javatom

Scott's sam method is a great way to roll for text and cad lines and details that are used frequently. It seems the problems that CA has is with defined rooms, roofs, etc. Apparently, there is a lot of information floating around on a plan that we don't see. Even with walls removed, it remembers the room type and ceiling height for the area it was located. I not sure but I think the problem develops when a plan gets several generations away from the original. It must get confused and starts doing unexpected things. I use a hybrid method of SAM. Create a new template from the new version x8. I then copy/paste relevant things from the old sam plan. I then save that as the new sam plan and use it as the starting point for all new plans. The only down side is that modifying the defaults as you are working on a plan must be written down and added to the new sam plan. In other words, I don't make a new plan from and old one.

Most clients also think we can do this with a $400 lap top and produce a high resolution ray traced walk through in an afternoon, just like on HGTV.

I rarely show high end ray traces so I don't have any time spent adjusting lights, cameras and materials. Of course I often do the cad drawings for the engineer so that can take a VERY long time.

I agree that the detailing can be a real time killer. The construction documents and tracing load paths to show spread footer locations etc, can take a while. Some designers don't do that part at all. It is sometimes done by a structural engineer that does all the drafting required to show those things.

I did not open the plan but a quick look at the picture suggests that you need to pull the lower roof planes back a little to allow the wall to extend to the upper roof. Then set the lower roof to span onto the siding instead of the framing.

I think that picture is an optical illusion. Look at the dormers on the sides. I think the face of the dormers are aligned with the face of the exterior wall. It's a nice look. I applaud your taste in dormer selection.

I have seen it done both ways. Sq ft charges can lead to a client that takes a very long time to settle on a plan.

That design time unknown makes it hard to tell someone how long it takes.

People seem to be shocked when they find out how many hours go into creating a full set of plans. I began to wonder what the average time would be based on the following. A. The design. Driven in part by the clients decision making abilities. B. Construction documents. Driven by the complexity of the structure. I have had projects that exceed 200 hrs. How about you?

Using it over shear walls is fine. A lot of builder want to use it as both the sheathing and siding. The grooves make it too thin to qualify for prescriptive panels. You can get thicker t1-11 but it may be cheaper to use sheathing and real siding.

T1-11 has too many issues with achieving brace wall shear panels. It has become associated with low end builders.

Ross said something very important it takes "countless hours" to learn how to operate this software. I think you may have been lead to believe it is easy to do. You first have to know something about designing a structure, codes, material limitations, cost benefit of various constructions styles. The software can not teach you any of this. Imitating something that has been drawn by someone else is not the way to go about it. Not to discourage you but seriously, how old are you?

maybe you could explain to your father that it is harder than he thinks it is. He should just pay the qualified people to design and let you get back to what ever it is that you do.

Sometimes, just re-snapping the connections together can fix odd things that show up.

I do that type of work. Send me your email and I can get you some information. tom@idahodesignbuildgroup.com

Any time I read or hear about "copying a plan", I wonder who your copying it from and why that designer is not doing the work.

It looks like the same width as the roof of the bump out. It could be generating that section as an attic roof. Just a guess though.

OK that makes sense. Thanks

I do that type of work all the time. tom@idahodesignbuildgroup.com 208 651-2520 Give me a call or email me what you have going. Tom

Maybe I missed something. How are walls being cut from one plan and placed in the exact same place on a DIFFERENT plan. I think he said "6" every time he did this. Is that a macro? How are those walls going back exactly where they would have been even though the cut is from one plan and the paste is on another?

I did not mean Robert was patient in how he created the wall. I will leave it to you from here.

Robert is a patient man.

Another way to shrink file size is ditch the whole BIM thing. An example would be the foundation to sill plate anchor bolts. You don't really need to place a bolt every place one would go. Make a cad detail that the concrete sub will understand. There are many examples of this. Lose all the furniture you may have placed on the plan (the framers don't care where you are putting your couch). By themselves, none of these are big, but they all add up. A good rule to go my is that most 2d elements take less file size than a 3d element (so delete that toaster that may be sitting on the counter top).

The left side of your porch roof is going to trap water against the bumped out wall.

And just like that, Scott is the winner. Post #13 and no solution.