Lyra Research recently performed a study that included in-depth interviews of large general contractors. The goal of the research was to understand the primary causes of waste in the lifecycle of construction projects as well as to determine the financial impact that color construction documents can have on this waste. The result is a new white paper titled Color Construction Documents: a Simple Way to Reduce Costs.

The white paper outlines specific benefits of color wide format printing to the stakeholders within the construction process as well the recommended best practices. Lyra Research also delivered a return-on-investment (ROI) calculator to help construction firms anticipate the potential savings of using color construction documents.

The research findings within Lyra's report indicate that:

• For traditional design-bid-build projects, color construction documentation provides an important means for reducing costs.

• Employing color construction plans and blueprints can reduce both request for information (RFI) and change order management costs. The result is a return on investment ratio that can easily exceed 4:1.

• On a per-project basis, Lyra Research determined that the value of color construction plans and documents far outweigh the actual cost of even premium color prints.

• Despite this potential high return on investment, color CAD documentation techniques are generally underutilized in building projects.

Overall, employing color in construction blueprints and plan sets mean costs reductions in many of the same areas as the Building Information Modeling (BIM) data management system. However, color wide format printing options are far less costly and easier to implement.

For additional information download the Lyra White Paper

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