When contractor Burmor Construction needed to accurately price a residential development, Bluebeam was the obvious choice.
Elliot Road is a residential development project comprising 30 new dwellings. It involved clearing an existing site and infilling new homes. To help the team coordinate the project effectively, Burmor used Bluebeam.
The tool provided huge time savings during both design and construction. During design, it made the process of measuring the different elements of the project very easy, and in construction it helped the project team and client to make faster decisions.
Designing with digital tools
Sam Harwin, senior quantity surveyor at Burmor, had been using Bluebeam for several years. When he joined the company, it was something he was keen to roll out.
“One of the biggest benefits is that it makes measurement so easy to do,” Harwin said. “That helps us to accurately price our jobs and order the right number of materials. We try to do everything digitally, and then export the measurements to Microsoft Excel to build the bill of quantities.”
Bluebeam Resource Hub
Browse case studies, watch webinars, and see what’s new with Bluebeam.As well as improving measurement, Bluebeam helped speed up design and reduce costs. For example, the team no longer needed to print multiple large drawings and complete markups by hand, which is time consuming and runs the risk of mistakes. This has led to a reduction in paper usage and has removed the need to purchase expensive printers. The team has even been able to reduce the size of its workspace.
Using software on site
During construction Bluebeam also helped the team to work on the project remotely, increasing approval speeds and avoiding delays.
Harwin said: “We had an issue on site when we cleared some vegetation. We found a boundary wall that was damaged. Instead of the client having to come to site and look before deciding, we digitally marked up the drawing, added a comment to explain what we’d found and then attached some photos.
“This was all added to an email, with the client able to respond that day,” Harwin said. “In the past, something like that might have delayed a decision by up to a week, potentially causing a knock-on effect with other tasks.”
Increasing business efficiency
Using tools like Bluebeam is part of a wider strategy at Burmor to use technology to improve efficiencies.
“Like most businesses, we utilize Office 365 and OneDrive for our projects, with secure folders set up to share the latest documentation with clients and our supply chain partners,” Harwin said. “We’ve just started using drones to carry out site surveys too, allowing us to quickly review project progress.”
“While these are all useful, you also need tools that are specific to construction. Bluebeam is very versatile. It’s easy to use, is always up to date with the latest versions of documents and helps us to visually explain projects to our clients.”
“For example, we had to move some doors early in the design. It was easy to markup the drawing during the meeting, with the client able to decide there and then.”
Benefits for small contractors
To achieve benefits of any new software, construction businesses need to ensure they invest time and effort into the rollout process, according to Harwin.
“My advice to SMEs is that no matter what size you are, there is software that can help,” Harwin said. “Many construction businesses are doing the same thing and have similar needs—it might just be that for an SME this is on a smaller scale.” “We have found that software empowers smaller businesses to deliver work themselves that in the past they have had to go elsewhere for. We showed a bricklayer how to use Bluebeam’s measurement tool to help calculate the number of bricks they needed. Traditionally, they may have asked for QS support or discussed drawings with the architect, but they can do that themselves now using tools like Bluebeam.”
