PlanGrid: Free Blueprint Reading App for Students

Words: Dan KamysPlanGrid has emerged as one of the most mature apps for viewing, amending and discussing construction drawings on a collaborative cloud-based platform. [caption id="attachment_12355" align="alignnone" width="300"]The PlanGrid blueprint reader. The PlanGrid blueprint reader.[/caption] It is the number-one most downloaded app for reading blueprints, and collaboratively sharing plan updates including photos in the iTunes Store. Established in 2011, PlanGrid is now the largest digital blueprint repository in the world, with over 30 million sheets of construction documents in the cloud, and they've helped build over 300,000 construction projects. Construction clients are only just beginning to see what's possible through the software platform. In 2014, the company launched PlanGrid for Education, allowing students full and uninhibited access to every feature of the app free of charge. PlanGrid for Education is also available to instructors for no cost. Students and teachers should sign up for a basic account using their .edu email address and send an email to support@plangrid.com requesting the upgrade. Find out more about PlanGrid (which operates on both iOS and Android) here.
Chairman’s Message: SELF TALK
July 2025

My wife, Sheryl, listens to podcasts often. Sometimes she uses earbuds but also listens through her cellphone speaker as she does countless other things around the house. As a result, very often I have no choice but to listen to the podcasts along with he

Dick Dentinger
Chairman’s Message
Read More
Outreach Outlook: Momentum in Motion
July 2025

As we move into the heart of summer, the masonry industry continues to thrive—fueled by innovation, partnership, and a growing commitment to excellence in education and workforce advancement. June has been a remarkable month, marked by events that not onl

Conner Birdsong
Read More
Building More: Slow, Fast, or Consistent. What is Tempo?
July 2025

It was a drizzly midweek day when I rolled up to the project we were working on just outside of town. The foreman paced the scaffolding, rain hood half-zipped, barking at two laborers who were sprinting bricks like they were late for a flight. Forty feet

Corey Adams
Building More
Read More
Marvelous Masonry: Belém Tower
July 2025

The Belém Tower in Lisbon, Portugal, stands as a testament to stone construction's enduring artistry and technical prowess. Erected between 1514 and 1519, this iconic structure served as a defensive bastion at the mouth of the Tagus River and as a ceremon

Cass Stern
Marvelous Masonry
Read More