A multi-family building project requires a massive amount of patience and the hard work from a general contractor, sometimes more than one, an engineer, draftsman, inspectors, suppliers, and architects, just to mention a few. Professionals work with a set of building plans, or blueprints, which are absolutely crucial to everyone involved in the process. Typically, one set of building plans is shared between contractors and professionals. The plans are used for material estimates, building timelines, and inspection checkpoints. Draftsman blueprints are still the most common method, but today structural engineers can be asked to produce computerized building plans.
What does that mean for new multi-family builders?
Computerized building plans can
- Be altered to match ever restricting building codes and once refined, the draftsman will not have to redraw the plans each time
- Shared with all the contractors at the same time so any information any contractor needs at any time can be accessed without having to wait for the plans to be delivered
- Suppliers do not have to guess or repeatedly check measurements from plans that may have changed. They have complete access to the plans along with all the other contractors. That way suppliers can be very specific about the amount of materials required for the build, saving on supplies and the cost for those supplies
- Inspectors do not have to be repeatedly rescheduled. They, and the contractors, know what they are looking for, and are prepared for exactly what should be there according to stricter and stricter building codes, saving time.
How do computerized building plans affect how the project comes to life?
General contractors hire several engineers that typically do not work together so one does not know what the other is doing. This has constantly lead to delays in building where one engineer is waiting for another engineer’s progress, but with computerized building plans the entire process can run a lot smoother. Beginning with the suppliers, who already have narrowed down the products to the minimum, can divide the products into areas for individual contractors including labels for what portion of the building the bundle is intended for, thereby helping engineers follow the flow of the building process.
With a growing reputation, the computerized building plans are utilized to control each phase of the building project from beginning to end.