New Web site provides blueprints for contractors

By Sean Hao
Advertiser Staff Writer

Hawaii Planz Administrators Inc. recently launched a Web site that lets contractors access blueprints of major projects via the Internet.

Launched in January, the subscription site service aims to make information on contracted jobs readily available and speed the bidding process, he said.

Hawaii Planz gets many city and county plans in digital format, then makes them available on the Web.

"They're all public documents, so they're readily available," Doi said. "We're just making them convenient for the contractors to get them so they don't have to take time out of their work day" tracking them down.

Plans for other projects, including those for private jobs, will have to be scanned and converted into a digital format. The cost for the service ranges from $50 to $300 a month, depending on the number of plans downloaded.

Doi declined to discuss how much money was raised to launch the Web site. However, he said the company, founded in June 2002, does have enough cash to reach profitability. The firm plans to capture the business of about 2 percent of the state's roughly 6,000 contractors within six months, he said.

So far, about a dozen contractors have subscribed to the site. Marketing is being done through e-mail as well as the Building Industry Association and The Blue Print Co.

Reach Sean Hao at shao@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8093.