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1.
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How Do I Register?
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Click on the 'Contractor/Supplier Registration' link in the left navigation bar. You must fill in all the fields marked with a red Required. When finished entering your company information, click on the 'Update Information' button. Then click on the 'Continue' button to enter in your company CSI codes. Entering your company CSI codes will allow constructionbidding.com to match project CSI codes to your company CSI codes on the Projects Out to Bid page. Please Note: Companies that register and login before visiting projects will receive automatic e-mail messages from the sponsor about project updates (revisions, addenda, etc.)
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2.
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How can I LogIN?
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The LogIN button allows registered users full access to the website without registering at each visit. In order to visit projects for which access has already been granted by the sponsor, you need only to click on the LogIN button, which is found in the upper right hand corner on each screen, and enter the LogIN ID and Password which you assigned yourself when you registered.
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3.
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4.
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5.
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How do I obtain a password?
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Access to project documents may be achieved in two ways. One: PassWords may be obtained from the project Sponsoring Organization. Two: You may also gain access to projects by pressing the "Request Access" button which will become available after your company is registered and the Plans and Specifications link on the project Job Description page is clicked. An e-mail is immediately sent to the sponsor stating that your company has requested access to their project. Once the sponsor grants access, an e-mail notification is immediately sent to you. You then have access to project documents simply by logging in. A password is no longer necessary.
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6.
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Where do I enter a project password?
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Click on the Projects Out to Bid link on the left navigation bar. Click on the project that you wish to view. On the Job Description page, click the Plans and Specifications link. Enter the project password in the space next to Option 3 and click Go. You will then be allowed to access project documents. Please Note: If you do not register and login before viewing projects, constructionbidding.com will not be able to notify you of project updates (revisions, addenda, etc.).
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7.
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How do I view plans and specifications?
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Once you have been granted access to project documents, you may view, download, print to your in-house printer or order on-line any or all documents. To view project documents, you must first LogIN. Then click on the underlined sheet number located in the Project Document List.
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8.
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How do I view an addendum?
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You can view Addenda by clicking the addendum name link in the Project Document List page of the selected project. This will open the addendum in your viewer.
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9.
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How do I view revised drawings?
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Revised drawings are identified by the word 'Revised' followed by a date. You can view Revised Drawings by clicking on the revised file name link in the Project Document List page of the selected project. This will open the plan in your viewer.
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10.
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What does a viewer do and why do I need a viewer?
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Internet browsers such as Netscape and Microsoft's Internet Explorer allow "plug-ins", to run within the browser so that you can read a file type that the browser alone could not read. Windows users have a program built into the operating system called Imaging. This plug-in will read our .TIF files beautifully.
If you are not going to use Imaging, you must download a viewer first before viewing plans or specs! We recommend OST Plan Viewer as an alternative viewer. Once you have completed a viewer installation, you will be able to view all our .TIF files. The viewer will automatically run when you click on a .TIF file.
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11.
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What can I do within the viewer?
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Specifications and addenda are each one file with many pages. Within the viewer you can flip through the pages in a particular spec section, print selected pages, or save the file to disk. Each drawing in a set of plans is an individual file. You can view a drawing individually within the viewer. There are many buttons on the toolbar that allow you to manipulate the drawing. When you place your cursor over these buttons, a description of their function will appear.
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12.
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When I go to view a print or spec page, I get an error message or I get a little portion of it at the top of my screen and the rest is a blank white page. What am I doing wrong?
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This happens when you have Internet Explorer, the TiffSurfer viewer or some other program that recognizes tiff files installed on your PC (like a fax program). The only way we have found to get around this is to hit the "Back" arrow two times, click on the plan or spec you want to view again and it will load properly. If you are running Windows95, 98 or NT you can avoid this completely by uninstalling the TiffSurfer viewer (or the other viewer that may be defaulting to) and using Imaging.
To set Imaging as your default viewer (for those of you who are using Windows environment)- go to your Windows Explorer in your programs menu, go to View, Folder Option, File Types. Click on the TIF image document. Click Edit, Open, Edit, then either select or type Kodakprv.exe. If you need to browse, look in your C: drive under Windows and Microsoft Imaging should be there.
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13.
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What is a zip file?
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It is a collection of files that have been compressed toegther into one file for ease in downloading. You may create your own zip files by clicking on the box next to the documents you wish to download or order. Then click on 'Fetch Selected Documents' or 'Fetch Entire Document Set'.
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14.
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15.
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How do I save files?
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There are two ways to save files. Specs are saved from within the viewer by clicking on the "save" button or by clicking on "file" and then "save". You then choose where this file will be saved either on your hard drive or on a disk. Keep in mind a diskette holds 1.4M and some of our files may be larger than 1.4M. Drawings can be saved either within the viewer or from the drawing index page. Within the viewer, individual drawings can be saved one at a time. Follow instructions above. You may also compress your files into zip files at the bottom of the drawing index and then save them.
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16.
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How do I plot drawings I've saved?
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That depends on what kind of plotter you have. Electrostatic plotters have no problem plotting to scale. (Electrostatic plotters use a drum and affix toner to the paper.) Ink jet plotters do not have the capacity to recognize the true size of a raster image, which is what our drawings are. Therefore, you will need to purchase a program that works with ink jet plotters to enable you to plot to scale.
Note: If you don't need to plot to scale, any laser printer is capable of printing these images on 8½ x 11" paper. You can print to your laser by clicking on Print, Options, Select Fit to Page in the Print Format drop down, OK, OK.
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17.
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I am getting black when I try to plot a drawing. What am I doing wrong?
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First, check to see what file type setting you have. If your plotter is set for an autocad file type, you will need to change it since our files are all .Tiff files. Some plotter settings may be changed by the following steps: Open your autocad session; click on Insert (pull down menu); click Insert Raster Image. The file should then come in as a .Tiff image and plot correctly.
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18.
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What if I don't own a plotter?
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You can save the drawing files to CD-ROM (we do not recommend diskettes due to the size of the files) and take it to a local blueprint shop where they will be able to plot your drawings to scale providing they use an electrostatic plotter.
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19.
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How do I order project documents on-line?
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On the project Document List page, select the documents you wish to order by clicking on the box next to the document link. At the bottom of the page, under Option 3, there is a list of blueprint houses that have been selected by the sponsor. Select one and click on either 'Order Prints of Selected Documents' or 'Order Prints of Entire Set'. You will be given an order form with a message box. Enter your message to the blueprint house and click 'Send Mail'. The blueprint will receive your order and will contact you directly.
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