Official Gramps' Memorial Eternal OT Thread

Nah, I only cover the back of the last page of structural and the last page of architecturals...so if I put them down on something wet or dirty they dont get messed up. We print our own plans, but they are still expensive. 50 to $100 a set usually.

More and more jobs are going to Procore or Bluebeam now, and they want us to do everything from tablets. I hate it. My last job was Procore, I am just old school and like my paper plans. My unit drawings for instance have all the dimensions from the cabinet submittals, all the openings for HVAC or air flow , location for smart box and elect. Panel. , etc....all that info in 1 place. Same page. If I have help on a job, I will make duplicates like that for him, marked up, colors etc and get them laminated for him. So when he walks into each unit, he just has to look in the doorjamb of the entry door opening and see which unit he is in...flip to the correct unit plan...and every bit of info needed to mark up that unit and punch it out is at his fingertips. Sometimes I have an assistant, sometimes I have to markup all the units myself.

The biggest problem I have right now is that I cant get the treated lumber that I need for decks and breezeways. Everyone thats been out of work has been building decks and treated is super high right now, and very hard to get as well. 2 week lead time on everything....killing me. I could frame this 300 unit complex in 4 months if we had what we need...looks like it will take 6 months due to materials and truss delays.
We use Procore and the site supers use ipads for drawings.
 
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We use Procore and the site supers use ipads for drawings.


I know that Procore is well made. They did the best they could to make it as functional as possible, and it works. It just doesnt work as well as my unit plans do, once I have gathered all the info and submittals, overlays etc and transferred all that info to my paper drawings. Procore is only better in 1 way IMO....as drawings are revised or updated, Procore CAN change to the new information, if it is made to. Obviously paper drawings cannot do that. When I get a totally new page, I just staple it on the old page in my plans and go from there.

When Procore or Bluebeam, or whoever makes it to where I can go in with a stylus and mark up unit plans the way I do, it will be great. Highlights in several colors, etc. There are still places where a tablet doesnt work well at all though ....like popping lines on the slab or subfloor to layout before framing. You just can't do that from a tablet on apartments. There is so much info between the arch, str, MEP stuff, CLP, etc...it takes hours of marking up paper drawings before they are even ready to pop lines.

Star, I guess you are an architect like Louder? I am a super for a commercial contractor who builds almost exclusively apartment complexes. Occasionally a dormitory or wood framed commercial property, but 95% of the time just apartment complexes. We are definitely the biggest framing sub in the Carolinas, possibly in the SE....there are some National companies bigger than ours for sure though. I have been working here for about 11 years.
 
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I know that Procore is well made. They did the best they could to make it as functional as possible, and it works. It just doesnt work as well as my unit plans do, once I have gathered all the info and submittals, overlays etc and transferred all that info to my paper drawings. Procore is only better in 1 way IMO....as drawings are revised or updated, Procore CAN change to the new information, if it is made to. Obviously paper drawings cannot do that. When I get a totally new page, I just staple it on the old page in my plans and go from there.

When Procore or Bluebeam, or whoever makes it to where I can go in with a stylus and mark up unit plans the way I do, it will be great. Highlights in several colors, etc. There are still places where a tablet doesnt work well at all though ....like popping lines on the slab or subfloor to layout before framing. You just can't do that from a tablet on apartments. There is so much info between the arch, str, MEP stuff, CLP, etc...it takes hours of marking up paper drawings before they are even ready to pop lines.

Star, I guess you are an architect like Louder? I am a super for a commercial contractor who builds almost exclusively apartment complexes. Occasionally a dormitory or wood framed commercial property, but 95% of the time just apartment complexes. We are definitely the biggest framing sub in the Carolinas, possibly in the SE....there are some National companies bigger than ours for sure though. I have been working here for about 11 years.
I havent used it myself but what I have seen from Blue Beam is impressive as heck. I think that paired with ProCore will get you what you want.
 
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I know that Procore is well made. They did the best they could to make it as functional as possible, and it works. It just doesnt work as well as my unit plans do, once I have gathered all the info and submittals, overlays etc and transferred all that info to my paper drawings. Procore is only better in 1 way IMO....as drawings are revised or updated, Procore CAN change to the new information, if it is made to. Obviously paper drawings cannot do that. When I get a totally new page, I just staple it on the old page in my plans and go from there.

When Procore or Bluebeam, or whoever makes it to where I can go in with a stylus and mark up unit plans the way I do, it will be great. Highlights in several colors, etc. There are still places where a tablet doesnt work well at all though ....like popping lines on the slab or subfloor to layout before framing. You just can't do that from a tablet on apartments. There is so much info between the arch, str, MEP stuff, CLP, etc...it takes hours of marking up paper drawings before they are even ready to pop lines.

Star, I guess you are an architect like Louder? I am a super for a commercial contractor who builds almost exclusively apartment complexes. Occasionally a dormitory or wood framed commercial property, but 95% of the time just apartment complexes. We are definitely the biggest framing sub in the Carolinas, possibly in the SE....there are some National companies bigger than ours for sure though. I have been working here for about 11 years.
I a mechanical engineer but we do design build projects, so we deal with submittals, RFIs, field directions, etc.
 
Bluebeam is pretty awesome and ProCore can take an revision pdf and cloud the changes between the versions.
Unless you have idiot contractors running procore who upload the set wrong and you get angry emails about change orders due to 100% revision cloud coverage.

They honestly thought we had completely redone every drawing in the set in about a weeks time. Never thought to check themselves before dragging the client in on an email chain.
 
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