ground floor strip-out complete • To do: check slab levels by Friday Shall I go ahead?

The latest revision, found in a minute

The client asks what changed in the latest revision and you’re out of the office. Ugo reads the drawing register in the project folder, tells you which revision is current and what’s changed, then drafts the reply.

Skills used

Ugoonline

  1. What’s the latest revision on the Gale Logistics job?

  2. In the folder “2026-018 Gale Logistics” the most recent file is “Drawing register rev03.xlsx”, updated on 9 October. Compared with rev02: • Drawing ME-03: new route for the main distribution • Design report: section 4 updated

  3. Tell Gale that rev03 is in the shared folder and what’s changed

  4. Here’s the reply I’ll send to Mark Gale from your Outlook mailbox: “Hi Mark, revision 03 is now in the shared folder. Compared with the previous issue, the main distribution route has changed (drg ME-03) and section 4 of the report has been updated.” Shall I send it?

The site visit in the free slot

Someone asks you to drop by a site this week. Ugo checks your diary, gives you the free slots and the travel time with traffic, then creates the appointment once you confirm.

Skills used

Ugoonline

  1. Can I get to the Wakefield site on Thursday?

  2. On Thursday you have: • 9:00 meeting at the office • 14:30 client in Leeds city centre You’re free between 11:00 and 13:30. Right now it’s about 25 minutes from the office to Wakefield with traffic.

  3. Put it in at 11:30

  4. Here’s what I’ll do: Create the appointment “Site visit Wakefield” on Thursday from 11:30 to 12:30. Shall I go ahead?

Last week’s formal correspondence, every Monday

With a scheduled task, every Monday at 8 Ugo messages you first with a summary of last week’s formal emails: local authorities, contractors, your professional institution. For requests with a date, it creates a reminder in your diary.

Skills used

Ugoonline

  1. Good morning. Last week’s formal correspondence: 1. Leeds City Council building control: request for further information on application 2026-022 2. Lockwood Construction: interim valuation no. 3 to check 3. Your institution: reminder about your CPD record

  2. Set me a reminder for number 1 in two weeks

  3. Here’s what I’ll do: Create the appointment “Further information – application 2026-022 Leeds” on Monday 26 October at 9:00, with the text of the request in the description. Shall I go ahead?

A day at an engineering consultancy with Ugo

From the first site to locking up the office, without opening the laptop in the car.

  1. 7:50

    Scheduled task: Ugo sends you the day’s site visits and meetings, with the travel time to the first site.

  2. 9:30

    On site you dictate a voice note with your observations: Ugo drafts the site report in the project folder.

  3. 11:45

    A contractor asks about a clause in the specification. Ugo finds the paragraph in the document on Drive and drafts your reply.

  4. 13:15

    Over lunch you get a summary of the morning’s email and decide what needs an answer now.

  5. 16:00

    A client asks for a meeting next week: Ugo suggests free slots and creates the appointment once you confirm.

  6. 18:30

    Before you leave you ask what’s still open for tomorrow: design issues, replies pending, site visits to book.

What to connect to your consultancy’s AI assistant

CAD and calculation software stay where they are. Ugo works on everything around them.

Project folders on Drive or OneDrive

Choose your projects folder and Ugo searches and reads reports, specifications, drawing registers in Excel and PDFs. It only works in there: it can’t see the rest of your storage.

Office templates with {{client}}

Site reports, drawing issue letters, fee proposals: set up the template once with placeholders and Ugo fills it in with the project details, creating a new document for you to check.

The office mailbox

Any IMAP mailbox, from Gmail or Yahoo to your own domain, or Outlook with Microsoft 365. Ugo searches, summarises and replies, and anything it sends goes out only after you confirm.

Manufacturers’ websites

With Company websites, Ugo reads the websites of the manufacturers whose products you specify and answers on ranges and stated features, quoting the page. Handy for a first shortlist: data sheets remain the reference.

Notion or practice software with an MCP server

If you track projects in Notion, or your practice management software offers an MCP server, Ugo can connect and read job status without you opening it.

The skills to switch on

The most useful Ugo features for this job, starting with the first one to turn on. You switch them on from the portal in a few minutes.

Ugo for every specialisation

Every sector has different clients, products and rhythms: choose yours.

FAQ: the AI assistant for engineering consultancies

What’s the best software to run a small engineering consultancy?

There’s no single package. You usually need CAD, calculation software, something for projects and fees, and somewhere for your diary, email and documents. That last part is the weak spot, because it’s scattered across phone, PC and site. Ugo covers it from WhatsApp, connecting to the Drive, OneDrive, calendar and email you already use, without replacing your technical software.

Can Ugo do calculations or design checks?

No. Ugo doesn’t size systems, check structures or interpret standards for you: sign-off and responsibility stay with the designer. What it can do is find a document in seconds, read you a paragraph of the report or specification you wrote and draft the correspondence that goes with the design. The technical decisions are yours.

How do I manage design revisions without losing versions?

A simple rule works: one folder per project, a drawing register with revision codes and dates, and consistent file names with drawing number, revision and date. That way anyone can find the latest issue. Ugo reads the register on Drive or OneDrive and tells you in one message which revision is current and what changed, even when you’re on site.

Does it work for a self-employed consulting engineer?

Yes, that’s the most common case: on your own you’re designer, admin and accounts all at once. Ugo costs €50 a month or €550 a year, excl. VAT, with every skill included. In a practice with several people, each has their own subscription and connects their own accounts, while skills like Maps are shared across the team.

Are my clients’ documents safe?

Ugo only replies to verified WhatsApp numbers, its servers and database are in Frankfurt, and on Drive or OneDrive it only works in the folder you choose. It sends nothing and creates no files without first showing you what it’s about to do. For confidential projects you can connect only the project folder you want and leave everything else out.

Can I dictate site notes while I’m on site?

Yes. Send a voice note of up to 90 seconds: Ugo transcribes it on its own servers without keeping the audio and treats it as if you’d typed it. If you have a site report template on Google Drive or in Word with placeholders, it fills it in and saves the document in the project folder. Reading it through before you sign is still up to you.

Useful references

Associations, bodies and official sources for the sector: external websites, independent of Ugo.

You design, Ugo handles the rest

Connect your diary, email and project folders in a few minutes. From tomorrow you dictate site reports from site.

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