Doug_N

I am from Canada, and this question here would be addressed to a structural engineer, not an architect.

Doing terrain matching is a bit tricky, but with patience and perseverance it can be done, and quite well. Do you have a grade plan, or a topographical survey that you can post?

The first question that comes to my mind is did you sign a contract for this job, and is so, what were the conditions of who owns the design. The second question I would ask is what did you agree to give the client in terms of transferring the design information to the client? Without knowing those answers, it is difficult to formulate a helpful answer. If you don't have to sell or transfer it to the client, why would you? How long would it take someone to reverse engineer the building from what you gave them? If you feel you should transfer the file, charge about 25% of what your hourly rate would be to recreate the file from your transferred drawings. Just my thought. Anyone else?

LOL ;-)

I don't think that it can be done.

Joe, I misread your post. I thought you were referring to the size of the text, not to indicate the units. Using a note to indicate that the contour info is in feet should satisfy the plans examiner.

Michael, Thanks for the update and lesson. Whenever I get a chance, and that is not often lately (busiest year I have ever had) i try to do some Ruby coding. Where did you get the resource material to learn the syntax and methods? The CA help file is amazingly terse. Doug

Mysterious but wonderful when it works.

OK so that didn't divide out the units. Different units and different operand. Ruby displays the results in inches having converted the feet to inches then displaying the result in inches. If we do this instead %(12.ft+12.in)/1.inch% the result is 156 with no units. And with this %((12.ft+12.in)/12.in)% you get a numerical value that is unitless but is the number of feet - 13

Hi Michael, About it storing the value in inches, I don't think so. The result of dividing by .inches, causes Ruby to cancel out the units altogether. the %width% variable is stored as x.inches, which is why in the original formula the result comes out y" x z" When %(width/12.inch).round% x %(height/12.inch).round% is used, all references to units is lost and the result becomes unitless. At least that is what I think is happening. Doug

Glad to help.

Michael is the guy, I am just a novice with Macros

%(width/12.inch).round% x %(height/12.inch).round % GARAGE DOOR Adding ".inch" to the divisor removes the inch (") symbol after the results.

Change the default text for Primary Contours Layer to a different size and/or font.

In my neck of the woods, if you don't do remods or additions, you're going to do nothing. There are no building lots owned that are not owned by developers.

"It's very depressing to be so utterly bamboozled after only 2 days with CA. I hope someone won't mind explaining this to me in words of (preferably) less than 1 syllable." Less than one syllable? This is a task that is beyond my capability I fear. Not to sound too critical I hope, but all of us that are using CA as a main tool in our house design practice have spent a long time learning how to use this software. Although it has some shortcomings that are being whittled away by the development team, we have found this to be an incredibly useful tool in communicating our design intent to those who actually build or renovate the buildings. Like any tool, it takes time to master the buttons and levers of design using any software. Try designing a house after two days of exposure to Revit or Archicad.for example. You won't be able to I suspect. You will have to invest in time to learn the features and the foibles of the software. You will have to invest lots of time, or trade off some time for money in training. Once you have become proficient, you will be amazed at how good the software is. On top of that the forum here has some truly great mentors who will do there best to assist you. In my opinion CA has one of the best user groups in the architecture field. If you are jammed by a project that you MUST get done, perhaps paying someone here in the forum to help you get over the hurdle is in order. Just a suggestion. It is painful when you start using any software for the first time. Not everything is intuitive or even that logical, but it is still one of the best solutions for designing houses on the market. As one teacher in martial arts told a student, patience grasshopper, patience. You will learn.

Michael, Wow nice workflow. Well done.

Try posting the plan file so that others can see what the problem is.Insert other media

Just a question. Does your building jurisdiction require qualification for the design of houses? Where I live, Ontario Canada, a person who designs a house must be an engineer, architect or BCIN designer. The BCIN designer is a designation that you can get by writing two challenge exams and passing with greater than 70%. Once you have done that successfully, you have to get liability insurance a public design practice can be established. I am a BCIN designer and have been doing this for over 5 years now (my background is construction). I make a comfortable income doing basement apartments, additions, garages and deck designs. My advertising budget is almost zero using adds in Kijiji, real estate reps referrals and contractors. It took about 6 months to get from no work to fairly busy. Representing homeowners to get building permits, and zoning relief is now a regular part of my work as well. In Toronto, a homeowner needs to obtain from Toronto Urban Forestry to construct anything that the Tree Protection Bylaw deems to be within the tree protection zone. Using a survey, doing a site plan that includes the proposed building, the location and trunk size of trees of concern, and tree protection zones is also part of the work that I do. There are opportunities to be your own business person, and not dependent upon an employer. Just a thought.

Maybe this is what you are looking for, Harco.plan Harco.plan

Scott, I think that is the same as here.

Well done, much better than mine

Try that for several layers Glenn

I know that this is not a code forum, however, there is usually a minimum landing space in the direction of travel that is different for inside a residential dwelling, and for public space. That being said, the code requirement for the landing being as deep as the stair width is a function of occupancy load to prevent a traffic jam. In a private dwelling, depending upon your jurisdiction, there is usually a minimum landing depth. Here in Ontario Canada, that is 36".