How Are Your Prints Supplied?

Grumpy

When you guys bid off print, how are your prints supplied?

WHen we are working with GC's that we've worked with in the past, they usually foot the bill of reproduction.

I've began to bid for quite a few new GC's. Most of which want me to pick up the plans at a reproduction shop at my own expense ($20-$200 depending).

Personally I don't want to pay. I have autocad and can print them myself at my office, if I want. I could also do all the take offs on screen using auto cad. Should I request these GC's send me the prints in cad form?

hatchet

Is what we typically do is provide prints for them with a $100 deposit for bidding. If they do not receive the job and they return the drawings we refund the $100.
If they receive the job we also refund the $100 but if they want more prints they cover the reproduction costs.
It's unlikely that a GC or architect will send you a set of CAD drawings without some type of agreement that they can't be used in another manner not in tune with the same project. And even more unlikely that they will send you them for bidding purposes.
The best way is to request them in is PDF format which can be easily printed in large format. This covers the architect and gc from changing or reformatting the drawings.

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Rich
WIT Construction Co.
Superior MT Contractor

Grumpy

What's the difference between cad drawings or not? They can still be reproduced at any kinkos, regardless if they say don't reproduce.

If you want to redraw them you can, it takes no brain work to copy. Heck if they have adobe acrobat writer they can change the dwg to a PDF which I then can't edit as easily as if it was the dwg.

hatchet

Cad drawings are owned by the architect and therefore they are a little more proprietary about them. If you have a cad drawing you can freely modify anything on there and then use it for construction or copy and paste an element out of it to another project. Then if you use the modified drawing in construction the architect can be held liable for anything that has been changed.
Reproducing is a totally different thing from plagiarism.
I've actually had this happen where we contracted with a mechanical contractor and the engineer submitted cad drawings to the contractor who changed some piping but also changed some wording on one of the pages so they were not required to provide and install some insulation on all piping. Contractor then submitted them back to the engineer who overlooked the changes to wording - only reviewing the piping changes and incorporated these drawings into their construction set. When we, as GC, asked the contractor to supply and install the insulation they pointed to the changed wording. We had to go back and review all submissions of the drawings and finally found the review error. It could've cost us quite a chunk of money to subcontract another company for supplying and installing all insulation on a 700,000 sf building or giving a change order to them for it.
And as far as the PDF format - that's what I said previously. And by saying you should request them that way I meant that you would more likely have someone agree to provide them to you.

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Rich
WIT Construction Co.
Superior MT Contractor

Grumpy

It's so much wasted paper anyways. In todays era I can't believe it's not all computer take offs.

Actually the funny thing was, one of the jobs I was griping about ordering the prints, ended up on my desk yesterday evening. No idea how it got there or who ordered it

pgriz

Must have been the "print" fairy. Send her (Him? IT?) my way once you're finished, I have a few things that I'd like to "appear" on my desk!

Floorwizard

As long as it's not the pink slip fairy.
What a sneaky little thing

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"in 20 years you will regret more what you did not do than what you did"

hatchet

You can do take offs from paper - just get a digitizer
Not too expensive.

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Rich
WIT Construction Co.
Superior MT Contractor

Grumpy

Hatchet, ya musta misread, I said the paper was a waste for take offs

hatchet

Oh... I see what you were saying now. Well I agree with you .. in todays new age computer technology etc you would think the "paperless office" would be a reality but it's been proven to actually increase paper because everyone is afraid of the computer exploding or something so they print it out and file it and then send an email to someone else who prints it out and files it also.. Is what it boils down to is that people need to know how to maintain their computers and how to organize within them.
In regards to being scared of computers - it takes an act of congress to get a computer in the company I work for... yet they require us to use P3, Project Talk, and all these other computer based programs and they give us these tanks that can barely load P3. Yet on the other hand we make million dollar decisions on the jobsite everyday without the corporate giving the ok... but they won't let us buy one $2500 to do enough research to make the right million dollar decision.. go figure.

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Rich
WIT Construction Co.
Superior MT Contractor

Grumpy

I remotely backup all my files. I have copies of every file at home. All contracts and work orders etc... are burnt to cd and taken home as well.

Your right it goes back to proper maintenance of the computer. My computers almost never break anymore.