I actually think paper plans are better than digital tablets on site and here's why

Was on a job last week in Charlotte. 90 degrees out. Foreman pulls out his iPad to check the MEP drawings. Screen kept dimming from the heat. Had to stop work 4 times just to get it to wake up. My supervisor buddy swears tablets are the future but that day cost us 2 hours of labor. Found the stat later that week - digital screens fail 40% more often than paper in temps over 95F. Anybody else seeing more downtime from tech than it's worth?

2 comments

2 Comments

emmag4021h ago

And another thing that nobody talks about is how much longer it takes to switch between drawings on a tablet. On paper you can just flip pages in seconds. But on a tablet you gotta swipe, zoom, wait for it to load, hope you didn't accidentally close the wrong tab. Plus if you're wearing gloves or your hands are sweaty from the heat, the screen barely responds at all. We had a guy drop his tablet in a puddle of water on a roof last summer and it was done for the whole week. So yeah, I'm sticking with paper until they make tablets that can handle actual construction sites.

miles_perez15h ago

@emmag40 your construction site tablet story gave me a flashback to when I tried using my old iPad for a deck project and it died halfway through because the sun overheated it. Had to stand there holding it in front of a fan like an idiot while the homeowner watched. Paper never asks for a break or freezes up when your fingers are greasy from sunscreen.