JDTyler

Yeah that's what I was afraid was the only solution. Hmmm... might be adding that to the suggestion forum.

Has anyone had experience with patterns auto rotating? I want to fill in walls with an angled hatch pattern but it rotates when the wall direction changes. In Revit the fill pattern stays the same across the plan no matter what angle the wall is and I think that looks better and more consistent. Is there a way to shut this auto rotate off? I've tried everything short of changing it back to just a solid fill.

lol! Oh I gave them a discount but I definitely got paid, nothing in life is free.

That's exactly how I feel and what I told them. For some reason, since this is just one of my first plans, they don't believe that I know what I'm talking about. I'm so glad I accepted the project... I'll pass this along so they know it's not just me. And actually my spouse completely agrees with me haha and told me not to send it. He's an interior designer and thought it sounded pretty fishy too.

You're probably right, I'll definitely know next time though. That one statement just rubbed me the wrong way: "There would not be a license issue because you purchased the right to build that plan for yourself. And legally you don't have to change it much before it would be considered a custom plan and therefore be all yours." Geez. What a crook. Karma buddy, karma.

I do have Adobe, so I will definitely be locking plans from now on, great idea. It is true there will be some out there that know how to unlock but I think it would stop the vast majority from printing/copying, innocent as they may think it is.

Well... to add insult to injury, the homeowner is my father in law. I did have them sign a similar contract with the usuals... only allowed to build once, can't make copies, can't sell plans, etc. I don't have that particular point in there, which is something I need to work on for the next client. My father in law did send me one of the e-mails he received from the builder after I told the builder I wasn't sending the file. (I think my father in law thought this would prove the case to send the file? But it did quite the opposite). "J*** (Me) just explained to me that you only purchased a print copy of his plan. This is why he wouldn't give out an electronic copy. Not something I have ever been told, but understandably guys that have a popular plan that they sell many licenses of are afraid that it will end up on the Internet with someone else's name on it. Depending on the price he wants it would probably be cheaper to have it redrawn by my team. Having it redrawn would come with a lot of other pro's also such as easy unlimited changes and very accurate 3-d color renditions and views inside and out of what your house would really look like before you started building. Not that it would be impossible to build from a print copy alone (you might have done your last house this way) but it would be like using a Motorola bag phone in your car today instead of an iPhone 6. You could probably get the call made, but there is a much better way. No matter who you ultimately build with, I think most would highly appreciate and utilize an electronic copy. There would not be a license issue because you purchased the right to build that plan for yourself. And legally you don't have to change it much before it would be considered a custom plan and therefore be all yours." BTW the builder and I have the same software and version and I have done multiple walkthroughs and modifications with my in-laws I guess he doesn't know about. I told my in-laws that it sounds like he just wants to get a little extra design fee or something but they still don't believe me and think I'm just being stubborn by not sending my file. This has gone on all week and now I feel like I AM being paranoid which is why I thought I would ask. Lesson learned: DON'T WORK WITH FAMILY!

I sent him PDF drawings and he said they didn't do him any good. He wants my actual Chief file.

First off let me say that I'm fairly new to selling stock plans. I recently sold a stock plan and I've been working with the homeowner to make changes, etc. The (future) homeowner is now seeking bids and one of the builders wants a copy of the plan file. He refuses to give a bid without it and the homeowner is pressuring me to send him the file. The homeowner did not purchase a file (or license) and probably doesn't want to pay extra. He only purchased a set of 5 printed plans and the modification work. Everyone else always bids based on the drawings so it's just strange to me. I feel like once I give the file to the builder, he could sell my plan himself. Am I just being paranoid? Does anyone work with the builders and send files?

MattyT12 that's what I was afraid of lol! That's going to take fooreeevvveeer. I'm going try and figure out something with layer sets, save it as a template and then I can do that instantly with every plan from then on. Probably won't work but we'll see. Thanks for also including the cabinet/fixture work around, hadn't got to that point yet. Anyone else have another way?

Going to try this again, didn't get an actual answer earlier. I want to start selling stock plans online and all the sites I've viewed have plans that look like the attached picture. They're very simplified and have solid walls so they're easy to understand for customers who don't know how to read plans. I haven't found a way to accomplish this same look in CA. Is there another program that creates these simpler plans? Apart from creating a custom layer set (which still doesn't look like the picture) I haven't figured out how others are doing it. Anybody out there know how they're getting that result?