QR codes for construction sites, pointing at the current revision

The one that pays for itself is the drawing revision

Everything else on this page is convenience. This one is money. Work built to a superseded revision gets taken out and built again, and the usual cause is somebody holding a drawing that looked current.

Put a dynamic code in the title block or on the drawing board, pointing at the current issue. When the revision changes you change the destination once, and every printed copy on site starts opening the new one. The printed sheet becomes a pointer rather than the source, which is the right relationship.

• Title block or drawing board: the current issued revision.
• Hoarding or site office: the drawing register, so anyone can find a sheet.
• Work area: the specific detail for that area, not the whole set.

Induction, permits and the things on the gate

The gate is the other place a code earns its keep. A visitor scans, watches the induction, and signs in from their own phone, which beats a laptop in a cabin and a clipboard in the rain.

The same applies to anything you are required to display. Planning notices, the F10, the site contact for complaints, the nearest hospital. These change rarely but they change, and reprinting a weatherproof sign is slower than changing a link.

Plant, scaffold and anything with an inspection date

A tag on a tower, a hoist or an item of plant can open its inspection record, the certificate and the operator manual. The person standing in front of it gets the answer without finding the file, which is the whole point of putting it there.

A dynamic code also timestamps the scan, so you can see when somebody last looked at an item. That is not an inspection regime and nothing here replaces one, but it is a date against an object, and a date against an object is more than most sites have. The same thinking is covered in more depth on the asset tracking page.

Printing something that survives a site

Site conditions are the harshest this site covers. Dust, rain, frost, scaffolding oil and a year of sunlight, and the code has to read on the last day as well as the first.

Laminate everything, print black on white with no logo in the middle, and go a size larger than feels necessary because the reader is often wearing gloves and standing further back than you imagined. On metal plant tags, the marking method matters more than the artwork; QR codes on metal surfaces covers which methods a phone can actually read.

• Hoarding and gate signs: laminated vinyl, replaced each phase.
• Drawing sheets: laminate the pouch, not the paper.
• Plant and scaffold tags: engraved or photo-anodized, never inkjet.
• Anything outdoors: check it after one winter, not after one week.

How big to print it

Rule of thumb: the code should be at least one tenth of the distance it is scanned from. These are the sizes that work in practice for this job.

Why make it dynamic

Drawings are the whole argument. A revision is superseded the moment the next one is issued, and a static code printed on Rev B points at Rev B forever. People work off whatever their phone opens, which means a static code on site is a wrong-revision incident waiting to be written up. A dynamic code points at a short link you re-point when the revision changes, so the same laminated sheet on the same hoarding opens Rev C the day Rev C is issued.

Dynamic codes are part of Premium, $4 a month. Static vs dynamic, explained.

Step by step

1. 1

   Pick the document that changes most

   On most sites that is the drawing register or a specific issued sheet. Start there rather than trying to code everything at once.

2. 2

   Put it somewhere with a stable address

   A folder in your common data environment, a page on your site, or a shared drive link. It needs to be reachable on a phone with site signal.

3. 3

   Make the code dynamic

   Paste the address below and save it. Dynamic is what lets you re-point it at the next revision without reprinting the sheet.

4. 4

   Name it after the sheet, not the code

   Call it by drawing number and area. In eight months somebody else will be re-pointing it.

5. 5

   Download the SVG and laminate it

   SVG stays sharp whether it goes in a title block at 1 inch or on hoarding at 8 inches.

6. 6

   Test it in gloves, in daylight, at distance

   Scan the laminated copy outdoors at the distance a person will really stand. Gloss laminate throws glare that a screen test never shows.

Questions people ask

What should a QR code on a construction site link to?

The document that changes most and costs most when somebody reads the wrong version. On nearly every site that is the current drawing revision, followed by the induction and the plant inspection records.

Can a QR code stop people working from an old drawing revision?

It can stop the code being the cause. A dynamic code always opens whatever you last pointed it at, so the printed sheet stops being the source of truth and becomes a pointer to it. Somebody can still work from a paper copy in their van, which is a process problem rather than a code problem.

Do QR codes work on site with poor mobile signal?

Scanning works offline, because the code is read by the camera. Opening the page does not. If an area has no signal, link to something small and cacheable, or put the code where there is coverage, like the gate or the site office.

Will the code still scan after a winter outdoors?

If it is laminated vinyl and printed black on white, usually yes. Inkjet on paper in a window will not last a season. Check one after the first winter rather than assuming, and keep the artwork so a reprint is free.

Does each area or trade need its own code?

Yes, if you want to know anything from the scans. One code on everything tells you nothing. A code per area or per drawing tells you which sheets people actually open, which is useful when deciding what to print at all.