Before the digital era, construction design and plans were hand drawn by architects and engineers. Whenever copies of these drawing and documents were required, skilled draftsmen were required to reproduce the documents using a wide range of drawing tools. When Computer Aided Design (CAD) was introduced, it brought a revolutionary change in the construction industry by making the drawing process much faster with higher accuracy. However, construction drawings are still being printed in some project sites.
Traditional ways of hand drawn construction designs were exposed to a high risk of to https://syanetsugaiheki.com/ damage from environmental factors like dust and humidity. These limitations can be easily cut down with the use of digital documents. Also, considering the current emergency situation of the coronavirus outbreak, hand drawn designs could be a possible transmission medium of the novel virus.
Digitization can be easily implemented in new construction projects, since all the documents can be managed digitally from the start. However, in some cases where no documents are available, the construction drawing must be created based on inspections.
Let’s dive further into how digital construction documents helps in better project management.
Improving Efficiency with Digital Documents
Printed construction drawings have many limitations as they can be easily damaged or lost, and multiple copies may not be immediately available. Also, during change orders, the site personnel must wait for the documents to be printed and delivered which leads to delays in the project.
How digital documents overcome the printed construction drawings issues:
- Digital documents are protected from physical damage at all times since they are stored in a cloud database or a company server.
- These documents can be accessed from multiple devices simultaneously which allows annotations and discussions without the need of physical contact.
- Annotations can be reviewed by architects and engineers quickly making the flow of information more efficient.