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Scanners

Sifu

SAWHORSE
Joined
Sep 3, 2011
Messages
2,773
I am thinking about buying a large format scanner for converting paper plans to pdf. This would be for my personal use so it would probably be fairly lite use compared to a jurisdiction and needs to be as inexpensive as possible. I had a large format copier 20 years ago that took up a lot of room, would prefer as compact as possible too. Anybody using one or have recommendations?
 
Have you priced just taking them somewhere to copy Vs maybe what a scanner would cost???

Plus just request electronic copy of plans??
 
Paying the on-going price is a consideration, and I will be doing that for now. I am trying to decide how often I would get plans on paper as well. I can't require a particular format, that would be up to the AHJ I am working with. Some don't require it, and some don't even have the ability to process them if they did get them. There is also the time component. Turning plans efficiently will be impacted if I have to wait for them to be scanned. So the added cost and time both impact my bottom line. If I can review on BB instead of paper I will make up for some of the time, and be able to keep much better records. This is just a thought, trying to see if anyone else has dealt with it. I will be paying a visit to my local printer to see what his capabilities and pricing are, outside of that it would be a 30 minute trip to a printer.
 
Another thought is look at cost to rent/lease

Could save maintenance cost, and if need goes away, you do not have to do a garage sale.
 
Turning plans efficiently will be impacted if I have to wait for them to be scanned.
Not if the intake requirement states that they have to be digital. That way your clock doesn’t start until the proper plans are received.
Every architect can provide digital. If it’s a home owner/builder, they can scan the plans on their home multifunction printer. Or they can go to the fedex store. I think the number of submitters who cannot provide digital is going to decrease every year, so your need for a personal scanner will decrease too.
 
We bought a Contex scanner about 10 years ago and it is still working great. We've scanned over 100 thousand sheets on it.
 
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