General contractors, subcontractors and others have been printing construction blueprints for decades. Although there still are some circumstances where a printed plan is necessary, the construction industry is without-a-doubt moving towards a completely digital experience. In fact, many companies are already there!
The good news is that it’s not too late to make the switch to using digital blueprints and reap the benefits! Contractors are making the switch each and every day… we know because hundreds sign up for STACK every day.
Disadvantages of Printing Blueprints
Printing blueprints has a few main disadvantages compared to using digital blueprints including:
• High Cost – Wow, blueprints are expensive to print! Each project usually has many pages to print and when you multiple that cost times the number of projects your bidding or working on, the cost can be quite substantial. It’s not unusual to have at least $1000/month just in printing costs.
• Slow – In today’s fast-paced world, who wants to wait on a printer to print your plans? You’ll also have to spend time driving to pick them up from a local printer or wait for them to be delivered if you’re using an online printer.
• Not Portable – Lugging around huge blueprint pages to the jobsite can be a pain in the butt. Plus, we all know how dirty jobsites can be. This poses the potential for blueprints to get lost, damaged or dirty.
• Not Collaborative – Only 1 person can work off a set of blueprints at a time. The plans can’t be in the office and at the jobsite at the same time. And what happens when changes are made?
• Not Updated – How many times have you printed a set of blueprints just to have changes made that require you to print them again, often times before you even receive the original set that you printed? This requires additional cost to have the plans printed again. Ugh!
A Better Alternative to Printing Blueprints
If you’re thinking that there has got to be a better way, you’re right! The time to move away from using paper blueprints and move towards a cheaper and more efficient digital process is here!
Contractors who embrace the new digital way will see many benefits and see their business thrive. Alternatively, contractors who continue with “the way I’ve always done it” and distance themselves from advances in technology will face an uphill battle when facing contractors using a digital process.
STACK is the best alternative to printing blueprints on the market today! STACK is a cloud-based preconstruction software that offers many advantages over printing blueprints including:
• No Cost – STACK offers a completely free version that you can use forever at no cost. In addition, there are more robust paid options available. You’ll save a bunch of money by uploading and storing your blueprints within STACK and not having to print them out.
• Fast – No need to wait on a printer at all. You’re plans are immediately available to use within STACK.
• 100% Portable – View your plans on any internet-enabled device including desktop, laptop, tablet or phone. It doesn’t matter if you’re in the office, at home or at the jobsite.
• Collaborative – Multiple people can be logged into STACK at the same time to view plans, make callouts for others to see and more!
• Updates – Got a new updated version of the blueprints? No problem! Just upload the new blueprints to STACK for your entire team to use.
In addition to plan, spec and document management, STACK offers a full suite of preconstruction functions including Takeoff, Estimating, Team Collaboration and Connectivity, and Project Reporting & Analytics
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