The Challenge
Krebs + Kiefer is an engineering firm focused on structural engineering and building physics. The firm has existed for around 70 years, employs 800+ people across 17 locations in Germany plus a branch in Algeria, and has been part of the globally active Dorsch Gruppe for two years.
The Hamburg office had a clear math problem. On paper, the firm had reached its capacity. The obvious next step would have been to move into a bigger building. But after the shift to hybrid work, the actual office was usually occupied by 12 to 17 people, far below the on-paper maximum.
Then came the trigger. Two questions landed on Lena Sardemann's desk: Would Krebs + Kiefer consider sub-leasing some of its space? And could colleagues from other locations coming to Hamburg for projects use desks in the Hamburg office? Both questions needed a confident answer based on real data, not a guess.
The existing setup was a custom intranet workaround that showed who was in home office, but not who was actually in the office. The team could see absences, but they could not see presence. That meant the firm could not act on either of the two opportunities, and moving to a bigger building on a hunch would have meant real money wasted. The question was simple: what is our actual capacity?
Why PULT?
The math made the decision clear. The custom intranet workaround could not solve the problem because it captured only half the picture, and without proper data the firm could not make a confident real estate decision. PULT closed that gap with a real workplace tool, built for exactly this kind of question.
What sealed the choice on the admin side was the floor plan editor. Lena, by her own description a creative person, found the visual room-building tool not just usable but genuinely enjoyable. Hand-drawing rooms, marking spaces, labeling areas. The fact that the admin work was something to look forward to rather than a burden shaped how confidently the rollout went.
PULT in Action
Adoption settled in within two to three days. Lena set up two extra rooms in PULT as bookable quiet spaces, supporting focus work during the ongoing acoustic improvements in the open-plan office. Employees can now reserve a quiet room for thirty or sixty minutes at a time. The larger conference rooms stayed on the intranet because external academy guests also book those, and a clean separation between the two systems was easy to maintain.
The biggest unexpected win was fire safety preparedness. Before PULT, an evacuation drill or actual fire would have meant printing a list from the intranet, which only showed who was scheduled for home office, then working backwards to figure out who should be in the building. Now, Lena takes her phone with her, opens PULT, and sees exactly who was in the office that day. That use case was not on the original requirements list, but it has become one of the features Lena values most.
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The Results
- Custom intranet workaround replaced by a real workplace tool, with both presence and absence now visible in one system
- Real office capacity made visible, with actual occupancy data replacing the gap between paper math and reality
- Hamburg office continued without unnecessary relocation, because the data confirmed there was no real space pressure
- Adoption settled in within 2 to 3 days, with no negative feedback after
- Quiet rooms enabled as a fast configuration on top of desk booking, supporting focus work during acoustic renovations
- Fire safety preparedness improved through real-time office presence data, a side effect that has become a core value
- Internal communication increased, with colleagues now coordinating seat changes, guest visits, and team days through PULT
- Employee tagging feature adopted within minutes of the newsletter announcement, used immediately to mark first-aid responders and fire safety officers
- Floor plan editor adopted as the admin favorite, making space configuration visual, intuitive, and even enjoyable to maintain
Facing similar challenges? Discover how PULT helps engineering teams bring more structure, visibility, and calm to their office.
