Custom wall issues

[Leadcarpo]

Hi, My name is Matt Clark and I am the Project Developer/Estimator for a Remodeling company in KCMO. I have started to try to build different labor types and costs into the wall dialog. I have been selecting colors and making the thickness 0 so that it doesn't affect the wall thickness. I have also tried adding accessories. The issue I am running into, is that when I make a copy of a wall, or replace a wall in the plan, I lose the stuff that I have inputted in the components section (formulas and pricing and ID). Is there a better to do this? I have changed the paint layers used to report as linear and it gave me 7,800 ft for a 5 ft wall, so I figured out a formula that gets me very close to the real number. Like I said, it works great until I copy or change a wall and then it changes the formulas, zeros out the cost and gets rid of the formula. I am using X15.

[Renerabbitt]

2 hours ago, Leadcarpo said:

X15

I would do away with your custom wall layers, they arent necessary, as you can add in components without messing with the wall assembly.
Make the wall the default and then draw in with your new wall.
Also easier to write a macro for your forumlas so that you can globally change parameters within that .plan file
 

[Leadcarpo]

Thanks for the advice. I actually started out doing it like this, but the wall was acting the same way. If I made a copy, it got rid of the components and the associated pricing, which is why I tried it this way. The way I thought Chief worked, was you made a wall and nothing changed on it unless someone actually changed it, is that not the case? In theory, shouldn't I be able to make as many walls as I want?

[Renerabbitt]

19 minutes ago, Leadcarpo said:

Thanks for the advice. I actually started out doing it like this, but the wall was acting the same way. If I made a copy, it got rid of the components and the associated pricing, which is why I tried it this way. The way I thought Chief worked, was you made a wall and nothing changed on it unless someone actually changed it, is that not the case? In theory, shouldn't I be able to make as many walls as I want?

[Leadcarpo]

Hi Rene, First let me say, you are a bad ass for sure. I started following you a few months back and you made me realize that I am barely scratching the surface with chief. I am pushing for my boss to pay for some sessions with you, so fingers crossed. I have been able to make the technique you just shared work, but where I have had a bit of trouble is when I try to make another wall with one or two tweaks. Example, I'll build out the accessories in the component area and call it siding-6, then when I made one called shower wall with a few changes. I would then break the original wall and highlight the section I wanted to change, then, I would go into the wall dialog and choose the shower wall so that section would have those attributes. Then, when I pulled the material list, it did not repot correctly, so I opened the original wall dialog up and it had taken on the attributes of the shower wall. It seemed to happen when I made the copy and changed the components. I am sure it is operator error, so I will dive back in this weekend. One thing I can't figure out is how to get the accessories to compute wall sf for things like paint labor, or siding labor, which is why I tried the material layers. I am not trying to get free help, but can I put a formula in the count line of an accessory to compute sf? Thanks for your advice and hopefully I will be meeting you soon via Zoom!

[Leadcarpo]

I'm curious if anyone knows if there is a way to manipulate walls, independently from each other? I have discovered that the walls seem to work globally, when I place a component for one wall type, it automatically puts the component in all of the walls. I know that I can place the wall, and then turn the components off for that individual wall, but it would be nice to not have to do that.