In today’s ever-evolving industry, digital collaboration continues to be at the forefront of modern construction. Resource restrictions and complex projects are no longer the obstacles to building success that they once were, thanks to the advent of PDFs for digital collaboration, and software like Bluebeam^® Revu^®, which allows real-time collaboration within Bluebeam Studio.  

Now, project partners can be in remote locations or offsite and still be principal contributors to the project. If anything, digital collaboration opens up more freedom for contractors and project partners because of the time and money saved in eliminating paper-based costs and confusion, and the ability to always have your most talented team members involved, even when they are in a different location or on assignment.  

That said, there are 10 steps that every general contractor should take into consideration when using Bluebeam for Design Review. These steps will not only maximize your use of Bluebeam, they will ultimately improve your digital collaboration and your bottom line.  

1. Choose a Data and/or Digital Manager: Every step ultimately comes down to human initiative and instruction. Choose someone who understands and values standardization in the design and build processes and empower them to track compliance both internally and externally. 

2. Use a True Type Font: By using a true type font, you’ll be able to read any material on any platform or operating system. 

3. Consistent Line Style: Use the same type of line for every feature of design. Windows are always dashed lines; walls are always 12-point solid lines, and so forth. 

4. Consistent Naming and Labeling: Every PDF design should be named or labeled according to a consistent standard and have a name or label in the same place of the PDF itself that indicates exactly what design it is, with project numbers or IDs so anyone looking for that PDF can find it quickly. 

5. Consistent Placement of Design and Labels on the PDF: Designs should be placed at the same point with the same margins and labels at the same point on every design. 

6. Design Data Minimums and Maximums: Contractors and subcontractors are in the field; when they need their designs, they need them immediately. That means if they’re retrieving data from the cloud, they need the smallest amount of data possible. Design standards for data hog design tools, such as hatch fill, can reduce document size, saving workers’ time. 

7. Machine Readable PDFs: Always make your PDFs machine readable to ensure that you can share and collaborate over working documents instead of simply images. 

8. Create and Use Custom Markups: There are many custom markups available in PDF software like Bluebeam Revu, but a standardized toolset for markups has numerous advantages. First, team members always know a cloud means something different from a callout or a check. Second, standard markups allow for clean data captured in a PDF to be outputted and used by project team members down or up stream. 

9. Standardized Workflows: Make and keep smart document traffic standards. Anytime a document is marked up, changed or updated, there should be a record. This is particularly important for QA/QC, where documents can face hundreds of hours of review and a single error of accounting can require a costly correction in the future. 

10. Standards in the Contracts: To ensure compliance with the standards you’ve created, make following the standards for subcontractors and partners part of their contractual obligations. 

With the power of Bluebeam in your team’s hands, digital collaboration can finally yield the impressive results your jobsite deserves. Try these steps today and discover why companies like Hilson Moran have seen a remarkable 60% improvement in project delivery efficiency since implementing Bluebeam and utilizing Studio to collaborate across the globe.