This message has been cross posted to the following Discussion Forums: Practice Management and Project Delivery .
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When I left a 200 person firm back in 2005, there was a policy in some departments that PM's and PA's were not even allowed to use CAD. As a result, some of those PM's that were laid off in the past year have struggled to be competitive, lacking the CAD skills that are otherwise so commonplace today.
When I left that firm to start as a sole practitioner, I purchased the most recent version of REVIT Architecture Suite. Having been an ACAD user my entire career, I was excited about making the transition to the 3-D base design and production interface. Now I design and go straight to DD and CD's only using ACAD for some details and reference drawings that are imported into my project files.
With ACAD, and multiple hands on any given project, I used to dread the cross check and coordination of details, call outs, sections and the coordination problems it caused in CA if it wasn't correct. Using REVIT has enabled me to do the work of three. I am able to make design changes that are reflected throughout the set of production documents with the confidence that all the sheets and details are always going to be coordinated. In this economy with shrinking billable hours and sometimes unpaid or defaulting client's, every tool that helps productivity and precision is a critical asset to our success and reputation. Never again will we have to look at a detail reference and pray that it actually goes to the detail, section or call out I am looking for.
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Stephen MacMillan
Architect
SLM Architecture & Design
San Mateo CA
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