n8n Project Management System for Construction

Build a universal task management and reporting system for construction projects using n8n automation, Telegram bot, and Google Sheets.

Business Case

Problem: Construction managers spend 2-3 hours daily on:

• Distributing tasks to foremen and workers
• Collecting progress updates via calls/messages
• Compiling photo documentation
• Tracking task completion status

Solution: Automated system that:

• Sends task reminders via Telegram at scheduled times
• Collects status reports (text + photos + GPS)
• Auto-saves all data to Google Sheets
• Provides real-time visibility to managers

ROI: 70% reduction in administrative time for task management

Source Repository

https://github.com/datadrivenconstruction/Project-management-n8n-with-task-management-and-photo-reports

System Architecture

┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    PROJECT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM                          │
├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                                                                       │
│   MANAGER                          WORKER                            │
│   ┌─────────────┐                  ┌─────────────┐                   │
│   │ Google      │                  │ Telegram    │                   │
│   │ Sheets      │                  │ Bot         │                   │
│   │             │                  │             │                   │
│   │ • Tasks     │    n8n           │ • /start    │                   │
│   │ • Schedule  │◄──Workflow──────►│ • Tasks     │                   │
│   │ • Reports   │                  │ • Photos    │                   │
│   │ • Photos    │                  │ • GPS       │                   │
│   └─────────────┘                  └─────────────┘                   │
│         │                                │                           │
│         ▼                                ▼                           │
│   ┌─────────────┐                  ┌─────────────┐                   │
│   │ Dashboard   │                  │ Google      │                   │
│   │ View        │                  │ Drive       │                   │
│   │             │                  │ (Photos)    │                   │
│   └─────────────┘                  └─────────────┘                   │
│                                                                       │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Implementation Guide

Step 1: Create Telegram Bot

# 1. Open @BotFather in Telegram
# 2. Send /newbot
# 3. Name: "YourProject Tasks Bot"
# 4. Username: "YourProjectTasks_bot"
# 5. Save the token: 123456789:ABCdefGHIjklMNOpqrsTUVwxyz

# Test bot connection
import requests

BOT_TOKEN = "YOUR_BOT_TOKEN"
response = requests.get(f"https://api.telegram.org/bot{BOT_TOKEN}/getMe")
print(response.json())
# Expected: {"ok": true, "result": {"id": ..., "first_name": "YourProject Tasks Bot"}}

Step 2: Setup Google Sheets

Create spreadsheet with these sheets:

Sheet 1: Tasks

Column	Type	Description
Task_ID	Text	Unique identifier (TASK-001)
Project	Text	Project name
Object	Text	Building/area
Section	Text	Floor/zone
Task	Text	Task description
Executor	Text	Assigned worker name
Executor_ID	Number	Telegram user ID
Date	Date	Due date (DD.MM.YYYY)
Send_Time	Time	Reminder time
Priority	Text	🔴High / 🟡Medium / 🟢Low
Status	Text	Pending/Sent/Completed/Partial
Response	Text	Worker's response
Response_Time	DateTime	When responded
Photo_Link	URL	Google Drive link
GPS_Lat	Number	Latitude
GPS_Lon	Number	Longitude

Sheet 2: Workers

Column	Type	Description
Name	Text	Worker full name
Role	Text	Foreman/Worker/Contractor
Telegram_ID	Number	User ID from /start
Phone	Text	Phone number
Registered	DateTime	Registration date

Sheet 3: Photo Reports

Column	Type	Description
Report_ID	Text	Unique ID
Report_Type	Text	Daily/Safety/Quality
Executor	Text	Who should submit
Date	Date	Report date
Time	Time	Deadline
Status	Text	Pending/Submitted
Photo_Link	URL	Drive folder link
Comment	Text	Worker comment

Step 3: Import n8n Workflow

// Core workflow structure (simplified)
{
  "nodes": [
    {
      "name": "Telegram Trigger",
      "type": "n8n-nodes-base.telegramTrigger",
      "parameters": {
        "updates": ["message", "callback_query"]
      }
    },
    {
      "name": "Route Messages",
      "type": "n8n-nodes-base.switch",
      "parameters": {
        "rules": [
          {"value": "/start"},
          {"value": "/status"},
          {"value": "/help"},
          {"value": "text_reply"},
          {"value": "photo"},
          {"value": "location"}
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "name": "Check Tasks Schedule",
      "type": "n8n-nodes-base.cron",
      "parameters": {
        "cronExpression": "* * * * *"
      }
    },
    {
      "name": "Get Pending Tasks",
      "type": "n8n-nodes-base.googleSheets",
      "parameters": {
        "operation": "readRows",
        "sheetName": "Tasks",
        "filters": {
          "Status": "Pending",
          "Send_Time": "now"
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "name": "Send Task Reminder",
      "type": "n8n-nodes-base.telegram",
      "parameters": {
        "operation": "sendMessage",
        "chatId": "={{$json.Executor_ID}}",
        "text": "📋 *Задача: {{$json.Task}}*\n📍 Объект: {{$json.Object}}\n⏰ Срок: {{$json.Date}}\n{{$json.Priority}}"
      }
    }
  ]
}

Step 4: Configure Webhook

# Set Telegram webhook to n8n
curl -X POST "https://api.telegram.org/bot${BOT_TOKEN}/setWebhook" \
  -d "url=https://your-n8n-instance.com/webhook/telegram-project-manager"

# Verify webhook is set
curl "https://api.telegram.org/bot${BOT_TOKEN}/getWebhookInfo"

Worker Commands

Registration: /start

User: /start

Bot: 👋 Добро пожаловать в систему управления задачами!

Пожалуйста, укажите ваше имя:

User: Иван Петров

Bot: Выберите вашу роль:
[Прораб] [Рабочий] [Субподрядчик]

User: [Прораб]

Bot: ✅ Регистрация завершена!
Имя: Иван Петров
Роль: Прораб
ID: 123456789

Вы будете получать задачи автоматически.
Используйте /help для справки.

Receiving Task

Bot: 📋 *ЗАДАЧА #TASK-047*
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
📍 Объект: ЖК Солнечный, Корпус 2
🏗 Секция: 5 этаж, кв. 51-55
📝 Задача: Монтаж электропроводки
⏰ Срок: 24.01.2026
🔴 Приоритет: Высокий
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Ответьте на это сообщение для отчета:
• Текст: статус + комментарий
• Фото: прикрепите фото работ
• GPS: отправьте геолокацию

Task Response

User: (reply to task message)
выполнено
Проводка смонтирована по всем квартирам, ждем приемку

Bot: ✅ Отчет принят!
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
📋 Задача: #TASK-047
📊 Статус: Выполнено
💬 Комментарий: Проводка смонтирована...
⏰ Время: 24.01.2026 14:35
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Photo Report

User: (sends photo as reply to task)
[Photo of completed electrical work]
Caption: Монтаж завершен, готово к проверке

Bot: 📷 Фото получено и сохранено!
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
📋 Задача: #TASK-047
🔗 Фото: [Ссылка на Google Drive]
💬 Комментарий: Монтаж завершен...
⏰ Время: 24.01.2026 14:38
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

GPS Location

User: (sends location)
📍 [Location: 55.7558, 37.6173]

Bot: 📍 Геолокация получена!
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
📋 Задача: #TASK-047
🗺 Координаты: 55.7558, 37.6173
🔗 Карта: [Google Maps Link]
⏰ Время: 24.01.2026 14:40
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Manager Dashboard

Google Sheets View

┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ TASK DASHBOARD                                          🔄 Auto-refresh │
├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                                                                         │
│  TODAY'S SUMMARY                                                       │
│  ┌───────────┬───────────┬───────────┬───────────┐                    │
│  │ Total: 24 │ ✅ Done:15│ ⏳ Pending:7│ ⚠️ Late:2│                    │
│  └───────────┴───────────┴───────────┴───────────┘                    │
│                                                                         │
│  TASK LIST                                             Filter: [Today ▼]│
│  ┌──────────┬────────────┬──────────┬────────┬────────┬──────────────┐│
│  │ Task ID  │ Task       │ Worker   │ Status │ Photo  │ Response     ││
│  ├──────────┼────────────┼──────────┼────────┼────────┼──────────────┤│
│  │ TASK-047 │ Электрика  │ Петров   │ ✅     │ 📷 3   │ Выполнено    ││
│  │ TASK-048 │ Сантехника │ Иванов   │ ⏳     │ -      │ -            ││
│  │ TASK-049 │ Штукатурка │ Сидоров  │ ⚠️     │ 📷 1   │ Частично     ││
│  └──────────┴────────────┴──────────┴────────┴────────┴──────────────┘│
│                                                                         │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Python Integration

import gspread
from oauth2client.service_account import ServiceAccountCredentials
import pandas as pd
from datetime import datetime, timedelta

class ProjectTaskManager:
    """Integration with n8n Project Management System"""

    def __init__(self, credentials_path: str, spreadsheet_id: str):
        scope = [
            'https://spreadsheets.google.com/feeds',
            'https://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive'
        ]
        creds = ServiceAccountCredentials.from_json_keyfile_name(
            credentials_path, scope
        )
        self.client = gspread.authorize(creds)
        self.spreadsheet = self.client.open_by_key(spreadsheet_id)

    def create_task(self, task: dict) -> str:
        """Create new task in system"""
        tasks_sheet = self.spreadsheet.worksheet('Tasks')

        # Generate task ID
        all_tasks = tasks_sheet.get_all_records()
        task_num = len(all_tasks) + 1
        task_id = f"TASK-{task_num:04d}"

        # Prepare row
        row = [
            task_id,
            task.get('project', ''),
            task.get('object', ''),
            task.get('section', ''),
            task.get('description', ''),
            task.get('executor_name', ''),
            task.get('executor_id', ''),
            task.get('date', datetime.now().strftime('%d.%m.%Y')),
            task.get('send_time', '09:00'),
            task.get('priority', '🟡Medium'),
            'Pending',  # Status
            '',  # Response
            '',  # Response_Time
            '',  # Photo_Link
            '',  # GPS_Lat
            ''   # GPS_Lon
        ]

        tasks_sheet.append_row(row)
        return task_id

    def create_bulk_tasks(self, tasks: list) -> list:
        """Create multiple tasks at once"""
        task_ids = []
        for task in tasks:
            task_id = self.create_task(task)
            task_ids.append(task_id)
        return task_ids

    def get_today_summary(self) -> dict:
        """Get summary of today's tasks"""
        tasks_sheet = self.spreadsheet.worksheet('Tasks')
        all_tasks = tasks_sheet.get_all_records()

        today = datetime.now().strftime('%d.%m.%Y')
        today_tasks = [t for t in all_tasks if t['Date'] == today]

        return {
            'total': len(today_tasks),
            'completed': len([t for t in today_tasks if t['Status'] == 'Completed']),
            'pending': len([t for t in today_tasks if t['Status'] == 'Pending']),
            'partial': len([t for t in today_tasks if t['Status'] == 'Partial']),
            'with_photos': len([t for t in today_tasks if t['Photo_Link']])
        }

    def get_worker_performance(self, worker_name: str, days: int = 30) -> dict:
        """Analyze worker performance over period"""
        tasks_sheet = self.spreadsheet.worksheet('Tasks')
        all_tasks = tasks_sheet.get_all_records()

        cutoff_date = datetime.now() - timedelta(days=days)

        worker_tasks = [
            t for t in all_tasks
            if t['Executor'] == worker_name
            and datetime.strptime(t['Date'], '%d.%m.%Y') >= cutoff_date
        ]

        if not worker_tasks:
            return {'error': 'No tasks found'}

        completed = len([t for t in worker_tasks if t['Status'] == 'Completed'])
        total = len(worker_tasks)

        return {
            'worker': worker_name,
            'period_days': days,
            'total_tasks': total,
            'completed': completed,
            'completion_rate': round(completed / total * 100, 1),
            'with_photos': len([t for t in worker_tasks if t['Photo_Link']]),
            'with_gps': len([t for t in worker_tasks if t['GPS_Lat']])
        }


# Usage Example
if __name__ == "__main__":
    manager = ProjectTaskManager(
        'credentials.json',
        'your-spreadsheet-id'
    )

    # Create tasks for the week
    weekly_tasks = [
        {
            'project': 'ЖК Солнечный',
            'object': 'Корпус 2',
            'section': '5 этаж',
            'description': 'Монтаж электропроводки кв. 51-55',
            'executor_name': 'Петров И.И.',
            'executor_id': '123456789',
            'date': '24.01.2026',
            'send_time': '08:00',
            'priority': '🔴High'
        },
        {
            'project': 'ЖК Солнечный',
            'object': 'Корпус 2',
            'section': '5 этаж',
            'description': 'Монтаж сантехники кв. 51-55',
            'executor_name': 'Иванов А.П.',
            'executor_id': '987654321',
            'date': '25.01.2026',
            'send_time': '08:00',
            'priority': '🟡Medium'
        }
    ]

    task_ids = manager.create_bulk_tasks(weekly_tasks)
    print(f"Created tasks: {task_ids}")

    # Get summary
    summary = manager.get_today_summary()
    print(f"Today's summary: {summary}")

n8n Workflow Templates

Template 1: Morning Task Distribution

name: Morning Task Distribution
trigger:
  type: cron
  expression: "0 8 * * 1-6"  # 8:00 AM, Mon-Sat

steps:
  - get_today_tasks:
      node: Google Sheets
      operation: readRows
      sheet: Tasks
      filter: Date = TODAY(), Status = Pending

  - group_by_worker:
      node: Code
      code: |
        const grouped = {};
        items.forEach(item => {
          const worker = item.json.Executor_ID;
          if (!grouped[worker]) grouped[worker] = [];
          grouped[worker].push(item.json);
        });
        return Object.entries(grouped).map(([id, tasks]) => ({
          worker_id: id,
          tasks: tasks
        }));

  - send_task_list:
      node: Telegram
      operation: sendMessage
      chatId: "={{$json.worker_id}}"
      text: |
        🌅 *Доброе утро! Ваши задачи на сегодня:*

        {{#each tasks}}
        ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
        {{priority}} *{{Task}}*
        📍 {{Object}} / {{Section}}
        ⏰ Срок: {{Date}}
        {{/each}}

        Ответьте на каждую задачу по мере выполнения.

Template 2: Photo Report Collection

name: Scheduled Photo Reports
trigger:
  type: cron
  expression: "0 12,17 * * 1-6"  # 12:00 and 17:00

steps:
  - get_photo_reports:
      node: Google Sheets
      operation: readRows
      sheet: Photo Reports
      filter: Date = TODAY(), Status = Pending

  - send_photo_request:
      node: Telegram
      operation: sendMessage
      chatId: "={{$json.Executor_ID}}"
      text: |
        📷 *Требуется фото-отчет*
        ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
        📋 Тип: {{$json.Report_Type}}
        📍 Объект: {{$json.Object}}
        ⏰ Срок: {{$json.Time}}

        Пожалуйста, отправьте фото с комментарием.
      replyMarkup:
        inline_keyboard:
          - [{text: "📷 Отправить фото", callback_data: "photo_{{$json.Report_ID}}"}]

Template 3: End of Day Summary

name: End of Day Report
trigger:
  type: cron
  expression: "0 18 * * 1-6"  # 18:00

steps:
  - get_day_stats:
      node: Google Sheets
      operation: readRows
      sheet: Tasks
      filter: Date = TODAY()

  - calculate_stats:
      node: Code
      code: |
        const stats = {
          total: items.length,
          completed: items.filter(i => i.json.Status === 'Completed').length,
          partial: items.filter(i => i.json.Status === 'Partial').length,
          pending: items.filter(i => i.json.Status === 'Pending').length,
          photos: items.filter(i => i.json.Photo_Link).length
        };
        stats.completion_rate = Math.round(stats.completed / stats.total * 100);
        return [{ json: stats }];

  - send_to_manager:
      node: Telegram
      operation: sendMessage
      chatId: "MANAGER_CHAT_ID"
      text: |
        📊 *Итоги дня: {{$now.format('DD.MM.YYYY')}}*
        ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

        📋 Всего задач: {{$json.total}}
        ✅ Выполнено: {{$json.completed}}
        ⏳ Частично: {{$json.partial}}
        ❌ Не выполнено: {{$json.pending}}

        📷 Фото-отчетов: {{$json.photos}}
        📈 Выполнение: {{$json.completion_rate}}%

        [Открыть таблицу]({{SPREADSHEET_URL}})

Best Practices

Task Design

1. Keep tasks atomic (1 task = 1 action)
2. Include clear location (Object + Section)
3. Set realistic deadlines
4. Use priority wisely (not everything is 🔴High)

Photo Reports

1. Request photos at milestones, not continuously
2. Use Google Drive folders per project/date
3. Include location verification (GPS)
4. Set clear expectations (what should be in photo)

Worker Engagement

1. Acknowledge all responses quickly
2. Provide daily feedback
3. Recognize high performers
4. Keep bot messages concise

Resources

• Repository: https://github.com/datadrivenconstruction/Project-management-n8n-with-task-management-and-photo-reports
• Demo Bot: @ProjectManagementTasks_Bot
• Demo Sheet: Google Sheets Demo
• n8n Documentation: https://docs.n8n.io

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