Walked through a new construction site in Austin and changed my mind about digital blueprints

I've always been a paper and pencil guy for drafting, but last week I saw a crew using a tablet on site and they pulled up the exact floor plan in seconds without any crumpled sheets. The guy showed me how he could zoom into a plumbing rough-in detail I'd have to flip three pages for. Has anyone else switched to digital and found it faster for field checks?

3 comments

3 Comments

finleyl3914d ago

I mean, "changed my mind" seems like a strong take for something that's basically just a pdf on a screen. Zooming in on plumbing details is neat but not exactly a game changer for me. I've seen guys drop tablets in mud or lose them in the shuffle, paper can get wet but at least it's cheap to replace. Plus half the time the digital file has some weird scaling issue or the battery dies right when you need it most. I'll stick with my folded up prints for now, they don't crash.

karenb9714d ago

Oh, you mean the fancy paper that needs a charger isn't perfect for a construction site? Shocking. Next you'll tell me my coffee cup doesn't double as a level. I get it, man, but at least with a tablet you don't have to unfold a giant map of the job site just to find the toilet location. Plus, when the battery dies on paper, you just fold it up and throw it in the truck. It's a trade-off between not having to roll up wet mud prints and not having to explain to the boss why you're now a proud owner of a bricked tablet.

drewr1514d ago

My buddy down in San Antonio dropped his tablet in a porta-john last month and it still haunts him. But honestly, I've seen more guys lose their paper prints to a sudden gust of wind on a half-framed roof than I've seen tablets brick from a coffee spill. The thing about digital blueprints that got me is the markup tool - you can draw a big red circle on the screen and everyone gets the update instantly instead of waiting for someone to find the one guy with the hi-vis vest and a sharpie. Battery life is annoying but that's what a power bank is for, and you can't exactly plug a folded up wet print into a USB port.