Frequently asked
questions.

Bouw Botje is an MCP (Model Context Protocol) connection that lets you operate Exact Online Construction from AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Copilot, Claude, Gemini, Mistral, Perplexity and Grok. You can ask in natural language about your project administration, log hours, generate instalment invoices and more.

Yes. Bouw7 is the former name of Exact Online Bouw (Exact Online Construction), the construction software from Exact. Bouw Botje connects to that same environment: you still sign in at start.bouw7.nl and create your API key there. Looking for a “Bouw7 ChatGPT integration” or “Bouw7 AI”? This is it.

MCP stands for Model Context Protocol. It is an open standard that lets AI assistants safely communicate with external systems such as Exact Online Construction. Via MCP the AI can query data from your administration and execute actions. What you share in the chat is subject to the terms of your AI provider.

Bouw Botje is for anyone working with Exact Online Construction: general contractors (B&U), installers, civil engineering / GWW companies and subcontractors / freelancers. Think of project managers, estimators, site supervisors, technicians and admin staff. No technical knowledge required.

With Bouw Botje you don't click through menus and screens. You simply ask a question in plain language to your AI assistant. You can also combine multiple tasks, such as "log 8 hours on project X and create instalment 4".

Yes. Under Linked AI clients you use Choose tools to pick per connection which tools the AI assistant sees, and you can set a default selection for new connections. Useful for Microsoft Copilot Studio, which supports at most 70 tools: the Copilot preset stays within that limit. The admin tools always stay on.

Bouw Botje works with all AI assistants that support the MCP protocol: ChatGPT (OpenAI), Microsoft Copilot, Claude (Anthropic), Google Gemini, Mistral AI, Perplexity, Grok (xAI), Cursor and OpenClaw.

Yes. For instalments and invoices to main contractors where VAT reverse-charge applies, Bouw Botje uses the VAT rates from your Exact Online Construction administration, such as the reverse-charge rate. Check the VAT rate per invoice line before you invoice.

Yes, with the Advanced plan. Say something like "create instalment 4 for project PRJ-2026-014, structural 80%, €48,000" and the instalment is created directly on the project's instalment statement in Exact Online Construction.

Ask your AI assistant about the margin or progress of a project: "What is the margin on project Z?". The AI puts the calculation from the quote lines next to logged hours, material, equipment and waste bookings, purchase invoices and subcontractor contracts, and shows the difference.

You log hours of in-house employees directly on the correct project. Hours of subcontractors and other external contacts can be queried. Subcontractor purchase invoices can be checked against the subcontractor contract, with price, outstanding costs and payment terms, and approved or rejected.

Yes. Because Bouw Botje runs through your AI assistant (ChatGPT, Claude or Copilot on your phone), you log hours, query project status or order material directly from the site.

Bouw Botje works with the calculation (quote lines) and the work parts (booking lines) of your projects in Exact Online Construction. If your tender specification has been mapped to work parts in EO Construction, you can query them, compare them with the calculation, consult progress statements and create instalments.

Yes. The Basic plan (EUR 39 per month) is excellent for freelancers with 1 administration. For automation (creating invoices via AI) you need Advanced (EUR 59 per month).

Bouw Botje supports projects and work parts, progress statements, instalment invoicing and invoices, quotes (including the calculation in the quote lines), purchase invoices, purchase and subcontractor contracts, approvals, time registration, mileage registration, leave, delivery tickets, material, equipment and waste (including bookings per project), contacts and planning (appointments, to-dos, daily reports and inspection reports). There are 209 tools in total; see the full list on the MCP tools page. We keep expanding.

Yes, with the Advanced plan you can create projects, instalments, hours, purchase orders and more. Write access is enabled per user in Bouw Botje. The Basic plan is read-only.

Yes. Ask your AI for an overview of outstanding instalments, logged hours per employee or margins per project. Combine with the Code Interpreter of ChatGPT to generate Excel files or charts directly.

Bouw Botje is not a financial advisor. Don't ask for tax advice or business-critical decisions. Bouw Botje gives access to your data and executes actions in Exact Online Construction, but interpreting figures and making business decisions remains your responsibility. In addition, there are no tools for work orders, stock management, service subscriptions, payment batches, general ledger and bank entries, payment reminders or e-mailing invoices and quotes.

Be specific: use project numbers, employee names, work parts and dates. Instead of "show projects" ask "what is the status of project PRJ-2026-014?". Split complex questions into steps.

Yes, always check the output before making decisions. AI assistants can make mistakes interpreting data.

You connect your Exact Online Construction administration with an API key. Copy or generate the key in Exact Online Construction (start.bouw7.nl/my-account/api-access), paste it on the connect screen in Bouw Botje after creating your account and then load your data. The key is stored encrypted. There is no Exact login screen and no OAuth consent involved.

In ChatGPT go to Settings, choose "MCP Servers" and add a new server. Copy the MCP URL from your Bouw Botje dashboard and paste it in ChatGPT.

No, Bouw Botje runs fully in the cloud. No software, plugins or extensions to install.

Complete setup takes less than 5 minutes: create account, connect Exact Online Construction with an API key and add the MCP server to your AI assistant.

Yes, depending on your plan you have 5,000 (Basic) or 8,000 (Advanced) AI requests per month. Need more? Add extra AI requests from €19 per month. In addition, Bouw Botje respects the rate limits of the Exact Online Construction API. On a temporary limit the request is automatically retried.

Yes. Bouw Botje connects to Exact Online Construction with an API key that is stored encrypted. Your AI assistant signs in to Bouw Botje via OAuth 2.1 with PKCE. All data traffic is encrypted via HTTPS/TLS. Our servers are in Europe.

Yes. Bouw Botje synchronises your Exact Online Construction data per administration to a dedicated, isolated database hosted by Industrial IT. Search and read questions from your AI assistant are answered from that copy: fast, and without putting load on Exact Online Construction. Write actions (create, update, delete) go directly to Exact Online Construction. You can revoke the connection at any time, after which all stored data is deleted.

Yes, at any time. Remove the connection in your Bouw Botje account, or generate a new API key in Exact Online Construction: the old key stops working immediately and Bouw Botje no longer has access to your administration.

Yes, by default the MCP server is in read-only mode. Via Settings (Instellingen) → AI-koppeling (MCP) you enable write access per user (Advanced plan). Note: the API key applies to the whole organisation, so Bouw Botje does not follow the permissions of an individual Exact user account.

Send a message via our contact form and put "GDPR request" in the subject. We respond within 30 days.

Three plans: Basic EUR 39 per month (read-only, 1 administration, 5,000 requests/month), Advanced EUR 59 per month (read and write, 10 administrations, 8,000 requests/month) and Enterprise on request. 1 month free on annual plans.

Yes, 14 days free. Create an account and test the connection without payment obligation.

Basic is read-only. Advanced can also take actions: create instalments, log hours, create projects. Advanced also includes more administrations (10 vs 1) and more requests per month (8,000 vs 5,000).

Yes, upgrade at any time. Downgrading is possible at the end of your billing period.

No. Bouw Botje uses the MCP protocol so your AI assistant automatically makes the right API calls.