Diehl Group Architects specializes in forensic architecture — investigating building failures, construction defects, and code compliance issues. Their work generates a massive volume of audio that needs transcribing: daily logs, field observation reports, site visit recordings.
On an average week, the team processes around 200 audio files. On larger contracts, that number climbs past 1,000. Every one of those files was being transcribed manually — sometimes by technical staff billing at $150 an hour.
A single transcription batch could eat an entire work day. Sometimes longer. That meant staff spending their time typing instead of doing the forensic analysis they were hired for. The firm was paying top dollar for low-value repetitive work, and the backlog only grew as contracts stacked up.
Little Hammer Labs built DGA a custom transcription tool powered by OpenAI's Whisper model, designed to run entirely on the firm's local hardware. No audio files leave the building — a requirement for a firm handling sensitive legal and forensic materials.
A working version was delivered in two weeks. Over the following month, Little Hammer Labs refined the tool through collaborative sessions with DGA's team — adjusting the interface, output formatting, and workflow integration until it fit their process exactly. Six weeks from kickoff to a finished product the team actually wanted to use.
Batch processing — hundreds or thousands of recordings in a single run
Desktop interface — professional UI for day-to-day use
Headless mode — automated processing without manual intervention
Custom dictionaries — output matches the firm's forensic terminology
TXT & CSV export — slots directly into existing documentation workflow
Fully local — no audio files leave the building, ever
The math is straightforward. Staff who were spending full days on transcription are back doing billable forensic work. The tool paid for itself on the first project and keeps paying back on every one after.
But the real win wasn't just cost savings — it was capacity. The freed-up staff time let DGA take on more projects without adding headcount. The tool didn't just make them more efficient, it increased their throughput.
"Sometimes we had guys billing one-fifty an hour sitting there typing out transcriptions all day. On a big contract that's somebody's whole week gone. Little Hammer Labs built us a tool that handles the whole batch before lunch. It just works, and now my people are back doing actual architecture forensics."
— Principal, Diehl Group Architects