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Voice memos to a daily report, offline

Reviewed by the Contractor AI Shop research team · Last updated Oct 23, 2026 · How we research

Talking through a site walk is faster than typing on a phone. whisper.cpp is a free, open-source (MIT) speech-to-text tool that runs on your own machine, so recordings never leave the office. A local model can then turn the transcript into a draft daily report that the super checks and signs.

1. Record the walk

Use your phone's voice recorder. Say the area or room before each note, and spell out names and numbers you'll need in the report.

2. Build whisper.cpp and download a model

These commands are from the official README (checked Oct 22, 2026). It needs git and CMake.

git clone https://github.com/ggml-org/whisper.cpp.git
cd whisper.cpp
sh ./models/download-ggml-model.sh base.en
cmake -B build
cmake --build build -j --config Release

3. Convert and transcribe the memo

The README notes the command-line tool reads 16-bit WAV files, and shows this ffmpeg conversion:

ffmpeg -i memo.m4a -ar 16000 -ac 1 -c:a pcm_s16le memo.wav
./build/bin/whisper-cli -f memo.wav

Run ./build/bin/whisper-cli -h to see options for saving the transcript to a file.

4. Draft the report with a local model

Paste the transcript into a local chat such as Open WebUI on Ollama (setup in our spec chat guide) and ask:

Turn this site-walk transcript into a daily report with these headings:
Weather, Crews on site, Work completed by area, Deliveries, Issues and delays,
Safety observations. Use only what is in the transcript. Mark anything unclear
as [CHECK].

5. Check it and file it

Speech-to-text mishears names, numbers and trade terms, so read the draft against your memory of the day and fix every [CHECK]. Then paste it into the report format you already use. If you'd rather have this built into a field app, CompanyCam lists AI reports and walkthrough notes; see the field docs category for others.

Sources

Last verified: Oct 22, 2026 (PT). We haven't timed this workflow, so we don't estimate time saved. Independent guide by Contractor AI Shop. Not affiliated with any project or vendor listed. This page has no sponsored or affiliate links.