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Thread: what is best "protected" cad file to send to contractors?

  1. #61
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    Default Re: what is best "protected" cad file to send to contractors?

    You could go old school and cut the CAD files to a CD. THat becomes the record copy.
    Liability is the biggest factor to NOT send CAD files. We've heard a story about a contractor changing the size of some steam piping on the job. When that line ruptured, the engineer was sued and couldn't prove he issued the drawings with the correct size.

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    Default Re: what is best "protected" cad file to send to contractors?

    If you ever sent PDF's to a contractor or hard copies? Then they have your title block. If you have any skills at Photoshop and AutoCAD you can remake anything. It's like your lock on your door. If someone really wanted to they would get in your house for whatever they would be looking for. But what the lock on your door does is make it just a little harder for someone to. Hopefully hard enough that it would discourage them enough from stealing from you.

    I'm all about making it harder but when do you stop and say the risk isn't worth all of this just bits and pieces of the making it harder on the contractor process for us... When does it take to much time or effert or money... Either way it is something that 'management' should sit down and decide. So far I haven't done the digital signature thing in my career, but maybe it is something that my company would want... But throw into Revit and you are forced to change something's. Do you change it for Revit Projects only or company wide... It's not an easy decision to make that is for sure.

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    Certified AUGI Addict cadtag's Avatar
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    Default Re: what is best "protected" cad file to send to contractors?

    CD-Rs are nice and all, and they make a good internal record, but it would take a pretty incompetent judge to accept that as a record copy in a liability suit. It's a pretty trivial matter (if one is willing to defraud) to burn a CD that contains anything I want it to, with any date or name, and there's no forensic method AFAIK to identify when it was burned.

    wet-signed and sealed, preferably embossed, are the accepted method of hard copy record documents. For digital records, a digital signature is about the only thing that will cut it.

    FDOT does something slightly differently in their electronic submittal process -- essentially hashing all the files in the submittal package, and including the final hash value submitted as part of the submittal. Any change to any file results in a different hash, so it's easy to know that something was changed between submittal and use. May not be easy to tell what changed, but you can know there was a change.

  4. #64
    Active Member wolfgrrlone's Avatar
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    Default Re: what is best "protected" cad file to send to contractors?

    Quote Originally Posted by stelthorst View Post
    I guess I'm still confused as to what evil things we contractors (sorry I used the "C" word) are going to do with your files.

    The simple fact is the "issued for construction" or "issued for bid" drawings are the official drawings for a project. A contractor (there's that "C" word again) can erase everything from the CAD drawings and it will not change what was bid or what is to be built.

    We request CAD files in order to do our job quicker and more efficiently. As a detailer for a large electrical contractor it is my responsibility to look at the architectural, structural, civil, mechanical, plumbing, and fire sprinkler drawings and try to route my conduits and cable trays in a manner that is cost efficient to the company and does not conflict with the structure or any of the other trades.

    Having the CAD drawings available allows me to xref all of the aforementioned drawings into my drawing and hopefully find a clear path. Not having CAD files available makes my job a lot more difficult and increases the chances of problems and conflicts during a project.

    ~climbs off soapbox~
    I think what the OP may be thinking of is not what's bid, but what it built. If a failure happens down the line, and a file was altered (or had the ability to be altered) that would shift blame from the true culprit to the OP. And I think this is the risk that the OP is trying to mitigate.

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