Unpopular opinion: Autodesk BIM 360 is overrated for small crews

I popped in on a job site last week near Bakersfield, a 12-unit apartment build with a crew of 8 guys. The GC was pushing everyone to use BIM 360 for punch lists and daily logs. Looked good in the trailer but out in the field, guys were spending 15 minutes per issue typing stuff into an app when a quick chalk mark on the wall would've done the same thing. Three of the subs didn't even have service on their tablets half the day. For a team that small, paper checklists and a group text work faster and cost zero. Has anyone else felt like big tech solutions are a bad fit for smaller builds?

3 comments

3 Comments

jennifer20413h ago

Laughed out loud when I read about the tablets losing service, because I literally did the same thing last month with a crew of 5. Spent 20 minutes trying to upload a photo of a leaky pipe before just drawing a big arrow on the wall with a sharpie and texting the plumber. My own tablet now lives in the truck glovebox.

beth_reed6h ago

135 bucks says @jennifer204 could make a mint selling sharpie arrows on Etsy.

vera5145h ago

Wait, Etsy takes a cut so she'd need to price them higher to actually make a mint.