Construction Informer

Any architect worth his or her salt likes to check dimensions as the job progresses. When doing renovation designs getting existing dimensions is where everything begins. So, why not make the measuring easy. The Multi-Measure Combo Pro Electronic Distance Measure Tool by Sonin uses sound waves to get the measurements. It also comes with an electronic target so its range can be drastically extended. And it can be mounted on a tripod.

In keeping with the concept that one thing that does more than one thing is better than one thing that just does one thing, we have the Scale Ruler Pen. While an architect, engineer or constructor is marking up plans they can now do it with just one tool. Besides being a pen it is a scale ruler so the measuring is just a twist of the wrist away.

Of course if your engineer or architect or builder wants to pull dimensions in style from the plans, then one way is to use the Scale Master II. This pen-shaped measuring device is simply rolled along the blue print lines and it records their lengths. It has 91 built-in scales and can also be hooked to a computer so the dimensions become digital.

The Illustrated Dictionary of Building Design and Construction rounds out my list of gift ideas. This 26 page reference includes lots of photos, drawings and diagrams and covers a wide range of topics related to construction. It has information on project management, design build, green building and even some pages on marketing and presentation.