Kramik manual

Kramik is a site assembly and construction management tool. It takes the building model your design team has already produced and plans how it goes together on site: the assembly sequence, who builds each part, and how the build is really going.

What Kramik is (and isn't)

What it does

1. Generates the assembly sequence from the model: stage by stage, part by part, with every element linked to the task that installs it. (If the model already contains a work schedule, that one is used.)
2. Visualises the build in 3D, day by day, so everyone sees the same plan: the office, the crews, the client.
3. Assigns the work to trades and people, and gives each crew its own list of tasks.
4. Tracks progress and forecasts the finish from what has really been done (optional per model).
5. Keeps the team in step with a shared feed, photos, and issues (BCF) that go back to the designers.

What it assumes

The model is the design team's, and it is taken as correct. Kramik never changes the design or the geometry; it only adds construction information (the schedule, trades, people and progress) to the IFC file it exports.

What it checks

Kramik checks the model for building it:

• the file opens and is IFC4 or IFC4X3 (IFC2X3 files show their inventory only);
• which elements sit outside any storey, and which elements no task builds yet;
• that the sequence is buildable: nothing goes in before what it bears on, and parts don't overlap in ways they shouldn't. What it finds can be sent back to the designers as BCF issues.

It does not check the design: structural adequacy, codes and standards, or whether the model meets a client's information requirements stay with the design team and their own checking tools. Kramik says "this can be built in this order", not "this design is right".

What it is not

Not a design or modelling tool, not structural analysis, and not cost estimating or procurement.

Getting started

1. Get an account. Either a colleague sends you an invite link (you join their company workspace straight away), or you request an account. Requests are approved by hand; once approved you get your own workspace with a 14-day free trial.
2. Upload an IFC file on the home page (drag it onto the drop area). IFC4 and IFC4X3 files can be scheduled; IFC2X3 files are inventoried only.
3. Generate a schedule. Pick a start date and press Generate. You get a work breakdown per storey, durations from element counts, links between tasks, and each element assigned to the task that builds it.
4. Refine it in the Gantt and the 3D view, run the sequence check, and export the 4D IFC or BCF issues.

The interface follows your browser's language: English, or हिंदी on devices set to Hindi. Everything you write into schedules and exports stays in English, so files read the same for everyone downstream.

Workspaces, roles and sharing

A workspace belongs to a company. Its members see all of its models. Each person has one role in it:

Inviting a colleague

Home page → Members → optionally type their email → choose a role → Create invite link. Send the link yourself (WhatsApp, email). It works once and expires after 14 days. If you entered an email, only that address can use it. Open links are listed under Open invite links, where you can revoke them.

Sharing one model with a client or subcontractor

On the home page press Share next to a model (or Share in the editor's top bar). Guests see that model only, never the rest of the workspace. They can be viewers or editors. Remove a guest from the same dialog.

Your account

Press your name at the top: change your name or password, or sign out on every other device. Forgot your password? Ask a site admin for a reset link.

What it costs

One price for the whole company: everyone in your workspace, every model, every project. People you share a model with — clients, architects, owners, the guests you invite to a single model — pay nothing. A new workspace gets 14 days free, with no card; after that it stays read-only until someone subscribes, and nothing is deleted. See the pricing page for the current price, and Subscription on the models page to start or manage it. Billing goes through Stripe, so card details never reach our servers.

Models

Folders: organise a workspace's models in folders, as deep as you like: New folder above the list, the folder tree on the left, and the path above the list to go back up. Drag models or folders onto a folder (or onto the tree or the path), or use Move. New uploads land in the folder you're in. Only empty folders can be deleted. Search looks through every folder. Folders only organise: everyone in the workspace sees all of them, and guests still see only the models shared with them.

Light or dark: the ◐ button at the top switches between automatic (follows your device), light and dark. Your choice is remembered on this device and on your account.

• Upload: editors and owners, up to 200 MB per file.
• Rename changes the name shown in the app, not the file.
• Delete (owners) removes the model for everyone. It can be restored from backup for 30 days: ask a site admin.
• The home page shows who changed each model last, and a feed of recent activity (uploads, edits, exports, issues).

New revisions and merging

Designers keep revising their models. Kramik keeps your construction work when they do.

• New revision: in the editor's Model files panel, press New revision next to a file and choose the designer's new IFC. Your schedules, tasks, trades, people and progress carry over: elements are matched by their permanent IFC IDs (GlobalIds), so it works however much the file changed.
• Merge another IFC: adds another discipline's model, such as the mechanical and electrical, to the same model so one schedule can cover everything. Units are converted, and the merged file's storeys are matched to yours by elevation (else by name). Each file stays separate in Model files and can get its own new revisions.
• Preview first: nothing changes until you press Apply. The preview shows what was added, removed, and moved or changed, and points out what needs a look: tasks that lose elements or are left with nothing to build, started or finished tasks whose elements changed (check them on site), and a merged file that doesn't line up with the model.
• New elements aren't in any task yet; they show as Not in schedule in 3D, where you can select them and add them to a task. The previous version is kept on the server, and every change is listed under Change history.

Files line up by their project origin, or by their real-world position if they are georeferenced. Ask designers to use shared coordinates; if a merged file sits far from the model, the preview says so.

Kramik never edits the designers' files: the originals are kept as they were uploaded.

Generating a schedule

The planner groups work per storey, bottom-up: foundations, structural frame, slab, walls, windows and doors, then finishes; each storey's structure waits for the slab below. Durations come from element counts at stated rates (the task description says which). Add planner notes to steer it, for example "precast frame, 6-day weeks".

Tick Replace existing schedules to start over; otherwise a new work schedule is added alongside the old ones and you can switch between them in the left rail.

Editing in the Gantt

• Click a task to open it on the right: name, WBS code, type, start, duration, milestone, description, trade and people.
• Changing a start or duration moves the tasks that follow it. Summary tasks take their dates from their subtasks.
• Add task (toolbar) adds a top-level task; Add subtask nests one under the selected task.
• Drag a bar to move the task, or drag either end to change how long it takes; a milestone diamond drags too. Everything snaps to whole days and saves as you drop it. Summary rows follow their children, so they can't be dragged.
• Zoom with Months / Weeks / Days. Switch the view between Gantt, Split and 3D.
• A small red or amber dot on a task means the sequence check found a problem with it.

Trades and people

Every task can have a trade (for example Structural steel, Masonry, Glazing & doors) and any number of people responsible for it. Both are saved inside the IFC file (as IFC actors and roles), so they travel with the export.

• New schedules get a suggested trade on every task that builds something, based on what the elements are and what they are made of. For older schedules press Suggest trades in the toolbar. Change any suggestion in the task panel.
• Add people in the task panel: pick a workspace member from the list, or type a name, an email, or Name <email>.
• Summary tasks can carry a trade or people too; their subtasks inherit them unless they have their own.
• Filter with the two menus in the toolbar: a trade, a person, or My tasks. The Gantt keeps only matching tasks (and their summary rows); in 3D everything else fades to an outline, so a crew sees exactly its own work.

Tracking progress

Kramik works as a planner on its own. If you also want to know how the build is really going, an editor ticks Track progress in the Gantt toolbar. It's per model and can be turned off again (recorded progress is kept).

How much you put in is up to you:

• Plan only: leave it off. The forecast is the plan.
• Supervisor updates: open a task and set Not started, In progress (with a percentage), Blocked (with the reason) or Done, with the date it happened. Even a weekly catch-up is enough.
• Crew updates: name people on tasks (see Trades and people). They update their own tasks from My tasks on their phone, even if they are only viewers or guests.

What you see

• Gantt: a dot per task (grey not started, blue in progress, red blocked, green done; summaries show their percentage), a thin bar under each task for when it really happened, and a dashed bar where the forecast differs from the plan (amber when late). The title shows the forecast finish and the slip.
• 3D: switch between Plan, Actual and Forecast. Actual shows exactly what has been marked done, so press play to replay the real build; Forecast shows how the rest is expected to go.
• Task panel: actual and forecast dates, how late it is, and every change with who made it.

How the forecast works

For each trade, Kramik compares how long its finished tasks really took with the plan. That pace (never below half or above three times the plan) is applied to the trade's remaining work; a trade with no finished tasks yet uses the overall pace. Tasks can't start before their planned date, before today, or before what they wait on. Finished tasks keep their real dates.

Progress is saved in the IFC file too (task status, actual start and finish, percent complete), so it goes with the exported model.

My tasks (for crews)

My tasks is made for a phone on site. It lists every task you are named on, in every model with progress tracking on, grouped as Blocked, In progress, Ready to start, Coming up, Later and Done, with what each task is still waiting on.

• One tap: Start, 25 / 50 / 75%, Done, or Blocked (say what's blocking it; the supervisor sees it straight away). Resume when it's cleared.
• After Done you can add a photo and a note straight to the model's feed.
• Finishing the last task of a stage posts a milestone to the feed, with a little confetti.
• See in 3D opens the model on today's date with your task selected.

Tip: add the page to your phone's home screen (Share → Add to Home Screen) to open it like an app.

Feed

Each model has a feed: press Feed at the top of a model to slide it open beside your work, with the number of posts on the button, and the home page shows all of a workspace's feeds together. Anyone who can open the model can post a message and a photo, optionally about the selected task. Automatic updates appear too: uploads, generated schedules, sequence checks, issues, tasks started, finished or blocked, and milestones.

Don't want it? Press Hide on the feed, or untick Show feeds (or just the automatic updates) under your name at the top of the home page. It's your setting only, on every device.

Dependencies

Open a task: Comes after lists what it waits for. Add a task it comes after, and choose how: after it finishes, starts with it or finishes with it, plus a number of days to wait (e.g. 7 days' curing). Change or remove links the same way. The task and everything after it move to suit. Links that would make a loop are refused, and summary tasks can't be linked (they follow their subtasks). Tick Links in the toolbar to see arrows in the Gantt. Links are standard IFC task sequences, so they go out with the 4D IFC.

Placeholders (work not designed yet)

The site often has to plan work before its design exists: an MEP package, a fit-out, a façade. Add a task and tick Awaiting design. Optionally say when the design is needed by, and what it will contain: the storey and the kinds of elements (ducts, pipes, walls…).

• Placeholder bars are hatched in the Gantt; a red flag means the design is late.
• The Awaiting design list in the left rail shows every open placeholder, soonest first.
• When a new revision or a merged file brings in elements that match, the preview offers to link them. Linking turns the placeholder into an ordinary task that builds them, keeping its dates, people and progress.

Site and weather

Weather strip: tick Weather above the Gantt to draw a band of daily highs and lows across the timeline, with cold days tinted, and the hours of daylight below it. The first 16 days are the forecast; after that it is the typical weather for that day of the year, with a dotted line where one becomes the other. Hover any day for its high and low, sunrise, sunset and day length. Sunrise and sunset are computed from the site's coordinates.

In the Site & weather panel, enter the site address. Kramik then shows the typical daily high and low for each month (ten years of records) and checks every concrete-type task: concrete, foundations, slabs, screed, grout, masonry and mortar, by trade or by what the elements are made of.

• A task is at risk when a day it's planned for is expected to be colder than the threshold: 5 °C by default (the usual cold-weather concreting line; change it per model).
• Within the next 16 days the check uses the real forecast (shown in red); after that, typical weather (blue).
• At-risk tasks get a ❄ in the Gantt and appear in the panel. When the forecast turns cold for a concrete task, the model's feed gets a post.
• With progress tracking on, the forecast dates are checked rather than the planned ones.

Plan cold-weather measures (heated enclosures, blankets, accelerators, longer protection and curing) or move the pour. Kramik flags the risk; your specification and supplier set the actual measures.

The address is looked up with OpenStreetMap, and temperatures come from Open-Meteo. Only the address and the site coordinates leave Kramik.

Sharing and exports

• Public read-only link: press Share on a model, then Create link. Anyone with the link sees the schedule, the 3D playback and the dates without an account, and can take the schedule as a spreadsheet. They can't change anything, post, see people or trades, or download the IFC. Give it an expiry (7, 30 or 90 days, or none), an optional passcode, and a note of who it's for; revoke it at any time. The list shows how often each link has been opened.
• Export menu (top of a model): the 4D IFC, the schedule as Excel or CSV (WBS, task, storey, trade, people, dates, days, predecessors, status, progress and element counts), and Print / PDF.
• Print / PDF lays the Gantt on A4 landscape, scaled to fit, with a title block; choose "Save as PDF" in your browser's print dialog. It prints what you have on screen, so collapse rows or filter by trade first.
• Issues go in and out as BCF, for the design team's own software.

The side panels

The panels down the left — model files, site and weather, building, generate, sequence check, BCF issues, feed, awaiting design and work schedules — fold away. Click a title to fold or unfold it; what you leave open is remembered on this device. A folded panel keeps its count beside the title, so you can see there are issues, cold days or new posts without opening it, and a panel opens itself the first time it has something to report.

The guided tour

Press Tour at the top of the models page or of a model to be walked through the app step by step: the bubble explains one thing at a time and the page dims around it. Where there is something to do — generate a schedule, play the sequence, click an element — the tour waits for you and moves on by itself when you do it; Skip this step passes it by. Steps that don't apply yet are left out. The tour opens by itself the first time you open a model, and Esc or End tour stops it.

The 3D sequence view

• Press play (or Space) to watch the building go up; drag the date slider to jump. Colours: built, installing today, next in the task, not started, and not in any task (translucent).
• Navigation cube (top right, as in FreeCAD) turns with the model. Click a face for a straight view, an edge for a view halfway between two sides, or a corner for a three-quarter view (26 views). The triangles turn the view 45° at a time, the curved arrows 90° left or right, the circular arrows show the other side, the house fits the whole model, and the menu has Isometric. Red, green and blue lines are the model's X, Y and Z axes. Front looks north; Top has north at the top.
• Search elements by name, type, IFC class, storey or GUID (commas mean "or"), then Show only or Hide.
• Mouse: hover an element for its name, type, storey, task and status. Click selects it and opens its card (type, IFC class, storey, task and dates, status, GUID); its task is marked in the Gantt. Shift- or Ctrl-click adds or removes elements; Esc or a click on empty space clears. Drag to orbit, right-drag to pan, scroll to zoom.
• Right-click (long-press on a phone) an element for: Show support chain (what holds it up and what it holds up, computed from the geometry), Select similar (same type, same IFC class, or same class on its storey), Zoom to, Hide, Hide others, Show all and Copy GUID. Hidden elements come back with the "hidden · Show all" button; hiding is for your screen only and isn't saved.
• Elements not in the schedule: click them (Shift-click for more) or use Select unscheduled, then New task or Add to the selected task.

Sequence check

Check sequence (left rail) tests the schedule against the geometry:

• Support order: nothing is installed before the elements it bears on.
• Clashes: elements that overlap in ways that aren't expected (fasteners, steel joints and cast-in parts are expected).

Click an issue to see it in 3D at that date. If a type of overlap is normal in your model, press Ignore on it; if a support link is wrong, press × on it in the element's support card. The check covers build order and geometry, not structural stability.

Issues and BCF

• Save view as issue keeps the camera, selection, filters and (optionally) the schedule date as a BCF issue.
• Export issues to BCF (in the check panel) turns every check finding into a BCF topic with a snapshot and the building as it stands on that date.
• Import BCF reads BCF 2.0, 2.1 and 3.0 from Revit, Solibri, BIMcollab, Navisworks and others; click an issue to restore its view. Export BCF writes all saved issues as BCF 2.1.

Exporting

Export 4D IFC downloads the model with its work schedules, tasks, dates, links, element assignments, trades and people, readable by other openBIM tools (Synchro, BlenderBIM/Bonsai, Navisworks via IFC, and others).

Subscription

• One flat monthly subscription per company workspace, billed in Canadian dollars through Stripe. Members, guests and models are unlimited.
• New workspaces start with a 14-day free trial. Owners can subscribe any time from the home page; the card isn't charged before the trial ends.
• Manage billing opens Stripe's page to change the card, see invoices or cancel.
• If the trial ends or a subscription lapses, the workspace becomes read-only: everyone can still open, check, export and download everything, but nothing can be uploaded or changed until an owner subscribes. Nothing is deleted.
• If a payment fails, Stripe retries for a while; the workspace stays editable with a warning.

For site admins

Account requests

Home → Admin (the badge counts requests waiting). Approve activates the account and creates its workspace (you can rename it) on a 14-day trial; Reject blocks it. People invited by a workspace owner don't need approval.

Workspaces and plans

Create a workspace for a company, then invite its first owner. Make free marks a workspace complimentary (never billed); 14-day trial starts or extends a trial. Paid status comes from Stripe automatically.

Accounts

Reset link lets someone choose a new password (valid 48 hours, once; it signs them out everywhere). Disable blocks an account immediately. Admins don't see a workspace's models unless they're members of it.

Backups

• The server disk is snapshotted daily by Fly (kept 14 days).
• An offsite backup to a separate storage bucket runs a few minutes after changes (at most hourly): the account database and every model with its schedules, check settings and issues. Every backup from the last 2 days is kept, then one per day for 30 days. Unchanged files are stored once, so it stays small.
• The Admin page shows the last backup and any error; Back up now runs one immediately.

Restoring (on the server, fly ssh console, then cd /srv):

python -m app.backup list                                  # snapshots, newest last
python -m app.backup restore-model <snapshot> <model id>    # bring back one deleted model
python -m app.backup restore <snapshot> /data/restore-check  # everything, into an empty folder

Stripe

Billing switches on when the server has STRIPE_SECRET_KEY, STRIPE_PRICE_ID and STRIPE_WEBHOOK_SECRET. In Stripe: create the product with a monthly CAD price, turn on the customer portal, and add a webhook to /api/stripe/webhook for checkout.session.completed, customer.subscription.created/updated/deleted and invoice.payment_failed. Until then nothing is ever read-only.

Questions

Is my model shared with anyone else?

Only with your workspace's members and the guests you invite to that model. Files are stored on Kramik's own server in Toronto (Fly.io) and in its backup bucket; the AI planner, when enabled, receives an element inventory (counts, types, storeys), never the IFC file.

Which IFC versions work?

IFC4 and IFC4X3 for scheduling. IFC2X3 files open for inventory; upgrade them to IFC4 to schedule.

Why does an element say it isn't supported?

Supports are found from geometry: something must bear under it or be fixed to it. Grout, slab-on-grade poured after the steel, and similar practice can confuse it; remove a wrong support link with × in the element's card.