Masonry Magazine January 1973 Page. 41
New Microfilm System Aids Masonry Firms In Bidding Jobs
Four Different Masonry Businesses Find That Dodge/SCAN Works for Them in Four Different Ways
Robert A. Rivers (right), owner of Rivers & Bryan, Brookville, Md., finds SCAN particularly valuable in saving time reviewing possible jobs he may want to bid. With him is estimator George Roberts.
Small spools of microfilm are having a large impact on masonry firms across the United States. Even more unusual, when you ask four prominent individuals how the film most benefits their businesses, each stresses a different advantage.
The microfilm that means different things to different people is the key element in the Dodge/SCAN Microfilm System provided by the F. W. Dodge Division of McGraw-Hill Information Systems Company for the construction industry. Convenience, economy, efficiency and sales expansion are all cited as significant factors in the SCAN service by the quartet of masonry executives.
The service they are using to advantage provides selective national distribution of architectural and engineering drawings and specifications on microfilm. As soon as the designers release plans for a project, F. W. Dodge reproduces these bidding documents on film and mails them daily to subscribers according to their pre-established interests. The recipients project these documents back to original size and accurate scale on a special patented viewing table in their own offices so they can prepare estimates and bids.
At present Dodge/SCAN films about 28,000 projects a year, the vast majority of the nation's identified projects with a value of at least $50,000. In 1972 the Information Industry Association awarded its Hall of Fame Award to Dodge/SCAN as a landmark innovation in information service.
The convenience of the Dodge/SCAN Microfilm System is one of its key advantages, according to Don Pfeffer, an architect and estimator for Ebeling & Hicks in Detroit. "Having the plans on film," says Pfeffer, "allows me to work at my leisure. I can work on a take-off for a couple of hours one day and a couple more the next. Since I work when I'm not rushed (the way I would be in a plant room), my estimates are more accurate."
Another Dodge/SCAN advantage, according to Pfeffer, is having a complete file of plans for various jobs on film: "We do a lot of design and build work, and it's helpful to have the file for reference. Then, too, we are sometimes asked to bid on a job that we did not go after, and having the film on hand means we can do it right away," he says.
Many contractors arrange to receive microfilmed plans of all jobs in a specified area. Ebeling & Hicks, for instance, reviews all projects in the seven counties in and around Detroit.
For Robert W. Rivers, owner of Rivers and Bryan Company of Brookville, Maryland, the greatest advantage of Dodge/SCAN is the saving in time and money in reviewing possible jobs that it may want to bid. Says Rivers: "We are in an isolated location, an hour's drive from Washington where most of our jobs are. With SCAN, we get filmed plans in the mail every morning, so we can look them all over without leaving the office. For the complicated jobs we can get a set of plans if we need them. We can estimate directly from the film on the other ones. The SCAN reproductions are just as good as the plans they come from."
Rivers also reports that Dodge/SCAN saves him money by keeping him up-to-date on project addenda. "Sometimes the general contractor doesn't always get the changes to us," he explains. "It's not unusual to have to throw a bid out at the last minute. But with SCAN, we get the addendas as soon as the general contractor does."
Rivers has a standing order for all plans in the Washington metropolitan area. He sometimes also orders SCAN films for interesting jobs in other parts of Maryland when he learns about them from Dodge Reports, an authoritative daily source of advance information on new construction projects.
Market expansion is the prime benefit of Dodge/SCAN cited by Harold Prestenburg, vice president of International Stone & Erectors of New Orleans, "We cover the entire United States with SCAN," he notes, "supplying and installing natural stone. Bidding on jobs as far away as Portland, Oregon, and Washington, D.C., we save a great deal of time and money getting the plans we need." His firm subscribes to the "Edit Plan" offered by Dodge/SCAN. This plan means the firm automatically receives films for jobs anywhere in the United States if they are a