ecades ago, contractors seeking work opportunities would visit office spaces known as plans rooms—rooms packed with bid materials, blueprints, and other paperwork that they would sort through and photocopy or sit and do a take-off when a project with potential caught their attention.
Technology has transformed and elevated this concept in today’s construction world, but the spirit of plans rooms remains the same: these virtual, online platforms compile and organize upcoming projects in searchable, sortable, and sensible fashion, creating a platform where would-be bidders can browse work prospects. Two private plans rooms operate in Alaska today. The Plans Room and the Associated General Contractors (AGC) of Alaska’s Online Plans offer a full range of services for bid-seeking general contractors, builders, construction suppliers, and others.
AGC of Alaska members enjoy direct access to up-to-date project information through the Online Plans system that highlights projects throughout the state by providing visibility on opportunities, according to Clare Kreilkamp, AGC membership director.
“By having a dedicated consultant whose job it is to scour project owners’ sites throughout Alaska, our members can rely on AGC’s Online Plans system to notify them of projects that are relevant to them through daily project email reports that highlight new projects and RFPs [requests for proposals], new project addenda, and winning bids information—taking the burden off of members to do that themselves,” Kreilkamp says.
For those in the construction, contracting, and support services sectors, plans rooms make their lives simpler, promising convenience, efficiency, and a catch-all of forthcoming work—from private projects to state efforts, school district construction, and more.
The Plans Room in Anchorage launched in the ‘80s, says business manager Mary Ditz, as an “information center” for the Alaska construction industry.
“Technology is constantly changing, and we’re constantly doing updates to fit our model to the industry,” Ditz says. “In the beginning, we actually had a very large office where we used to house all of the blueprints, plans, and specifications. The business model was that all the contractors, subcontractors, and suppliers would come into our office and make copies of said documents. Even in the middle of winter on a snowy day, if an addendum came out that affected a project, you’d have a dozen subcontractors driving to our office to copy a two-page document because they needed that information.”
For many years, The Plans Room was very much an in-person business, with more than sixty people sometimes passing through the office each day. Contractors would register with a project owner so they could get a copy of materials and submit bids. Staff would spend hours faxing bidder lists upon request.
The in-person dynamics could make for interesting meet-ups between competitors. Ditz says, “Sometimes you would get maybe two contractors who were maybe trying to get the same set of plans to prepare their bids. The on-site atmosphere could get very interesting.”
In its early days, The Plans Room published a weekly report for subscribers. That frequency has definitely accelerated with modern technology, Ditz says.
“The minute you publish anything, it’s out of date, but that was the vehicle back in the day to let companies know about the projects,” she adds.
The shift to digital technologies and the advent of the internet led to the development of online plans rooms.
Plans rooms may also include features that facilitate communication and collaboration among contractors and project stakeholders. This can include messaging systems and discussion boards.
“As tech ramped up, we got better tools for communicating back and forth, for verifying changes, tracking updates to projects, through to the point that the project on the day of the bid would announce the apparent low bidders, then they’d award a contract to a general contractor,” Ditz says.
The user experience these days is also highly customized. Ditz outlined this example: a painting contractor receives a nightly email from The Plans Room of any new projects that have come in the previous day. The contractor can create certain filters and include specific keywords. If that hypothetical painting contractor’s search included the word “paint,” that would capture available work within their scope.
Users can also look at projects in chronological order, from those bidding that day to those who are out for a certain duration of time. Other features also include access to owner information and any other relevant information for a particular job.
The Plans Room users can submit questions to the project owner, and interactive tools allow users to send emails from the website to specific people on specific projects.
Take for example recent projects in Chenega Bay and Tatitlek, two small, off-the-road-system villages in Prince William Sound. The most recent US Census Bureau information reports each have fewer than fifty full-time residents.
“They were remodeling two buildings and put that out to bid together as one project,” Ditz says. “I believe they were hoping to get better pricing.”
The Plans Room can track a project’s traction and activity. For the Chenega Bay and Tatitlek work, “we had 357 hits to the project itself—those are unique visitors,” Ditz says. “And they came back 6,776 times to view the project. That’s the kind of reach and access we have for companies using our information.”
Most users of The Plans Room’s services are Alaska-based, though some Lower 48 companies that do regular work in the state or provide support services are also in the mix. It benefits large and small businesses alike, Ditz says.
“The mom-and-pop company doesn’t have the time to chase this information down on their own; they’re not going to go look at 500 websites or follow up when there’s an addendum or change to the project,” she says. “For a lot of them, they’re sitting at home, after hours in their jammies, doing estimates on these projects. So for them, The Plans Room is a great benefit.”
“Many of our smaller members simply don’t have the staff and resources to dedicate an individual’s time to sourcing all of the project owner’s sites to see where they might find their next job,” Kreilkamp says. “It’s purely a convenience factor and is a subtle networking opportunity to be listing their names on the bidders list to bring awareness of their skills set to other users of this system. Contractors can add themselves to the bidders list, which serves as free advertising to receive sub quotes and supplier information.”
Since Online Plans launched, “we have been receptive to member feedback, implementing updates so that the system functions best for those using it,” Kreilkamp says. AGC prides itself on allowing Online Plans access to all employees of its member companies.
AGC’s membership comprises general and specialty contractors, as well as associates who represent the supply and service side of the industry.
“The jobs posted in our system provide access to a wide variety of projects so that members in all categories can source projects, add themselves to the bidders list for visibility and advertising purposes, and see who else is viewing projects to connect with other members for collaborative opportunities,” Kreilkamp says. “The types of projects that are added vary throughout the year, but at any given time you’ll find sources for equipment and materials sought, construction RFQs [request for quotes], supply and service RFPs—everything as it relates to the industry and beyond.”
For the contractor looking for bids who are AGC members, access to the Online Plans system saves time by allowing them to set up saved searches based on regions and keywords, with daily notifications on any new projects that meet their specifications.
If AGC members need support navigating Online Plans, that’s available too. Kreilkamp says, “We offer our members access to this database free with their membership at AGC and provide on-demand training for this platform, with options to have a consultant come direct to members’ offices to train the entire staff at once on an as-needed basis.”
AGC’s Online Plans system lists all of the project information directly on its website as it’s listed on the project owner’s site to avoid confusion about project titles. Within each project, members can download documents and spec books to view information in its totality.
“Through our system, members can internally share project information within their teams or to their clients and partners, and once it’s been established that they want to bid on this project, they can add themselves to the bidders list so others can contact them for services and sub quotes,” Kreilkamp says. “Members can sort projects based on job owners, regions, bid date, and many other sortable functions to customize the database as needed.”
One of the largest victories for plans rooms is successfully capturing, updating, and sharing all relevant information in the fast-moving world of construction bids. How do they pull it off?
AGC has a consultant whose primary responsibility is to keep this system up-to-date. “Having a dedicated individual for this database minimizes overlap and duplication and allows the AGC staff to focus on maintaining exceptional service to our members on the many other areas where we support our members and Alaska’s construction industry at large,” Kreilkamp says.
Ditz in part credits The Plans Room’s depth in its field. “The consistency we have at The Plans Room is our staff and our many, many years of experience,” she says. “People who work with me now have been with me ten-plus years. We’ve been doing this for a very long time, have great contacts with the agencies we work with, and have just been able to sustain the business for all these years because of that.”