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Digital Records Become a Must for Design and Engineering Tenant Improvements Present Opportunity to Build Database
May, 2008
By John Zsolt
Property managers can relate to the last-minute call from the harried leasing manager looking for drawings of an office suite for a pending lease deal or build-out. Coordinating design and construction drawings can be another time-consuming task for property managers who are increasingly challenged to manage more space with fewer staff and deliver the same or heightened levels of service.
To compound this, paper drawings no longer make the grade. Designers and engineers specify digital drawings, ideally in computer-aided drafting (CAD) format.
The tenant improvement process provides opportunities to create digital full records of projects - digital deeds - at minimal cost. If building management is proactive in collecting this information, eventually, with leasing turnover in the building there will be a complete CAD database of the property. Gathering this data is simple, provided it is defined as a condition that must be met under the terms of the lease or as part of the occupancy permit requirements.
SCANNED VS. CAD DIGITAL DRAWINGS
Commercial real estate professionals should be familiar with three digital drawing types:
( Scanned files of paper drawings;
( CAD files for building permit and construction drawings; and
( CAD files of site surveyed plans.
Distinguishing the format of the information and how it can be used most effectively will make daily tasks much easier.
Proper scanning of original paper drawings is the first step towards realizing the benefits of digital technology. Scanning technology has greatly improved, file sizes are a fraction of what they used to be, and newer systems generate images in common PDF (portable document format) or JPEG (joint photographic experts group) formats for easy access, printing and distribution. In addition to the process-related efficiencies and benefits of scanning, it provides a critical a backup for any disaster that could occur in the drawing storage room.
Paper drawings are not dimensionally accurate and should be used for reference purposes only. CAD technology has been the de facto design industry standard for more than 15 years and most new commercial design and construction is generated from CAD drawing files.
CAD files are vector graphics, which use lines rather than dots to assemble an image. File formats produced by scanning create pictures of drawings by assembling dots of information, in what are known as bitmap graphics. CAD files cannot be generated from bitmap graphics without CAD drafting involved.
It is also important to distinguish between CAD files created for building permit and construction purposes versus those generated from site surveys. Again, contrary to popular belief, CAD drawings created for building permit and construction submission are not dimensionally accurate and should not be used for area calculations.
MARKETING & LEASING
Most commercial real estate companies moved online quickly to market their available space once high-speed Internet access became commonplace. The new medium triggered new approaches to marketing, including online listing services and Web sites designed to display availability in text and graphic format.
Although the technology to display this information is readily available, the challenge has been to keep this information up-to-date, particularly across an entire real estate portfolio. This task is more challenging when drawings are introduced into the process.
Best practices in marketing and leasing require that brokers have online access to plans in PDF format and even CAD files of as-built conditions to give to designers to produce feasibility studies. Organizing this information often falls on the property manager, requiring the owner to have the building surveyed to create CAD drawings of as-built conditions.
If managers retain only paper copies of the drawings and neglect to update the files, the information rapidly becomes outdated and new measurements cannot be reconciled with the original data. It is not unusual for one building to be fully re-measured three times over a 10-year period, with changing service providers, staff and ownership.
A more consistent approach with regular updates should ultimately yield savings. Suggested best practices include:
* Retain disk copies of all surveyed CAD files. As drawings are updated, request a full set of new files representing each set of changes.
* Request that CAD files provided by the consultant retain all information used to calculate the building areas if the building was recertified. This is valuable information in instances such as litigation or disputes regarding rentable areas.
* Ensure that the files obtained from the surveyor are without restrictions on use, so that they can be shared with other consultants, if required.
* Update drawings when changes occur - monthly, not annually.
* Establish a fee schedule for the generation of updates and marketing plans with the service provider and define expectations for drawing turnaround time. Copy the leasing manager on this correspondence.
* Do not send files to a designer unless they have been purged of private information such as usable areas, current tenant names, etc.
DESIGN & CONSTRUCTION
Time constraints on the leasing process can be overwhelming, often at the expense of on-site building management. Most lease deals require a design feasibility study to be executed as part of the process. Leasing wants to shorten this lead time as much as possible. Design input can make or break a deal, particularly if the process is cumbersome and time consuming.
Having accurate drawing information available for the designer before the brokers come knocking keeps the leasing people at bay and saves money. It accelerates negotiations, shortens design time and reduces consulting fees.
Once the design has been approved, the same CAD plan is provided to the mechanical and electrical engineers to form the template for their drawings. This smoothes the sequence of events to ensure the tenant has an occupancy permit on schedule. A lapse in this process could mean a month delay in occupancy, which, based on operating cost and taxes for a 5,000-square-foot office in the Toronto core, could equate to about $10,000. Measuring the space in the first place would have cost about $400.
Scanned and CAD files of construction drawings also contribute to streamlining this process and reducing project costs. If a mechanical engineer has to survey a floor locating ductwork or VAV boxes, the fee can be significant and will cause delays in the project. Having records of the previous tenant improvement drawings in scanned or CAD format can eliminate drawing re-performance, saving thousands of dollars in extra fees.
Information management solutions are now available that index or store all post-construction drawing data online. Being able to login and email a set of mechanical drawings to the engineer is no longer a futuristic vision, but one easily accessible to busy property managers.
Although scanned files are beneficial, securing CAD files of each new project is preferred. CAD files are free versus the cost of scanning paper drawings. Also, CAD files can be used in their native format to generate new drawings, whereas scanned paper must be manually copied into CAD.
OPERATIONS & MAINTENANCE
Building operations personnel are generally technologically knowledgeable so digital applications aren't typically a challenge for them. The issue with adoption tends to fall on the process side.
Ensuring as-built post-construction drawings land in the right hands and information is being properly managed can be a challenge. Once the system is established, however, the process of dealing with mechanical and electrical issues can be streamlined with the capability to locate a reference drawing instantaneously.
Digital drawing management processes have benefits beyond the obvious time savings. Drawing management systems and the drawings therein should be regarded part of a building's asset - the digital deed - and are invaluable in the due diligence process if a property is being sold, for example.
Although the human side of this equation is important, managers should rely less on their operations staff as a source of building information. Unfortunately, some will regard these systems as a threat, which is an issue relating to management, not technology.
John Zsolt is co-founder of Space Database, an area measurement and information management solutions provider. For more information, see the web site at www.spacedatabase.com.
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