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October 11th, 2009, 12:29 PM
The future of Plan Review (Plan Check)- eReview of Construction Documents
By:Imad Naffa
Fresno, CA, United States
What does the future hold for review of construction drawings for conformance with the Building Codes and other rules and regulations? Is electronic plan review (eReview) the future?
The short answer is YES....with caveats!
What is eReview? eReview is a process where the reviewing authority accepts and reviews plan submittals electronically. The process application on a large scale remains in the infancy stage at this time and has limited applications. Some use it for small projects, such as single family residential and additions permit applications. In the future eReview will expand to more permit types (i.e. larger and more complex projects).
Electronic submission of plans is a generally accepted practice in the construction industry that saves customers hundreds of dollars in printing and storage costs and results in faster permit processing. The electronic documents can be transmitted from anywhere to the reviewing entity instantly. No shipping. No printing!
Reviewing entities will have to get up to speed with technology and get comfortable in making the transition to electronic review. As with any change, there will be bumps in the road. The public and politicians will be demanding acceptance of such methods of submittals in the near future (some already started doing so). With Green initiatives all around, eReview will make sense even more.
Out of the US's 40,000 state and local jurisdictions that adopt and/or enforce building codes and standards, fewer than 50 are doing electronic plan reviews.
Do I need any special software to participate in eReview?
Plans are usually submitted in a pdf format. Many CAD programs have the option of saving the drawing as a pdf file. With the plans being submitted in this format, the reviewers can add comments and notes without changing the underlying drawing.
To be able to read the review comments and notes, the end user will need Adobe reader. To view a .pdf file, you first must have Adobe Acrobat Reader (the free plug-in software distributed by Adobe which lets you view .pdf files) installed on your computer. You can get a copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader by visiting Adobe's Web site at http://www.adobe.com/ and following the instructions.
There are other methods (hardware and software) for reviewing the documents electronically. Here are some examples: http://bit.ly/nYSA2
For anyone embarking on electronic plan review and for an in-depth analysis of best electronic practices in building regulations, plan submittal, plan review and tracking along with example case studies, I highly recommend reading "White Paper: Best Practices in Electronic Plan Submittal, Review, Tracking and Storage".
What are the submittal requirements?
Typically, there are specific submittal requirements regarding the electronic plans, naming of the pages, completing the required cover sheet, etc. Each reviewing authority has specific requirements that should be followed- so always check.
For additional information and examples regarding electronic plan review, this link from the Building Code Discussions Group (BCDG)- membership required- will provide you with more insight: http://bit.ly/xX537
I will be updating this post periodically, so stay tuned.
Link:http://imadnaffa.blogspot.com/2009/10/future-of-plan-review.html
By:Imad Naffa
Fresno, CA, United States
What does the future hold for review of construction drawings for conformance with the Building Codes and other rules and regulations? Is electronic plan review (eReview) the future?
The short answer is YES....with caveats!
What is eReview? eReview is a process where the reviewing authority accepts and reviews plan submittals electronically. The process application on a large scale remains in the infancy stage at this time and has limited applications. Some use it for small projects, such as single family residential and additions permit applications. In the future eReview will expand to more permit types (i.e. larger and more complex projects).
Electronic submission of plans is a generally accepted practice in the construction industry that saves customers hundreds of dollars in printing and storage costs and results in faster permit processing. The electronic documents can be transmitted from anywhere to the reviewing entity instantly. No shipping. No printing!
Reviewing entities will have to get up to speed with technology and get comfortable in making the transition to electronic review. As with any change, there will be bumps in the road. The public and politicians will be demanding acceptance of such methods of submittals in the near future (some already started doing so). With Green initiatives all around, eReview will make sense even more.
Out of the US's 40,000 state and local jurisdictions that adopt and/or enforce building codes and standards, fewer than 50 are doing electronic plan reviews.
Do I need any special software to participate in eReview?
Plans are usually submitted in a pdf format. Many CAD programs have the option of saving the drawing as a pdf file. With the plans being submitted in this format, the reviewers can add comments and notes without changing the underlying drawing.
To be able to read the review comments and notes, the end user will need Adobe reader. To view a .pdf file, you first must have Adobe Acrobat Reader (the free plug-in software distributed by Adobe which lets you view .pdf files) installed on your computer. You can get a copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader by visiting Adobe's Web site at http://www.adobe.com/ and following the instructions.
There are other methods (hardware and software) for reviewing the documents electronically. Here are some examples: http://bit.ly/nYSA2
For anyone embarking on electronic plan review and for an in-depth analysis of best electronic practices in building regulations, plan submittal, plan review and tracking along with example case studies, I highly recommend reading "White Paper: Best Practices in Electronic Plan Submittal, Review, Tracking and Storage".
What are the submittal requirements?
Typically, there are specific submittal requirements regarding the electronic plans, naming of the pages, completing the required cover sheet, etc. Each reviewing authority has specific requirements that should be followed- so always check.
For additional information and examples regarding electronic plan review, this link from the Building Code Discussions Group (BCDG)- membership required- will provide you with more insight: http://bit.ly/xX537
I will be updating this post periodically, so stay tuned.
Link:http://imadnaffa.blogspot.com/2009/10/future-of-plan-review.html