How much of the repetitive paperwork in a fit-out project can be drafted digitally? Plenty, reckons Dariusz Kubies MCIOB, who has just launched a new software package which drastically speeds up document creation for the key roles in a typical scheme
Drawing from 20 years’ experience working in construction and with no previous coding experience, Dariusz Kubies has developed 140 tools for UK fit-out, a package of software designed to draft the repetitive paperwork on projects, from planning and programming through to the RAMS, minutes, client reports and KPIs.
CM Digital: Take us through your career history
Dariusz Kubies: I arrived in London on a 24-hour coach in July 2005, aged 21, with barely any English and no construction English. I was born in southern Poland. My first job was as a steel fabricator’s assistant in south London. I learned the language and the construction words on the go.
Later, I became a supervisor at Overbury, running a night shift at King’s Cross, then site manager at Lincoln’s Inn. I became a project manager, from a fit-out at The Shard onwards, with projects including the Royal Courts of Justice and the Science Museum. I also worked at Paragon (which became Interserve and Tilbury Douglas) and BW: Workplace Experts.
In October 2024, I moved to Poland, and in January 2026 returned to UK fit-out, remotely. To give back, I wrote guides for site managers on Asta and on JCT, and Still Standing, a mental health guide raising money for Mates in Mind.
“AI can still get things wrong, which is why every draft needs checking by a competent person.”
This year I started my own business, FitOut Insider. I prepare tender documents for fit-out contractors – programmes, logistics plans and tender submission documents – remotely, with no site attendance and no management or supervision of the works. Alongside that, I built the software behind it: 140 tools for UK fit-out, launched on 1 October.
What provoked you to develop software yourself?
Repetition, and an industry slow to adopt new technology. All through a project, from tender to the end of the defects period, the same documents were written again and again, from a template at best: the construction phase plan, the programme, the RAMS, the minutes, the client reports and KPIs. New forms did not fix it: someone still had to complete them. In my experience, the paperwork still lives in Word, Excel and email.
Then AI got good enough to take that on, once it could work from contract and H&S information and my own knowledge. I started with a cost calculator, then the programme tool, then H&S, and new ideas came fast.
How long did it take and what were the major challenges?
Six months, mostly evenings and weekends, 140 tools. Not one line of code written by hand. I asked AI how long a developer would need to build a platform like this. Its answer was years. The hard part was finding and fixing what was wrong, not the building.
I used Claude Code, an AI coding tool, for the whole process: I described each tool in plain English and checked the result against what I know from site.
The hardest part is the programme creator. It has to read the scope and brief properly, set start on site and completion dates correctly, and write the constraints and brief with logically linked tasks.
Give the same scope to 10 planners and you get 10 different programmes, so the tool gives a draft to work from, not the one right answer. The tools are built to write NOT PROVIDED BY AUTHOR where a fact is missing, rather than inventing one. AI can still get things wrong, which is why every draft needs checking by a competent person.
How has your experience as a project manager informed your vision and iteration of the software?
Many tools start from a job I have done by hand, many times over 20 years: a programme, a RAMS review, a construction phase plan, O&M manuals, a client report. The test is, would I have produced this and could I use it on site?
Take the programme. Built the old-fashioned way, from the brief and drawings, it took me one to two days. Now a first draft usually takes a few minutes, and then I check it. It exports to Asta, MS Project and P6.
I iterate the same way: run a tool on a realistic scope, compare it with what I would have produced, and fix what it misses. Since release, the first users’ feedback has added new ideas, and the next batch of features comes from it.
“This is only the beginning of my journey with the platform. I plan to take it much further and to expand it over the next few months.”
Take us through the key features of your software
140 tools for UK fit-out covers everything from tender to the end of the defects period. It is for the whole fit-out team, including subcontractors, with tools for each role: project manager, site manager, project director, commercial, design, H&S, environmental and MEP managers, tender team and document controller.
O&M manuals. O&M Manual Builder sets out an eight-volume manual and drafts the planned maintenance schedule and handover checklist, for you to complete and review
Money. Payment Applications counts the due date, payment notice, final date for payment and pay less notice from the dates you enter. Interim Valuation, Retention Tracker and Purchase Ledger cover the rest.
RAMS. Upload a RAMS and the reviewer gives a suggested review against a 60-point checklist. The decision to accept it stays with you or your competent person.
Tender. Tender Package Builder drafts the scope and evaluation matrix, and Bid Comparison sets the bids side by side.
Client Portal. The client gets a read-only link to what the PM chooses to share. There is no account and no sign-in, just an optional password and an expiry date.
Everything it produces is a draft. You review it and you stay the competent person.
Have any contractors used the software yet? If so, whom, and what is their feedback?
It’s early days: I released it on 1 October, and so far it is individuals trying it on their own work. A few people have used it and feedback has been positive so far. Version 1.1 is live, with a KPI report and a safety moment added.
This is only the beginning of my journey with the platform. I plan to take it much further and to expand it over the next few months. If you run fit-out projects, try it on one of yours.
