Design Software That Works.

mertens3d

Apparently Revit will do that for you too. I haven't played with that part of it yet, but I keep hearing that contractors (commercial) who my clients works with are using it.

Some architects are also using it to provide clients real-time cost analysis (although I'm a bit skeptical of this). I suspect what they are doing is sitting down with their clients and saying, ok...if you add these walls here and remove this gyp ceiling there then your project will change by x% (as opposed to by $x).

It certainly should be right on when it comes to sf of items such as flooring, walls and ceilings (and all things associated with that such as gwb, paint, studs, etc) since those elements are drawn in in 3d and structurally defined. It'll also be accurate on item counts for things like light fixtures and doors. It seems like it won't be so accurate on items such as wiring (unless someone takes the time to draw it...but that seems a bit extreme), outlets, toilet floor mount bolt covers and...hmmm...can't think of other things off hand. I can't speak much to the MEP side of things since I haven't played with those packages.

Finally it should do little to help out with labor problems, lazy employees and crack addicted architects (like me).

I'm tired.

....gregory

KentWhitten

The BIM software does this...Revit (which BTW is not CAD), ArchiCAD, I believe ADT (ACA now) does, I assume CA does, I know SoftPlan does, but I don't think so with AutoCAD. The design is drawn with lines in 2d.

This is what is so appealing to me with Revit and ArchiCAD. What you draw has attributes attached and when you draw, these attributes go into different parts of the file for later. When you get to the takeoff, it's all set. Press a button. Move a window or a wall, all of your elevations, cross sections, etc. automatically update without you drawing a damn thing.

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If you correct your mind, the rest of your life will fall into place ~Lao Tzu

Custom Cabinetry - Portland, Cape Elizabeth, Scarborough, Kennebunkport, Yarmouth, Falmouth, Cumberland, Ogunquit, Maine

Salmon Falls Cabinetry

DMDesigns

I started using using a program called Chief Architect many years ago when I got out of construction -to move onto being a drafter, and I must say, it does it all. 2d, 3d, schedules, cut list, con. sets, site plan, import and export - high end renderings, the list goes on and on and the best thing is -it took me 3 weeks to put together my first construction set. Drew a house in under 3 days, its just awesome.

Dave

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David Michael -
David Michael Designs
www.davidmichaeldesigns.com
Free Online Training Videos: www.ChiefTutor.com

mics_54

....and all that for only 5 thousand dollars!

DTrem

about 1/2 that price mics_54, it is an awesome program and there are a great bunch of people on their forum to help you out if needed.

One of them is Dave who does an unbelievable job on his website with free tutorials it's guys like him and others that make it well worth looking into.

Custom Builder

Chief Architect. Reasonably priced and fairly easy to use.

J F

yep

Mike Finley

I looked into CA, unfortunately it doesn't seem to have any functions to do take offs on tile designs.

DTrem

Actually Mike I think it does I believe you have to set it up in the material list, but I have been using the program since ver. 3.1 (now up to ver.12) and never been able to figure it out although it is getting better but I use CadEstimator which works flawless with CA but a bit pricey if you are just going to do tile takeoff with it

J F

It will give the sq. ft. if you're using a standard (boring) tile layout with one size...and you could pretty easily use a room polyline for a couple of different tiles to get that sq. ft. for each tile, but if you start having mixed tile sizes, borders etc, I don't think you'll get what you're looking for...at least not yet.

I've been using chief since '03 for interior remodeling only, but don't use the material list very often.

Mike Finley

This is my understanding too.

I don't see how to do a tile take off for something like this:

J F

you could get a total sq. ft. of both floor and shower I believe (using "polylines" for the shower (and assigning the material to it), but not a breakdown of each type of tile...so it wouldn't be real helpful in your situation.

Some of the real pros on chief talk (or dmd here) may have a work around that I'm not aware of.

Mike Finley

I looked into it a couple of months ago, I was ready to plunk the money down on it, and posted on their site and what I got was that CA can't do it. All it came down to was a bunch of people telling me how to basically cheat CA into being able to create the rendering but it aint just about pretty pictures, a business needs software that allows actual work to be accomplished such as the take offs, printing POs to order the material... etc...

J F

Here's some shots of a recent basement plan with a pdf of the material list (that I never work with, so it's pretty raw)









(not sure why I'm getting those bright panels on the shadow boxes)

Attached Files

Materials List.pdf (46.1 KB, 87 views)

KentWhitten

Mike, the way most if not all these programs do takeoffs is with a certain input. It comes down to the old saying, what you put in, you get out.

Take for example the software I use, Revit. The bath you have there is quite possible to do takoffs, accurate takeoffs. But this is how you have to input the design. You'd have to place one tile at a time, in the place you want it. Half tiles is another "block" (AutoCAD term) and you'd have to individually place those also.

Say for tile backer board. You can't just go in and draw a wall and it will understand 100% of the situations. It will give you sf items no problem.

However, if you want super duper accuracy, you will spend more time placing the specifics in the program file than actually just doing it manually.

If you set it up, you definitely could get very close. Even with CA.

What they told you about "cheating" to get things a certain way happens in all programs. If there was a program that worked 100%, everyone would be using it.

Revit and ArchiCAD IMO is getting there better than the others. SketchUp is great, and I think they will be changing the way things are done, but they aren't there yet. They have a ways to go. CA seems like a decent alternative, I have never used it.

__________________
If you correct your mind, the rest of your life will fall into place ~Lao Tzu

Custom Cabinetry - Portland, Cape Elizabeth, Scarborough, Kennebunkport, Yarmouth, Falmouth, Cumberland, Ogunquit, Maine

Salmon Falls Cabinetry

Mike Finley

Sure, but of course that is not in the realm of possibility, that would be like using CA and individually placing every stud, bottom plate, top plate, header, nail, nail plate etc... in order to get an accurate take off.

You're right, every program is a work around. CA would be great for doing our room layouts, framing and cabinet take offs but tile is a huge part of what we do and basically we would then have to create the project twice. Once in CA and again in sketch up for the tile take off. Which is not going to happen! Sketchup is great for tile design and doing a quasi manual/auto tile take off but obviously you're not going to get a traditional take off for the cabs and anything else.

Someday.... maybe...

DMDesigns

Hey Mike,

I wanted to let you know that Chief Architect can and does a very nice job getting you the information you need. ChiefTutor.com has a video that explains the process perfectly.

Here is the link: http://www.chieftutor.com/matlist/index.html

The price for the software is very reasonable once you see all that it can do for your business.


ENJOY -
Dave

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David Michael -
David Michael Designs
www.davidmichaeldesigns.com
Free Online Training Videos: www.ChiefTutor.com

Mike Finley

Well, thanks alot Jackass!

There goes $2500.00 out the door! I guess the babies won't be eating this month either!




Just kidding, that is awesome, thanks very much. Do you know you are the only person on the friggin planet that knows what you just showed me????

Well. $2500 see you later. Looks like we will be buying CA now.

Thanks again!

KentWhitten

I think for the money, CA is a good bet. Half the cost of Revit, ArchiCAD, ACA, and AutoCAD. I believe SoftPlan is right there also at that price. I wonder if SketchUp has a plug in? Thanks for the info Dave.

__________________
If you correct your mind, the rest of your life will fall into place ~Lao Tzu

Custom Cabinetry - Portland, Cape Elizabeth, Scarborough, Kennebunkport, Yarmouth, Falmouth, Cumberland, Ogunquit, Maine

Salmon Falls Cabinetry

J F

Mike this is what I referred to in my previous post...

"you could get a total sq. ft. of both floor and shower I believe (using "polylines" for the shower (and assigning the material to it), but not a breakdown of each type of tile...so it wouldn't be real helpful in your situation."

But it's not going to give you a breakdown of the different color tiles you have drawn in your sample (the shower walls).