Anonymize construction documents for AI
The need to anonymize construction documents for AI concerns builders, project managers, quantity surveyors, engineering firms and safety coordinators who want to summarize a technical specification (CCTP in France), write up a site meeting or compare two quotes. These files name the client, neighboring owners, the contractor for each work package, land registry references and permit numbers that pinpoint the project. Biffer processes them on the site manager's or the architect's computer, with no connection, and replaces each identifier with a stable alias.
This page describes the files concerned, the applicable rules, the AI uses and the fields of the construction profile.
Specifications, site reports, permits, quotes: a project's files
A construction project produces a large amount of documentation, spread across design, administration and execution.
- Contract documents (Word, PDF): technical and administrative specifications (CCTP, CCAP), form of tender, contract number, lot number, contractors' prices.
- Planning permissions: building permit or prior declaration number, land registry reference, the applicant's name, location plans.
- Site meeting reports: site number, contractors present, snags, delays, names of contacts.
- Quotes and progress valuations (PDF, Excel): quote number, job number, SIRET (French company number), IBAN, breakdown of unit prices.
- Handover reports and snag lists: owners, buyers of off-plan units (VEFA), lots concerned.
Biffer processes PDF, Word, Excel, CSV and text files while preserving the formatting: a quote keeps its tables, a specification keeps its numbering. Drawings and PDFs scanned as images go through built-in optical character recognition, offline, then are redacted by blacking out the pixels, with no possible restoration. For documents received as PDF, see the page redact a PDF.
Permits, contracts and private individuals' data: the applicable rules
In France, a building permit is a public act, posted on the site and available for consultation at the town hall, as service-public.fr explains (in French). The application file, interior plans and contract documents, however, remain confidential. Three regimes meet on a construction site.
- The GDPR for individuals: private clients, neighbors named in a survey report, buyers of an off-plan unit, employees on the schedules. Their names, addresses and contact details are personal data, and Article 32 of the GDPR requires the company to ensure their security, including with regard to its service providers.
- Trade secrets for prices: a contractor's bills of quantities, price breakdowns and discounts are protected as long as they are subject to reasonable protection measures. In public procurement, the buyer must preserve the confidentiality of each bidder's offer.
- Confidentiality clauses in private contracts and design and supervision agreements.
A permit number, a land registry reference or a contract number pinpoint the project: they are redacted just like names. With offline software, everything stays on the site manager's or the architect's computer. Biffer prepares, you validate: you review the preview and the company has the final word on what it shares.
AI use cases and the Biffer workflow
Once pseudonymized, a project's documents lend themselves well to AI assistance.
- Summarize a two-hundred-page specification lot by lot.
- Write a site meeting report from notes taken on site.
- Compare two contractors' quotes for the same lot.
- Extract the snags from a handover report into a tracking table.
The workflow is the same every time.
- You drop the file into Biffer with the construction profile enabled.
- The local analysis highlights people, addresses, SIREN and SIRET, IBANs, permit, site, contract, lot, quote and job numbers, and land registry references.
- You untick false positives (a standard reference, a French technical code number such as a DTU) and add what is missing, all occurrences at once.
- The document comes out with stable aliases (CHANTIER_001 for a site, LOT_003, PERSONNE_002; the alias labels are in French); in Word and PDF, redacted data is highlighted in black, an option enabled by default.
- The mapping table, encrypted or in plain text, restores the original values in the report produced by the AI.
The queue processes every site report of a project with the same aliases. Biffer is free for five files per month, after a one-time email confirmation in the software; beyond that, Biffer for Mac or Biffer for PC costs €10 excl. VAT (€12 incl. VAT) per computer, paid once: a lifetime license tied to the computer, unlimited files, all redaction features included. The steps are detailed on the features page.
The fields the construction profile recognizes
The construction profile adds the identifiers of a construction project to the general detections. Here is the exact list, as it appears in the software.
| Field | Where you find it |
|---|---|
| Building permit number | Permit decisions, site notice boards, tender files |
| Site number | Site reports, schedules, timesheets |
| Contract number | Forms of tender, work orders, progress valuations |
| Lot number | Specifications, priced breakdowns (DPGF), handover reports |
| Land registry reference | Permits, location plans, deeds |
| Quote number | Quotes, purchase orders, invoices |
| Job number | Internal tracking, progress valuations, letters |
On top of these come the four fields shared by all professions (file number, reference, contract number, employee ID) and the general detections: people, emails, phone numbers, postal addresses, SIREN and SIRET, French social security number, IBAN, license plates, dates. For an identifier specific to your company, the custom keyword field described on the professions page does the rest. The real estate profile can be added if needed. Biffer is published by Romain Rissoan, trainer, consultant and founder of OPCADIA, in Lyon.
Frequently asked questions
Are drawings and scanned PDFs supported?
Yes, with a difference in processing. A PDF produced from Word, quoting software or an ERP export contains usable text: Biffer rewrites it with aliases and keeps the process reversible. A PDF from a scanner or a drawing exported as an image is treated as an image: the software applies built-in character recognition, run offline, then redacts the areas found by blacking out the pixels, permanently, which makes it a true redaction. When the original digital version exists, prefer it. In practice, most of the project documents you would want to give an AI (specifications, site reports, quotes, handover reports, letters) are produced by computer. On a drawing's title block, recognition depends on how legible the text is: review the preview carefully.
How do you keep standard and DTU numbers from being redacted?
Biffer targets precisely the data types it knows: people, contact details, the profile's professional identifiers and custom fields. A reference such as "NF DTU 20.1" or "EN 1992" falls outside this scope and stays in place. A lot or job number may occasionally look like a technical reference; in that case, the highlighted preview lets you untick the value once, for all its occurrences, before export. You can also set the "lot number" type to the "keep" policy if the AI needs the lot structure.
How much does Biffer cost for a company with several site managers?
Each computer gets the free plan, five files per month with every feature, after a one-time email confirmation in the software, with no password; this lets each site manager check that their contract documents and site reports are processed correctly. For higher volumes, Biffer for Mac or Biffer for PC costs €10 excl. VAT (€12 incl. VAT) per computer, paid by card (Stripe): a lifetime license for the version purchased, tied to that computer, unlimited files. Every feature is included: construction profile, queue, mapping table, black highlighting. Each new major version is sold separately; the installed version remains usable with no time limit.
Your business documents anonymized, ready to be published or handed to an AI tool.
Biffer runs on your computer without sending a single file. Free for five files a month, unlimited for €10 excl. VAT per computer.
100% offline · Free: 5 files a month · No file sent