10 Reasons Why You Should Be Creating Digital Sketches On-site

Are you still doing floor plan sketching by hand during customer consultations? Unfortunately, those informal, roughly drawn paper sketches have several limitations. Read on to discover what you can gain by doing something different instead: using a drawing-tool application to create digital site plans on a mobile device.

1. Time Savings with digital drawing software

This is a game-changer! One of the biggest benefits of using a digital drawing tool is the speed at which detailed floor plans can be created. The right software tool will combine a high degree of augmented-reality automation with easy-to-use features to make the room-mapping process remarkably faster. It’s valuable for remodeling, renovation and restoration teams of all sizes, and even individual contractors who work alone.

Here’s how it works:

• The tool will scan a room, using input from your mobile device’s camera and gyroscope sensors, and use 3D-capture technology to form a floor plan within minutes. (Or you can use Apple’s LiDAR Scanner if you have the newest iPhone 12 Pro or iPad Pro. The LiDAR Scanner provides impressive measurement accuracy, thanks to cutting-edge depth-sensing capabilities.)
• Then you can quickly polish the site plan by fine-tuning measurements, overlaying extra design details from a library of structural objects, and adding notations about architectural features and finishing types.
• A high-quality digital drawing tool will also let you create a floor plan of multiple rooms, and even turn a 2D plan into a 3D view.

By harnessing the power of this advanced and intuitive technology, you can boost your productivity significantly. That means you can free up valuable hours each month for other important tasks.

2. Clearer Presentation of Your Vision with digital blueprints

Imagine presenting a professional-looking floor plan during every initial consultation with a new customer. A digital drawing tool actually allows you to do that. Simply create a floor plan sketch while meeting with the customer on-site. Then present it immediately on your mobile-device screen to share your vision, build excitement and confirm the customer’s buy-in. This is a great way to make sure both of you agree on the function and appearance of the final results. That way, the customer is likely to feel more engaged in the project-planning process.

3. Ability to Change Your Floor Plan Creation on the Fly

What if your customer wants you to tweak your plan before you leave the appointment? How fast can you move a door or knock down a wall or relabel a room? These types of edits are hard to do with a paper document. But a good digital drawing tool will let you complete a design iteration instantly, so you can get it done quickly, get an approval and get out the door.

4. Integration with a Laser Measurement Device

The best type of digital drawing tool will allow you to connect a laser distance meter via Bluetooth. This helps to increase the specificity and scale accuracy of your digital plans, if that level of precision is required.

Read more: The 3 best laser measuring tools under $200

5. Shareability

Unlike paper floor plans, digital plans are immediately and easily shareable in real time from the field – in your choice of several file formats. There is no need to meet with employees in person, because plans can be distributed online and then opened and viewed easily on others’ desktop computers or smartphones. You also can choose to share plans with customers and subcontractors to keep them in the loop with project communication. Plus, digital files are never touched by human hands and, therefore, do not present any risk of passing on infectious diseases.

6. Improved Collaboration

Use of digitized floor plans greatly improves the flow of information by making sure everyone can access each site plan at the same time. That means you can collaborate more seamlessly with team members and others to increase the pace of residential project planning. The process is easy: simply share visualizations with key individuals electronically, and then quickly collect their feedback.

7. Faster, Easier Change-Order Management

Having to create and distribute a new paper plan with every change order is cumbersome. It takes a lot of time and may even delay your work schedule and create logistical nightmares. However, a good digital drawing tool helps you avoid those problems by allowing you to make adjustments to existing plans much more efficiently. Plus, you can make sure that all collaborators always have access to the most current plan version.

8. Customization of residential building plans

A high-quality digital drawing tool will allow you to add your company logo and colors on drawings. This communicates professionalism and helps you convey your unique brand. Also, a good tool will allow to build your own custom, predetermined price list for various tasks and materials, so you can calculate a total cost estimate quickly for each project.

9. Permanence

Delicate paper floor plans will deteriorate over time, and also risk being damaged or lost. But digital documents can be stored safely and indefinitely on a server or in the cloud. This provides protection against physical deterioration, damage and misplacement.

 10. Convenient Storage and Retrieval

Paper floor plans also require office storage space, and finding a specific document in a physical archive can be difficult. In comparison, digital plans require no physical storage space and can be found in seconds by searching for keywords. This is especially ideal when dealing with disputes or insurance claims.

As digital technology continues to transform the construction industry, more and more remodeling, renovation and restoration businesses are embracing the advantages of digital drawings. Therefore, it’s worthwhile to consider what a digital drawing tool like magicplan can do to help you take on new projects and enhance your own business. It’s a small investment that can make a big impact.

Schedule a demo below to get a better understanding of magicplan's sketching capabilities for your work on site: