A good plan

By Jack Bess

Getting answers takes time.

But instead of spending too much time seeking answers on projects out to bid, contractors can make use of a one-stop clearinghouse of information — the plan room.

By becoming a plan-room member, contractors can have access to a host of time-saving services, such as borrowing blueprints overnight or on the weekend, and to breaking-news services like a daily fax announcing new projects that are up for bid around Wisconsin and in parts of neighboring states.

For some contractors, plan rooms are ingrained in their way of doing business. Some companies have employees who spend up to 75 percent of their time researching projects, said Linda Kohlmeyer, plan-room manager at the Milwaukee Builders Exchange.

Plan rooms have their advantages for contractors and suppliers who get easy access to most anything they'd bid on, and for architects and owners who make their plans available and "get the most bids and therefore get the best prices," Kohlmeyer said.

How to join

Some plan rooms offer two or three levels of membership, and members' fees are based on how many services are purchased, or on where a contractor is based. The Fond du Lac Builders Exchange offers three types of annual membership: a bid newsletter for $80, a $220 active membership for contractors within a 40-mile radius of the plan room, and a $160 membership for those outside the 40-mile radius.

"We're basically giving a break (in price) to those who have to drive here," said Kathy Gyr, plan-room coordinator.

Of course, blueprints are available at city halls and other places, but plan-room membership allows contractors to inspect plans without having to dig into their pockets for a deposit fee.

"If they order plans from the owner, the architect or the state, most deposits are refundable, but some are not. And a lot of the time, the deposits are $100," said Sharon Mitchell, plan room manager at Green Bay Builders Exchange. "Then they have to do all the bookwork for paying the deposit and make sure their refund comes back."

If you're a small contracting company and don't have a designated employee to spend time in the plan room, blueprints can be copied for members or checked out overnight, Mitchell said.

In addition, plan rooms conveniently have an array of on-site resources, including phones, faxes, computers and reference books. If a plan calls for a certain type of ceiling tile that a contractor is unfamiliar with, all they need to do is walk over to a shelf of Sweet's catalogues to look it up and find the pricing and supplier's phone number, Mitchell said.

And because the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is issuing some of its plans only on CD-ROM, not on paper, the computer is becoming an even more important plan-room tool, she added.

Around-the-clock access

The Contractors Exchange in West Allis takes plan-room convenience to the limit by offering 24-hour, seven-day access to its resources. That plan room's owner, Tony Karpfinger, is an engineer that had to use other plan rooms and "knew what it was like to have to lay the plans down at 4:30 and walk out the door," said plan-room manager GeorgieAnn O'Dell.

Some plan rooms are starting to take their services to the ultimate 24-hour reading room: the Internet. For instance, the La Crosse Builders Exchange Web site, offers free access to its membership directory and news bulletins, and to plans on file for a members fee, said Sandy Bakalars, plan-room manager.

The plan-room bulletin offers benefits apart from bid listings. As plan rooms have anywhere between 300 and 500 members, suppliers can use bulletins to advertise themselves to architects and general conractors.

And, according to Bakalars, the La Crosse bulletin features ads from local motels offering "construction discounts" to out-of-town contractors working in the area.