Integration for the competent authority file under the Wkb
Under the Wkb (Building Quality Assurance Act), a building may only be taken into use once the competent authority file has been submitted at least ten working days beforehand. That means the handover of the keys depends on a file, and that file consists of evidence that should have been created on site months earlier. If you compile it at the end, you only discover then what is missing.
Why this file blocks the handover
Since 2024, the Building Quality Assurance Act (Wkb) has applied to consequence class 1, new build. An independent quality assurer checks during construction whether the building complies with the technical building regulations in the Building Decree (Besluit bouwwerken leefomgeving), and declares at the end whether it does. That declaration is part of the competent authority file, which belongs with the completion notification.
The hard limit is time. The building may only be taken into use once the file is with the competent authority at least ten working days before occupancy. And within two weeks of the completion notification, the authority assesses whether the notification is complete. If anything is missing, the handover slips, with all the consequences for the schedule and the financing that depend on it.
What makes the file difficult is not compiling it but where it comes from. It has to show what was actually built, and that evidence is created on site: photos of the reinforcement before concrete is poured, measurement data, inspections of installations, statements from subcontractors. Anything not recorded at the time cannot be recreated afterwards without breaking something open. The Informatiepunt Leefomgeving describes the scheme at iplo.nl.
How we build this
We work backwards from the completion notification. What it needs to contain determines what has to be recorded on site and when.
Which documents belong in it and at what point in the construction process they are created. That translation is the real work: from a list of documents to a series of moments when someone has to record something.
Who supplies what: the site manager, the subcontractor, the installer, the quality assurer. And at what point something passes from one to the other. That is where the gaps are that only become visible at the completion notification.
Every sprint ends with something you can check for yourself, and we start with the app on the building site. The file is a result of what happens there; it doesn't work the other way round.
We follow along right up to a real completion notification and see where it gets stuck. Usually that isn't the technology but a subcontractor who hasn't supplied their declaration.
What the integration actually does
Site registration and building the file are inseparable. The integrations around them determine how much has to be entered twice.
Capture evidence at the moment itself
Photos with a timestamp and location, linked to the building element and to the requirement they are evidence for. A photo of reinforcement is worthless without a record showing it belongs to this element and was taken before the pour.
Quality assurance plan as a checklist on site
The inspection points from the quality assurer's plan, translated into tasks with an owner and a moment. That way the site manager knows what needs to be captured today instead of hearing afterwards what was missing.
Working back from the date of occupation
The date of occupation determines when the file has to be submitted, and that determines when it has to be complete. The system counts down and shows what is still outstanding and with whom.
Submission by subcontractors and installers
Declarations, certificates and measurement reports come from parties who don't work in your systems. A simple entry point with a list of what is still missing works better than an email thread nobody keeps track of.
Integration with construction systems and the Omgevingsloket
The project structure comes from your construction administration or drawing package; the notification goes to the competent authority. We map out in advance what can be integrated; we don't promise an integration before we have seen it.
File compiled and traceable
The file in the format the competent authority requires, with each item traceable to where it came from and when it was captured. When there is a question about completeness, that is the difference between an answer and a search.
Who we build for
Your role determines which part of the file you control. Four situations.
Contractors in consequence class 1
You build and provide the evidence, and your handover depends on timely notification. Most of the work lies in getting declarations from subcontractors, not in your own registration. If inspection of lifting equipment or work equipment is also involved, see work equipment inspection logbook.
Quality assurers
You inspect during construction and issue the declaration. Your interest is that the evidence reaches you on time and in the right form, because you cannot declare what you have not been able to inspect.
Clients and developers
You have no influence on the building site but do carry the risk of a delayed handover. Visibility of the file's progress is more valuable here than visibility of the construction schedule. For management afterwards, NEN 2767 condition assessment is the next step.
Installers and subcontractors
You supply part of the evidence and are held to account for it. If you also have your own inspection file running, that is a separate stream; see SCIOS scope 8.
Technology and integrations
One design requirement overrides everything else: capturing happens on the building site, wearing work gloves, in the rain, often without reception. Anything that takes more than a few seconds there simply won't get done.
Why Appfront
Evidence is created once
A pour that has been completed can no longer be photographed. That is why we build the on-site recording first, and the file only afterwards.
The handover of the keys depends on it
Ten working days before occupation is a hard limit. We calculate backwards from that date, so that a shortfall becomes visible while there is still something you can do about it.
The gap lies with the subcontractors
You can get your own records in order. What is missing are the statements from parties who don't work in your system, and that is where we put the entry point.
Honest about our role
We are not a quality assurer and do not assess whether your building complies with the Bbl (Building Decree). That is the work of your assurer; we build the system in which their assessment and your evidence come together.
Security and privacy
A Wkb file contains little personal data, but it does contain something more sensitive: a detailed account of what did and did not go well during construction. Photos of a defect that was repaired, a rejected measurement, a discussion with a subcontractor. That material can resurface years later in a liability claim, and that is precisely why it must be complete and unaltered.
The records are therefore immutable: a correction is visible as a correction and does not overwrite the original, and a photo keeps its timestamp. That protects you too, because a file that may have been tidied up afterwards is worthless in a dispute. Subcontractors get their own separate, restricted entry point in which they see only their own project and their own documents; what other parties have supplied, or where things went wrong, is none of their business. How we handle security ourselves is set out in our information security policy; reports from outside go through our coordinated vulnerability disclosure (CVD) policy.
Frequently asked questions about the competent authority file
The building may only be taken into use if the competent authority file has been submitted at least ten working days beforehand, as part of the completion notification. Within two weeks of the completion notification, it is assessed whether it is complete. In practice, that means your completion date is fixed as soon as you know when the keys must be handed over, and the file must be ready well before then.
Since 2024, the Wkb has applied to consequence class 1 and to new-build projects. Whether your project falls under it is determined not by your software but by the regulations and your competent authority. Work is under way to extend it to other consequence classes; have your position established before you assume you still fall outside it.
Then the completion notification is incomplete and occupation is delayed. That is a planning problem with financial consequences, and it can almost always be traced back to evidence that was not recorded during construction. That is why we build in the backwards calculation: the system shows what is still missing while there is still time to get it.
No, not at all. The quality assurer is an independent party who carries out assessments during construction and issues the statement; that is a statutory role that no software takes over. What we build is the environment in which their assessment moments and your evidence come together, so that they can assess what was actually built.
With a simple entry point in which they see what is expected of them and what is still missing. That is almost always the bottleneck: you can get your own records in order, but an installer who finished three projects ago won't respond to an email. A list of outstanding items and a reminder works better than chasing.
We establish which interfaces are available for submitting notifications before we promise anything. Even without an integration, the system delivers value: the file is compiled in the required format, and submitting it becomes a matter of minutes instead of weeks of gathering material. We look at what can be integrated via integrations.
Yes, and here it is a requirement. Capturing happens with gloves on, often without a signal. The app stores data locally and syncs as soon as there is a connection, and a photo keeps its original timestamp. If capturing takes longer than a few seconds, it simply won't happen and the file will end up incomplete anyway.
That depends on the number of simultaneous projects, whether subcontractors get their own access point and whether it needs to integrate with your construction administration. On-site registration with file building is usually quick to put to use and delivers the most value; the integrations cost more. We give a substantiated estimate after the discovery phase.
Ready to build a Wkb integration?
Take the file for your most recent completion notice and look at how many documents were collected in the last two weeks. That number is the size of the problem. We build this as a standalone app and as part of a broader custom software project.