Ready, Set...Wait
After all the turmoil of staff reduction the title of this entry seems to have been the recurring theme for many projects. We're signed onto projects and we wait, and wait, and wait. Project start-up is delayed for weeks, if not months. Various reasons are given for the delays. Technical reasons, indecision about the full scope of the project such as more floors, staggered floor heights, larger shorter floor plates, parking arrangements, changing market trends, etc.
One project had to wind through six lenders before obtaining a construction loan which was delayed a good month before signing and this was a student housing project for a private college with well-known deep pockets. Another student housing project a couple states over was delayed a year when the university realized they did not own the property on which the building was to be located, nor did they have a long-term lease.
Despite that trail of speed bumps to progress some projects are breaking loose for design as money is released into the system. We've tried to be economically more effective at design, reviewed everything in our organization to find anything that can be trimmed out. That's all good but we'll need to also focus on our design procedures, methods and processes. We've made progress in that before but there's still more I think we could do.
More projects are heading the LEED route. We've done several but I'm only on my fourth and only one of them I designed from scratch. One I picked up after the original coworker completely mucked up the first submission. Of course, my efforts at a second submission were rejected on two point items which were approved upon appeal.
My latest LEED effort, a project picked up from another coworker, has clearly shown there are things do from a documentation point long before drawings are submitted for permit. Yep, another 'Duh' momment. Have been keeping track of the ones I've done, created web pages with links to the various LEED classifications and sample documents with other schemes about how it all comes together.
Revit MEP Suite seems to have taken a negative tone among the partners in the office, at least based upon what software our competitors are using. Apparently, most MEP companies in our area are using AutoCAD MEP for 3D design as it is perceived as a shorter development time period for transitioning from 2D design. It means this old dog will at least not have wasted time on Revit but will not flog my way through AutoCAD MEP. So be it. Time for another CAD book or two.
The other side is that it seems like our clients are having difficulty with Revit Architecture and getting consistent reliable 3D models. It also doesn't help when updates come to us and are only partials and not a complete package.
I hope to have a more upbeat entry next time.
One project had to wind through six lenders before obtaining a construction loan which was delayed a good month before signing and this was a student housing project for a private college with well-known deep pockets. Another student housing project a couple states over was delayed a year when the university realized they did not own the property on which the building was to be located, nor did they have a long-term lease.
Despite that trail of speed bumps to progress some projects are breaking loose for design as money is released into the system. We've tried to be economically more effective at design, reviewed everything in our organization to find anything that can be trimmed out. That's all good but we'll need to also focus on our design procedures, methods and processes. We've made progress in that before but there's still more I think we could do.
More projects are heading the LEED route. We've done several but I'm only on my fourth and only one of them I designed from scratch. One I picked up after the original coworker completely mucked up the first submission. Of course, my efforts at a second submission were rejected on two point items which were approved upon appeal.
My latest LEED effort, a project picked up from another coworker, has clearly shown there are things do from a documentation point long before drawings are submitted for permit. Yep, another 'Duh' momment. Have been keeping track of the ones I've done, created web pages with links to the various LEED classifications and sample documents with other schemes about how it all comes together.
Revit MEP Suite seems to have taken a negative tone among the partners in the office, at least based upon what software our competitors are using. Apparently, most MEP companies in our area are using AutoCAD MEP for 3D design as it is perceived as a shorter development time period for transitioning from 2D design. It means this old dog will at least not have wasted time on Revit but will not flog my way through AutoCAD MEP. So be it. Time for another CAD book or two.
The other side is that it seems like our clients are having difficulty with Revit Architecture and getting consistent reliable 3D models. It also doesn't help when updates come to us and are only partials and not a complete package.
I hope to have a more upbeat entry next time.
posted by Sketcher | 9:31 AM
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