Site visits that depend on others
To get into the plant room you need the managing agent, for the loft the resident, for the boiler the maintenance contractor. Getting everyone to agree on a time means messages, emails and diaries to cross-check.
The AI assistant for building services engineers
You design heating, ventilation, air conditioning and plumbing systems, while chasing installers, managing agents and clients. Ugo keeps site visits, documents and email in line: you message it on WhatsApp, it prepares everything and waits for your “Confirm”.
An AI assistant for building services engineers helps where the work gets stuck: not in the load calculation software, but in everything around it. The survey of the plant room in a block of flats, the readings and nameplates to sort out, the report to issue, the Energy Performance Certificate to file, the installer asking for the updated distribution layout. Ugo lives on WhatsApp and works with your diary, your email and your project folders.
A building services engineer deals with a lot of people: managing agents who want to know how long a plant replacement will take, homeowners swapping a boiler for a heat pump, contractors asking for variations mid-job, equipment suppliers sending data sheets and quotes. And the work has a clear rhythm: the autumn rush when heating goes back on, plant replacements squeezed into the summer when systems are off, grant schemes such as the Boiler Upgrade Scheme with their own paperwork and dates.
Ugo doesn’t calculate heat losses, size plant or produce EPCs: those are your skills, under your name. Ugo finds documents, summarises email, books site visits and fills in your letter templates. Anything that changes something goes ahead only after you confirm. It only replies to your verified number and keeps data on servers in Frankfurt, so your clients’ documents stay in Europe.
The everyday headaches of a building services engineer
Between plant room, office and site, time gets lost in the gaps.
EPCs, reports and logbooks all over the place
Energy Performance Certificates, design reports, commissioning records, equipment data sheets. Documents you need years later, when the client sells or replaces the system, and nobody remembers where they ended up.
Installers who want everything now
The updated drawing, a pipe size, the valve model you agreed. The questions arrive by message and email while you’re on another site, and answering from memory is risky.
Rushes driven by grants and rules
When a grant scheme changes or a deadline approaches, requests all come at once. Keeping track of quotes, documents requested from clients and jobs in progress gets hard.
How a building services engineer uses an AI assistant
From the plant room survey to the letter to residents.
The plant room survey, with the managing agent
Ask Ugo when you’re free next week: it reads your diary, suggests two slots and drafts the email to the managing agent to arrange access to the plant room. When the reply comes in, it creates the appointment.
Skills used
I need to see the plant room at Aurora Court, when am I free next week?
Next week you’re free: • Tuesday from 9:00 to 12:00 • Thursday from 14:00 to 17:30 Shall I suggest these slots to the managing agent?
Yes, email Bates
Here’s the email I’ll send to Paul Bates (Bates Property Management) from your mailbox: “Hi Paul, for the plant room survey at Aurora Court I’m available on Tuesday morning or Thursday afternoon. Could you let me know which suits you best?” Shall I send it?
An EPC from a few years ago, found in seconds
A client is selling the flat and asks for a copy of the certificate. Ugo searches the EPC folder by name, address or year and tells you what it found: file name, date, rating shown. You reply to the client in a minute.
Skills used
Find the EPC for 14 Garfield Street, client Marshall
In the “EPC” folder I found: • “EPC_Marshall_14GarfieldStreet.pdf”, dated 18 March 2021, in the “2021” subfolder The energy rating shown in the document is D.
The reply to the installer, not from memory
The installer asks which manifolds you agreed. You send Ugo a voice note: it reads the materials list in Excel in the project folder and replies with the right lines and the file date. You pass it on knowing it’s the latest.
Skills used
🎤 Voice message (0:14)
In the file “Materials list rev02.xlsx” for the Riverside House job, under manifolds: • 1” underfloor heating manifold, 8 ports, quantity 2 • 800 mm recessed manifold cabinet, quantity 2 The file was updated on 2 October.
The letter to residents, from your template
To replace the calorifier you need to warn residents about the disruption. Ugo fills in your letter template with the building name, dates and works and saves it as a new document in the project folder.
Skills used
Draft the letter to Aurora Court residents: calorifier replacement, no hot water on 27 and 28 October
Here’s what I’ll do on Google Drive: Create “Notice of works – Aurora Court” from the template “Residents letter”, in the folder “2026-044 Aurora Court”, with: • Works: replacement of the calorifier in the plant room • Disruption: no domestic hot water on 27 and 28 October Shall I go ahead?
A building services engineer’s day with Ugo
Plant rooms, sites and the office, with a single contact on WhatsApp.
- 7:45
Ugo messages you first: the day’s site visits, addresses and the travel time to the first one.
- 9:15
In the plant room you dictate the boiler nameplates and notes: Ugo adds them to the project survey document.
- 11:30
An installer asks for the updated schematic: Ugo finds the latest revision in the project folder and tells you its name and date.
- 14:00
A homeowner asks for a quote to design a heat pump system: Ugo fills in your fee proposal template with their details.
- 17:00
You catch up on email: Ugo summarises messages from managing agents and contractors and flags those still unanswered.
- 18:30
You ask which EPCs you’ve filed this month: Ugo searches the folder and lists them.
What to connect to the AI assistant for building services engineers
Your building services design software stays yours. Ugo looks after documents and communication.
Your archive of EPCs and reports
A folder on Google Drive or OneDrive with certificates and reports split by year or by client. Ugo searches by name, address or date and reads the PDFs to answer you.
Materials lists and quantities in Excel
On OneDrive, Ugo reads the project’s Excel files, adds rows and updates cells once you confirm: handy for keeping the list of variations agreed with the installer.
Equipment manufacturers’ websites
With Company websites, Ugo reads the websites of boiler, heat pump and emitter manufacturers and summarises ranges and stated figures, quoting the page. Official data sheets remain the reference.
WhatsApp Business with installers and clients
If you use a WhatsApp Business number for the practice, Ugo can send clients and installers a site visit confirmation or a reminder, always after your “Confirm”.
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.
FAQ for building services engineers
Is there an app for HVAC engineers that helps with the paperwork?
For the formal paperwork you need your technical software and the official schemes and registers, which nothing replaces. What’s often missing is help with everything around it: remembering appointments, finding documents, answering clients and installers. Ugo works on WhatsApp and takes care of that part, connected to the diary, email and project folders you already use.
Can Ugo produce an EPC or a design report?
No. An Energy Performance Certificate needs a survey, calculations and an accredited energy assessor, and a design report needs your engineering judgement and sign-off. Ugo can file them and find them again, read you a figure from the PDF, fill in covering letters from your templates and draft emails to clients, which go out after you confirm.
How should I organise EPCs and commissioning records?
A structure that works: one folder per year and, inside it, files named with client, address and date. For commissioning records and logbooks, one folder per building is better, because they stay with the system over time. With that structure on Drive or OneDrive, Ugo finds any document with a question like “the EPC for Garfield Street”.
Which standards does a building services engineer need to know?
The CIBSE Guides, the relevant British and European standards, and the Building Regulations on energy and ventilation, such as Approved Documents L and F in England, with their equivalents in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The current versions are on the CIBSE, BSI and government websites. Ugo doesn’t interpret standards for you, but with Company websites it can read these bodies’ public pages and tell you where to find something.
Can I use Ugo in the plant room without typing?
Yes, with voice notes. Hold down the microphone in WhatsApp, dictate nameplates, readings or observations for up to 90 seconds and Ugo transcribes it all on its own servers, without keeping the audio. Then it adds the text to the survey document or creates the reminder, asking you to confirm first. If there’s no signal in the basement, the voice note goes as soon as you’re back upstairs.
How much does Ugo cost for a building services practice?
Ugo costs €50 a month per person or €550 a year, excl. VAT, with every skill included. If there are three of you in the practice, each has their own subscription and connects their own accounts, while Maps, Company websites and Website previews are shared across the team. There are no charges per project or per document.
Useful references
Associations, bodies and official sources for the sector: external websites, independent of Ugo.
- CIBSEThe Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers: guides, technical standards, registration and CPD.cibse.org
- BESAThe Building Engineering Services Association, the trade body for HVAC and building services contractors.thebesa.com
- Find an energy certificateThe official GOV.UK service to find and check Energy Performance Certificates for buildings in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.gov.uk
- InstallerSHOWThe UK show for heating, plumbing, air conditioning, ventilation and renewables.installershow.com
- BSIThe UK national standards body, with the British and European standards used in building services design.bsigroup.com
Less chasing, more time to design
Connect your diary, email and EPC archive in a few minutes. Book your next site visits with a message.
