About Us
Since 2004 SpaceDox has been hosting electronic plan submittal and review software to government agencies, architects, builders and engineers alike. The US Post Office was our first customer, and since then, we have served over 1,000 users throughout Canada and the United States.
The Reason SpaceDox was Started
Like many people that work in jobs related to building construction, the founder of SpaceDox has worked with drawings in both the paper and electronic forms. As a building contractor the drawings were typically under a cup of coffee on the plan table or folded up in a hip pocket. In his life as a consultant, CAD (Computer Aid Drawings) saved as PDF’s quickly became a common tool to share plans quickly and inexpensively.
On the project with the Post Office one aspect involved disseminating drawings to remote locations throughout the US and Puerto Rico. The USPS had 4 main criterions. 1. Able to view and markup their drawings 2. From anywhere someone had access to the internet. 3. Securely 4. And they didn't want to purchase and maintain software or an IT infrastructure. Eventually all the USPS criterions were met by Spacedox.
After the Post Office project, Spacedox was offered to architects and engineers. They found it especially valuable while working with remote members of a design team. The founder noticed that one of the architect’s low return costs was printing plans for bidding and permitting. It appeared that drawings for bidding were becoming increasingly electronic through various bidding services but that the agencies/municipalities were not quickly embracing electronic drawings.
After interviewing a few BO's, reviewers and intake personnel, the founder's conclusion was that there was a strong desire among some (surprisingly, many were the old guard) for a cost effective and sustainable system whereby applicants could submit plans and the reviewers could review plans over the web.
One of the questions that had to be answered before offering Spacedox to the public was how to get the PDF’s into SpaceDox. The upload portal had to: 1. Accommodate any browser (I.E, Firefox, Safari, etc.) 2. Require no login 3. Be hands free to the municipality 4. And still be secure.
Where SpaceDox is Today
Meeting all those portal requirements and using the most robust technology available, SpaceDox now allows building applicants to use the internet to upload their electronic plans to review agencies. Once plans are uploaded, an intake person can instantly route them to multiple internal and external reviewers who can then mark them up concurrently. Mark-ups can be shared, tracked and viewed in real-time. Marked-up plans can be sent back to applicants with automated comment letters, and resubmitted plans can be automatically inspected for additions and deletions.
Our software allows building departments to be more environmentally responsible, by allowing review departments and building applicants to use less paper and to burn less gas. It also allows people to have more flexibility in their work schedules and locations, as SpaceDox allows reviewers to work from remote locations, including home.
As SpaceDox is hosted, it requires no software purchases or IT upgrades. It is a fully supported turn-key solution that can be used from day one.
