lbuttery

yes, it was out last night Joe: that is one reason why I have the hardware lock yes, the hardware lock can break and things can go bump in the night so pick your poison Lew

Yes, Tommy is another good choice not sure Tommy has Home PRO version David has all of the HD product line back many, many versions Lew

contact David Potter - he posts frequently here Lew

David: thanks for the clarification Lew

David: I'm confused, I thought the OP was asking about the Stanley Laser Measuring device not an app am I confused ??? Lew

Ncinus: I do things "backwards" I create the remod plan first as the clients usually want to see the options soonest before creating the layout I then clone the remod plan as the existing plan and rip out all the new stuff - this usually goes fairly fast In the existing plan I set the demo walls to be hatched then send both plans and views to the layout as needed I did advocate for the ability to all versions/alternatives in one plan that I think could be controlled if we had total layer and layerset control but I no confidence CA will ever move in that direction Lew

I think a plan created in PRO should be editable in Interiors then if the edit flag in Interiors is turned on you should be able to continue making edits in PRO if the edits are not related to features that Interiors has that PRO doesn't Not sure if Interiors has the edit flag for HD products like Premier does probably best to contact CA's sales for these they close at 5 PM Pacific and are closed on weekends you will probably end up getting Premier Lew

I seriously doubt you can get it to be exactly the same most likely you will have clean-up and adjustments to do Lew

I haven't installed or tried X8 yet but have reviewed the "what's new" and the feature list and I am impressed X8 has introduced significant advances and improvements I found X7 to be "light" and beyond installing never used it staying with X6 my partner did the same I have encouraged him to download and install X8 as I want to use it for my personal projects If you are on the fence about upgrading - stop debating and do it Lew

Harry: I replied to your email I do travel to Pittsboro NC and may be going there in May Lew

try WWW.CHIEFEXPERTS.COM for training also contact David Potter who posts frequently on this forum Lew

Harry: where are you located ? I have a "ton" of training and library and CAD collections from the ver 10 era way too much to mail but if you are within driving distance of Lockport NY we could even meet part-way you should also check out the Yahoo Chief Users group as I think many of them have stayed with the older versions Lew

"If all you have is a hammer then everything begins to look like a nail" Lew

Will: ver 9.5 is 9 versions old 10 if you count X8 I don't know of any software that can be compatible with versions that far apart with chief even 1 version is too much how should the older version of chief handle features that it didn't have ??? just leave big gaping holes in the model ??? I do believe that later versions can read/edit Chief 9.5 plans it won't be perfect but it should load fine the more versions that are jumped the bumpier the ride Lew

CA's tech support is closed on the weekends you'll have to contact them on Monday they are open 6 Am - 5 PM Pacific Lew

back in 2005 I bought the Disto Plus for $700 sometime after that the $100 versions came out from other vendors since I never used most of the features of mine I suspect it be fine for your needs I loved using mine to measure houses and could do so by myself Lew

No quick way to do it this is so sad you would think by now that CA would understand this .... Lew

Roy: Chief uses Ruby I wish they had chosen VBA but they wanted independence from MS Chief's Ruby implementation is very limited but still useful for labels etc I've never used it as I was very disappointed with it when X4 came out then I retired shortly after that Joe is one of the main Ruby guru's Lew

It would be nice if CA would inform us when libraries are removed I used to go thru each list of the libraries for a version and it used to drive me crazy trying to verify what was added what was missing etc and whether the counts matched trying to ensure I had "everything" was a real PITA I did it for X2,X3,X4 and then gave up CA might still sell a DVD with all the libraries but they only create it when the new version comes out so it grows old and outdated real fast Lew

since I did projects in about a dozen counties in the DC metro area which included MD and VA and other states across the US etc I checked each jurisdictions website for their checklist and/or called them In my contact I would list "items included" and "items excluded" there was no way I was getting into doing Chesapeake Bay Impact Studies and other items that were beyond my "forte" If the client needed those items I might assist in finding who did them or leave it to the client to find them as Michael said - best to do the "minimum required" for the permit office the more that was there the more they had to review and maybe redline etc while we did 1/10th of the permits that others do - before I retired we did bat 1000 on acceptance on first submittal BTW: just for grins I would surf the web looking for checklist in any jurisdiction and add items from then to my "master list" of items to consider for inclusion or exclusion Lew

Terry: thanks for the most part I was "winging it" while researching ways to make it "standard" I pulled a "zillion" articles and ideas and was slowly cobbling them in to a system I would share some of that research and forms etc but since I am retired all my Chief stuff is packed away - probably never to be seen again good luck Lew

average billable hrs is considered to be closer to 1500 - 1600 than 2000 http://www.law360.com/articles/580412/how-to-hit-your-billable-hours-and-still-have-a-life http://www.trinityp3.com/calculators/ Lew

start with this book http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0471395404/ref=sr_1_2_twi_har_1_olp?ie=UTF8&qid=1455392256&sr=8-2&keywords=wakita+working+drawings or the newest version; http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0470618159/ref=sr_1_1_twi_har_1_olp?ie=UTF8&qid=1455392256&sr=8-1&keywords=wakita+working+drawings also check these out: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=ching+working+drawings I buy the used books sometimes an older edition for cheap then if I really like the book I'll buy the lastest edition take classes at local community college surf the internet for tutorials learn learn learn - never stop learning Lew

Terry: I was on a constant learning curve so I tried to be fair if I spent 8 hrs learning something new I would charge 4 hrs sometimes after I had the task figured out I would do that task over and charge for those hours I preferred hours over sqft as sqft can be very different complexity from a simple square two story box to a house with lots of curves and corners and other special features calculate the sqft cost - then adjust for complexity and use as cross check for a flat rate estimate I would calculate sqft cost and flat rate cost and provide to client as a ballpark for determining the hours expected and then collect a retainer based on that estimate of hours I was also developing a scale for level of detail: bronze, silver, gold, platinum bronze = OOB from chief for materials, door, windows etc silver = bronze + minor customization gold = silver + major customization platinum = silver + total customization to keep clients happy and in the loop we collected a small retainer like lawyers do then as we worked down those hours we could send results to the client without having to be worried about getting paid first as the balance dropped we advised the client when another retainer was needed work would halt (usually) until the retainer was received then we did the next round this was better than flat rate - because to protect yourself you need to "guess-timate" your time then add a 25% cushion in case you got it wrong and to cover the client making changes on the fly that were "too small" to request an adjustment in the flat rate Lew

go straight to X8 as David said X1 is approaching "antique" status X4 introduced anno-sets if you are doing full con docs then you want anno-sets so many other features introduced since X1 it would be a large list CA does have a monthly payment plan Lew