Comparison
The plastic box vs. a digital permit box
The plastic permit box has hung on a stake outside job sites for forty years because it works. This page is not going to pretend otherwise. Here is what it does well, what it quietly costs you, and where DryPlans is honestly the wrong answer.
What the plastic box is genuinely good at
In its favour
A tool that has survived unchanged for four decades on a job site is not surviving by accident. If you have used one for twenty years, you already know most of this — we are writing it down so you know we do too.
01
It needs nothing at all
No phone, no battery, no bars. A steel-framed basement or a river-bottom lot with no service does not stop a sheet of paper. This is the single strongest argument for the box and no software answers it.
02
One purchase, then never again
You buy it at the supply house, hang it on a stake, and it is done. No renewal, no seat count, no card on file, nothing to cancel when the job wraps.
03
Every trade already knows it
There is no adoption curve on a plastic box. The framer who has never opened a QR code in his life has been pulling sheets out of one of these since before smartphones existed.
04
Inspectors were trained on paper
Some want to hold the set, walk it, mark it up and hand it back. That is a real workflow and a phone screen is a poor substitute for a full-size sheet spread on a tailgate.
05
Nothing in it can be forwarded
The contents only reach people standing at the site. A link, once sent, goes wherever the person who received it decides to send it.
06
It survives being handled
Dropped, borrowed, rained on for a week, left in a truck. It usually still works, and when it stops working the failure is visible from ten feet away.
What it quietly costs you
Against
None of these are reasons to throw the box away. They are the things that never appear on an invoice, which is exactly why they are easy to keep paying.
01
Water gets in eventually
The lid cracks, the gasket flattens, somebody leaves it open. A set that took three weeks to get through plan review turns to pulp, and the reprint is on you.
02
It holds whatever was put in it
When the structural gets revised, the superseded sheet is still sitting in the box. The framer who pulled it out on Tuesday has no way of knowing it is out of date, and neither do you.
03
You become the help desk
What is the permit number. Is the truss letter in there. The box is empty. Every one of those calls is a person who cannot get to a document that already exists.
04
Distance is expensive
You cannot put a document in a box from forty miles away. The drive out to add one sheet does not get billed to the job, but it is one of the most expensive things in this comparison.
05
You never know if it was opened
There is no way to tell whether the plumber actually looked at the approved set before he cut the slab, or whether he guessed.
06
Every site needs its own
Another box, another full set of prints, another restock run, per job, every time a revision lands or a new trade shows up.
Side by side
The table
Thirteen rows. The box takes five of them outright, and two of those five are the ones that matter most on a bad day: no signal, and the posting requirement.
| Aspect | Plastic permit box | DryPlans | Edge |
|---|---|---|---|
| Up-front cost | One purchase at any building-supply house. No renewal and nothing to cancel. | Free for one active job site. Pro is $19 a month for 10 of them. | Box |
| Works with no signal | Always. It is a box. Nothing about it depends on a network. | No. The page needs a phone with a working data connection to load. | Box |
| A week of rain | Fine until the lid or the gasket gives. When it does, the set inside is finished. | The documents are on a server. The placard is a sheet of paper you can reprint for nothing. | DryPlans |
| Replacing a soaked set | Reprint full-size, drive out, restock the box, hope the weather holds. | Print the placard again on the office printer and sleeve it. | DryPlans |
| Keeping the current revision on site | Only as current as your last drive out. Superseded sheets stay in the box next to the good ones. | Hide the old revision and it disappears from the public page immediately. | DryPlans |
| Adding a document from off site | Not possible. Somebody has to physically go there. | Upload it from wherever you are and it is on the page. | DryPlans |
| Who can see the contents | Only a person standing at the site. Nothing leaves the post. | Anyone the link reaches. The address is random and search engines are told to skip it, but it is not password-protected. | Box |
| Familiarity on site | Total. No explanation has ever been required. | A QR code, which most people scan without being told — but not everyone, and not every phone camera. | Box |
| Knowing anyone looked | No way to tell, ever. | A scan count per job site, so you know whether the code is being used. | DryPlans |
| A required physical permit posting | This is exactly what it is for. | Does not replace it. The posted permit card stays posted. | Box |
| Handing an inspector a marked-up set | Paper, in hand, at full size, on the tailgate. | Open it on a phone, or print the one sheet they asked for. | Box |
| Running several sites at once | A box and a full set of prints per site, restocked separately. | One plan covers 10 active sites on Pro, and archived jobs stop counting. | DryPlans |
| Documents that never fit in the box | Truss letters, calcs and soil reports usually end up in the truck instead. | Same page as everything else, grouped by type. | DryPlans |
Swipe the table sideways
The honest cost comparison
Money
On day one the box wins and it is not close. It is a single purchase against a subscription, and if nothing on the job ever changes it stays the cheaper option through to final inspection. Plenty of jobs are like that. A detached garage on a lot you drive past anyway does not need software.
The arithmetic turns the first time you reprint a full-size approved set, and it turns again on every trip out to put one sheet in a box. Nobody bills that drive to the job. It shows up instead as an afternoon you did not spend on the two other sites you are running, and it is the reason builders with three or more jobs going tend to reach for something else.
DryPlans is free for one active job site, which is enough to test the whole idea on the job you are standing on right now without putting a card in. Pro is $19 a month for 10 active sites. Archived jobs stop counting toward the limit and their public pages keep working, so a finished project does not cost you a slot.
Who should use which
Verdict
Keep the box and skip this
- You run one site at a time and it is fifteen minutes from your house.
- The lot has no usable cell service, and no amount of standing in the right corner fixes it.
- Your inspector wants paper at full size, and that relationship is worth more than the convenience.
- The set is small, the job is short, and nothing is going to get revised.
- You do not want any document reachable from off site, for any reason.
Worth trying DryPlans
- You are running more than one job and cannot be at all of them.
- Your phone rings with document questions you have already answered.
- Revisions land often enough that you worry about the wrong sheet being built.
- You have reprinted a set because of weather more than once.
- The engineering letters and soil reports never fit in the box and live in your truck instead.
The realistic answer is both
In practice
Almost nobody who starts using DryPlans throws the box away, and we would not advise it. The permit card stays posted wherever your department requires it. If your inspector likes paper, the box keeps holding paper — put the permit set and whatever else he asks for in it and leave it alone.
The placard goes on the same post and carries what paper is worst at: the revision that landed this morning, the six documents that were never going to fit, and the inspection report that arrived after your last drive out. When those two are next to each other, the box stops being the only copy of anything — which means a cracked lid stops being an emergency.
That is also the cheapest way to try it. Print one placard, hang it beside the box you already have, and see whether the phone rings less. If it does not, you are out a sheet of paper.
What we are not claiming
Limits
- That inspectors prefer it. Some scan the code without being asked and some will not touch it. We have no business telling you which one yours is.
- That it satisfies a posting requirement. It does not, and that is not a limitation we intend to remove.
- That it works without signal. It does not. If your lot has no service, this is the wrong tool and the box is the right one.
- That we have a customer count, a star rating or a case study to show you. When there are real ones they will appear here, with names on them.
Questions builders ask
FAQ
- Does DryPlans replace the permit card I'm required to post on site?
- No. Most building departments require the permit card itself — and often a copy of the approved plans — to be physically posted and visible at the site. DryPlans is built to hang next to that box, not instead of it. Rules vary by jurisdiction and permit type, so check with your building department before you take anything down.
- What happens to the box once I'm using DryPlans?
- Nothing — leave it up. Almost nobody who starts using DryPlans removes the box. It keeps holding whatever paper your inspector wants to see; the placard next to it carries the revision that landed this morning and everything that never fit inside.
- Does DryPlans work if the job site has no cell signal?
- No. The public page needs a phone with a working data connection to load, the same as any web page. If your lot has no service at all, a physical box is the right tool and DryPlans won't help.
- What if an inspector won't scan a QR code?
- Then hand them your phone, or print the one sheet they're asking for. Nobody has to change how they work — the code is an option, not a requirement.
- How much does DryPlans cost compared to a plastic box?
- A plastic box is a single purchase and nothing recurring. DryPlans is free for one active job site, and Pro is $19 a month for 10 active sites. If you only ever run one job at a time and nothing on it changes, the box alone can be the cheaper option — the free plan exists so you can test that for yourself before paying anything.
Keep reading
Elsewhere
Comparison
vs. a shared Dropbox or Drive link
The other thing builders use instead of a box. It is free and everybody already knows it — here is where that stops being enough.
Demo
See a real job page
The page a sub actually lands on after scanning. No login, no sign-up, no sales call.
Pricing
What it costs
Free for one active job site, $19 a month for 10. Every plan includes placards and unlimited scans.
Guides
Job-site document guides
What belongs on site, how to keep a revision from being built twice, and how to set a job up in ten minutes.
Comparing against something else? The other common answer is a shared Dropbox or Drive folder, which wins on price and familiarity and loses at the truck door.
Hang it next to the box
Create the job, print the placard, and see whether the phone rings less. One active job site is free and there is no card to put in.
No card required · See the plans