Melville, N.Y. - Industry estimates claim that 10-30% of all building project costs can be attributed to waste, such as wasted labor time, wasted materials, inaccurate estimates, field change orders and unnecessary litigation¹. However, there is an effective solution to this problem that is often overlooked by construction industry professionals - the use of color in construction documents.

Canon Solutions America, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Canon U.S.A, Inc., outlines below how a simple change to color construction documents can benefit construction industry professionals in three critical areas.

Operating Costs – Requests for Information (RFI) Management

According to a report by the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST), general contractors waste approximately $0.12 per square foot and $.016 per square foot during the design and construction phases of building, respectively, with RFI management². However, construction workflows that leverage color throughout the design and construction phases can reduce costs for traditional design-bid-build projects.

The improvements in collaboration gained through reduced RFIs and change orders actually outweigh the cost of color printing. Each incremental dollar invested in color printing can yield $4 in savings for a given project. These savings are a direct result of the use of higher-quality color construction documentation during the estimation, bidding and construction phases of building where collaboration involves multiple stakeholders.

Project Costs – Estimation Cost Contingencies

General contractors typically enter the building project well after the project owner has approved the building designs. This often results in built-in contingency costs by contractors and subcontractors to mitigate the risk of insufficient design details. In fact, for moderately complex building projects, contingencies of 10 to 20 percent are considered common without the use of color 2D construction documents³.  It stands to reason that if contingencies could be reduced – by improving the speed and accuracy of estimating – general contractors would have an opportunity to win more business and increase their revenues.

By incorporating color construction documentation during the planning and bidding phase of a project, the total number of estimation cost contingencies can be reduced.  Color allows for more accurate coordination and compliance review, as well as savings from more accurate coordination of services (i.e. mechanical, electrical and plumbing). Providing clear, color-coded construction drawings to subcontractors can also result in more accurate job costing and lower bids by subcontractors.

Project Turn-Around Time – Shorter Project Schedules Delivered Under Budget

Incorporating more accurate color construction documentation can help to ensure that communication between all stakeholders is improved, while also increasing value to the owner, reducing waste and maximizing efficiency through all phases of design, fabrication and construction. Additionally, the ability to accelerate project schedules through improved communication helps to reduce errors and omissions, enabling more continuous throughput of subcontractors and supplier assignments. Depending on the project, general contractors stand to benefit financially through project bonuses for completing project milestones early or under budget.

Applying color construction documents to design-bid-build projects presents a significant near-term opportunity for improving project collaboration and reducing project-related waste. Construction industry professionals also stand to achieve quantifiable savings and grow their revenues by reducing RFIs, estimating contingencies and project schedules by making a change to color.

For more information on how Canon Solutions America helps construction industry professionals economically incorporate color into their workflows through its line-up of large format color inkjet printers, plotters and multifunction systems, visit: www.csa.canon.com/colorforcontruction.

To learn more about the cost savings that can be gained by simply adding color to your construction documents, download the free Lyra Research whitepaper “Color Construction Documents: A Simple Way to Reduce Costs” here: www.csa.canon.com/lyra.