Architekwiki
  • Home
  • WIKI
  • Start Here
  • Resources
  • Other
    • Reading List
    • Ochre >
      • Ochre
      • Ochre KB
      • Ochre FAQs
      • Ochre Help
    • Details
    • The 3 Aspects
    • About
    • Subscription FAQs
    • Terms of Use
  • Subscribe
  • Home
  • WIKI
  • Start Here
  • Resources
  • Other
    • Reading List
    • Ochre >
      • Ochre
      • Ochre KB
      • Ochre FAQs
      • Ochre Help
    • Details
    • The 3 Aspects
    • About
    • Subscription FAQs
    • Terms of Use
  • Subscribe

Architekwiki

A Resource For Architects
Click here to get good stuff in your inbox

This Looks Like A Winner

5/4/2014

 
PlanGrid App
click image to go to the App Store

I have used several Project Management Tools similar in concept to PlanGrid - Buzzsaw, Project Central, AutoCAD 360, Basecamp... What works so much better with PlanGrid is the ability to easily annotate your drawings inside the app and publish the markups to the whole project team. The markups could be coordination comments to the design team (or client!) in the design phases or correction comments to the contractor during the construction phase. PlanGrid really excels at graphic communications. Site photos are easily integrated into the drawings to enhance the punch list process, too.

Projects are set up on www.plangrid.com and shared to other team members by browser, tablet or phone (which works surprisingly well). Input by team members using a tablet is very easy, so annotations can be done anywhere.

One feature that is very cool is ’calibration’. By dimensioning a known element on a sheet, the app can then dimension unknown elements, curving lines and also report the area of drawn rectangles or free form shapes. Calibration is very handy...but sheets using several scales can be awkward. I could only change the calibration by removing everything referencing the initial calibration.

Another very cool feature is automatic hyper-linking of your detail call outs. Click on a detail bubble and you are automatically taken to the sheet where it is drawn. This is a feature that will get used constantly.

Other tools to assist with annotating:
  • Cloud - to call attention to changes
  • Arrow - to point to an element or the location where a photo was taken
  • Text - to make comments
  • Shapes - box, circle, X, and line to assist in mark-ups
  • Measurement tools - calibration, dimension, area
  • Linking - by using a cloud, or shaded area, you can link the area in question and your comment to another sheet or to an uploaded attachment and also add a description to describe the issue.

Each annotation can remain ’local’ or be pushed to the Master Set where it is view-able by everyone. All of this is done using PDFs of your drawing sheets rather than CAD files or 3D modeling (BIM) files. Specs can be uploaded as attachments and don’t appear to use up your sheet allowance. And that gets us into cost. There is no charge for up to fifty sheets of drawings. After that the cost is $20/ month for up to 550 sheets or $50/month for up to 5000 sheets. Per account. As slick as this App is, and I really like how it is geared to architects, the pricing is going to be an issue for a lot of smallish firms. If you creep over the free 50 sheet limit, then two or three of you will be paying $20/month. Even so, I think there are enough benefits that many firms will find that it saves enough time to justify the expense. In any event, the free 50 sheets should allow you to try it out to see if it makes project management easier/better.

The learning curve is pretty flat, but there are a lot of features to master. Having the entire project team on PlanGrid would be ideal, but my experience is that a large percentage of the team will resist learning something new that changes their usual methods. PlanGrid may just offer enough benefits to overcome that inclination. PlanGrid is definitely worth a look.

Comments are closed.
    Resources

    Start Here

    YouTube Channel

    Join The Mailing List

    Picture

    Terms of Use
    Your use of Architekwiki is implicit agreement with the 
    ​
    Terms of Use.
    Thank You for your donation

    x
    Get Good Stuff in Your Inbox
    Picture
    Subscribe

    RSS Feed


    Archives

    January 2023
    November 2022
    October 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    April 2022
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012

    Categories

    All
    Business Development
    Business Management
    Design
    Detail
    Miscellaneous
    Project Management
    Resources

Picture

Picture
VISIT ARCHITEKWIKI'S RESOURCES
​
START HERE
ABOUT
SIGN UP
TERMS OF USE
Architekwiki | Architect's Resource | Greater Cincinnati 
© 2012-2022   Architekwiki​