Sounds like the contractor needs to read the contract? Track changes all you like, but those gridlines need fixing. I wager if your team submitted a better set with a list of housekeeping changes along side so they could simply ignore most of the (bluebeam) differences they find, they might even thank you.

That's my nightmare.

Frankly if the drawing set is still that disorganized & incomplete it should not be shown outside the office. I try to emphasize a clean break between DD /Pricing / Bid / Permit / IFC. Once the name is changed all revisions reset to zero and you* better act like the previous sets didn't even exist. Read the drawings, that's your job. (*You = contractor. but also everyone on the team. )

@sneaky just to clarify, the grids are in the right place, their 2D revit extents are just not adjusted for each view, making it look sloppy.. I think they're using BIM360 though I haven't messed with it myself yet on a project so I don't know if it has some weird constraints.  Would have namedropped bluebeam had I known as I'm familiar with that.

@tduds I'd love if we stopped sending DD sets out as messy as we do, but it usually doesn't matter for your exact reasoning.  Contractor got involved for 50% DD pricing and now that I'm part of a growing team for CDs, thinks that the DD set should be some sort of starting point.  

Joe, I'm in a similar situation this morning. I've been asked to speed up a new set of CDs for a repeat corporate client. We've done several dozens of these so far and have staff dedicated solely to those projects so I've only casually wondered into their space once or twice over the last 5 years. Anyways, It's taking all of my strength this morning not to tear it apart. It's almost like they deliberately are trying to rebel against every known office standard and basic drawing legibility practice... and, to make things worse, their dims are set to round-up but have not drafted the grids to round numbers. What's this, 40'- 0 3/16"? Cad will just show 40. we're good. Eugh. Very happy that I'm only a visitor to this project.

Do you have an LOD document in your contract? If not, and the contractor is using BIM360, do they have access to your model? If so how are you making sure they look at the sheets and not the model?

Someone needs to explain to the contractor that the clean break that tduds is espousing (and I support) protects all players in the game. Everyone loses money when the vestiges of aborted DD efforts haunt the construction of a project.

We typically don't have LODs sadly enough, though I've pushed it on my projects quite successfully. I think the contractor just has their own standards built into their contract to use 360... since I helped on the site that went out on Friday, I know we had to drop all our assigned sheets into a folder "to be uploaded" to the client's proprietary document management (state govt) that then gets "handed off" to the contractor who is using 360... but really I couldn't say how the contract is set up. That info wasn't conveyed in my 5 minute debrief and I only have access to that part of the folder tree on jobs I PM.

I had the same thing. the contractor shows me that if i move a keynote, it shows up as a change with their software. that's fine, i can try to accommodate them. i added doors to a door schedule, so the schedule got bigger and every door after that one now pops up as a change. the contractor starts walking through how i can change my schedule to make his life easier. nope. i'll try to help, but you're just going to have to do some of this the old fashioned way and actually look at the drawing and understand the project.

Yes, this has happened to me on a previous project. I was brought in on, what I was told was, 95% CD set. Only to look through and see no code review, details missing, wording of notes inconsistent, and products missing from the specs. I tried very hard to pitch in, but you can only do as much as the PM on the project allows. The code review was the only thing I refused to let go. I spotted some pretty blatant life-safety issues that the PM had refused to deal with. The boss made the team correct the issues; the PM was unhappy with me, but the boss was appreciative. I hate situations like this because you're expected to help but also not too much, and bite your tongue about the rest.

in china this kind of work is called "ass-wiping" and i think describes the nature and value of the work perfectly.

@midlander I dunno about you but I consider wiping my ass correctly extremely important.

What if you have a bidet?

Is the analog of bidet here just doing bridging docs and turning it over to the architect of record?

The sprinkler system malfunctioned and we lost all of the documents in the deluge.

to clarify the phrase ass-wiping i

implies wiping up for someone else

Yeah. My simple corrections took 8 weeks to review and it only took them 2 weeks to review the initial permit docs. The reason? The permit form literally got buried on the zoning reviewer's desk under a mountain of other shit and he forgot about it.

Yep. Had a small TI in southern CA take 4 months for review earlier this year. A good 50% of that was hard copies sitting in a quarantine room between reviewers. What a ridiculously arcane solution.

Here in western Colorado it's taking on average four moths to get a city planning review and building permit for new construction.

permits taking forever here as well, except on my jobs, 3 weeks tops, approved without comment. I'm magic : )

I have some flying through with no friction at all and some getting held up. Little reason why.

Or I know why. It's stuff like people are on permanent vacation, too busy to care, don't read their email or answer their phone, people are confusing, aren't taking the time to look at things and think, clients trying to do my job and not doing their job.

uuuunnnnnf gimme that friction mr plan reviewer.

what if the plan reviewer is a lady?

Whatever floats your boat. I like my plan reviewers lookin' as close to Mark Brandanowitz from Parks and Rec as possible.

Do I need to carry liability insurance as an owner’s rep?

Cold calling, trying to turn a dime. On you.

I had a headhunter email me recently saying they got my email from LinkedIn. And while it was the email associated with my LinkedIn account, the message didn't come through LinkedIn. Made me wonder if they have a higher level of access to user data as a headhunter (through payment I'm sure) that let them see my email without using the contacting features of LinkedIn.

OR ...

They got my email some other way and lied to make it seem less creepy.

Almost every interaction I've had with head hunters and recruiters have left me feeling like I need to take a shower.

To your question about being an owner's rep ... I don't have any experience other than I know some former co-workers have left to go to owners over the years. They've all gone to large healthcare clients who have teams of representatives on payroll. My guess is the owner would cover any insurance requirements if needed, but I don't know if any would realistically be needed.

Yeah - I felt icky after that conversation. I have no idea how he got my number. I’m not following up with him.

I've received a number of phone calls from head-hunters... and my office extension is not listed on my LinkedIN page. I eventually figured out that the headhunters would call our reception and ask for me without actually stating their reasons so BOOM, now they have a direct line to me. I turn them down with gusto when they do that. I got one such call once and after I turned them down, they phoned my coworker who sat directly behind me.

Almost every interaction I've had with head hunters and recruiters have left me feeling like I need to take a shower.

Can confirm that I have never actually had a pleasant conversation with a headhunter before... the unknown methods for getting my private contact info are very creepy.

Work can be so very rewarding. If only we could dispense with the money part.

We had to take a mandatory harassment and discrimination training. They did promote a few providers of this course, but ultimately our internal HR was able to purchase an online training that satisfied the requirements for some group rate.

Reminds me of Radon requirements, being lobbied and implemented by the only Radon testing company around

My association hasn't made that category mandatory BUT within the last year we had an optional 3-hour diversity course. It was a disaster. The moderator was openly racist against white people and was combative, and didn't give any relevant advice at all. Several people left the zoom meeting during the event. I was hoping to glean some insights that would be helpful to my position, but it never came close. At least it was free and I got 3 hours of credits for it.

Our insurer requires harassment training for all managers.

I’m curious to hear about the "openly racist against white people" story.

I could tell you a few.

Yep, my corporate overlords have mandatory training classes; diversity and inclusion, sexual harassments, anti-bribery training, anti-money laundering, finacial sanctions, information security awareness, and a few others. My IL arch license requires sexual harrassment certified training if I remember right; hoping my corporate one works, but is based on England's/Euro laws rather than US.

I'm unclear, Non: is this now required to maintain your license?Are they instituting a D&E credit in addition to your HSW credits? Or is this just to maintain local membership? We're mid-way through an implicit bias / equity lens training at my office and it seems to be well received by pretty much everyone. No issues so far, or at least none that have come up vocally.

Tduds, it’s unclear if it is a new category to be completed on every 2 year cycle but the wording certainly implied it was a perpetual thing.

Quiet troll.

How rude!

Only a thinly veiled troll would say that. :P

You've googled my name haven't you? :)

Jaetten, or rather jätten or jætten - the correct spellings, do indeed mean 'the troll' or 'the giant'

The best thing about standards is there are so many to choose from!

Jaetten - I didn't look you up. I just read your post. Troll.

Not sure I see the link, but ok.

You don't see how your post was an antagonistic attempt to get responses?  It may be a language / cultural thing. 

It's OK though.  I thought you were just being cheeky.  

sometimes coming up with a file name is the only creative endeavour of a day...

Sad but true.

randomised, I didn’t know you worked at my first office too. The other creative endeavor was when someone would forget to log-off or lock their computer when they went to lunch. All sorts of creative things you can do with their autoCAD shortcuts during a lunch break.

EA, I'd get Peter Zumthor on you within a metric second if I found out you touched my settings.

Which is why I learned to always "windows + L" when you step away from your computer. But yeah, it was all fun and games until you had it happen to you.

I was always nice about it and only changed a couple things I could quickly change back. I myself was this close to going Peter Zumthor on someone who "couldn't remember" what they changed on my computer when they did it to me once.

If you ever want to give someone a complete meltdown: Screenshot the desktop. Make the screenshot the desktop background. Hide desktop shortcuts. Hide the taskbar. Sit back and watch.

You evil bastard

That's hilarious, and I would ____ anyone who did that to me.

done that tduds...was great fun to watch.

Chad. more of a 'rant' than anything else... What's the point of spending time on setting up a cad system when people don't use it....

Never mind.

jaetten. the goal is not to get work done. it's to fill your day with committee meetings.

what is that "going zumthor" about? is he temperamental?

JLC-1... see recent deaths of 2 famous architects within 24hrs from each other. I don't think we even need a trial.

tduds, I’d do that to my big brother growing up. So much fun. He once made the mouse pointer a single pixel. Probably less effective with touchscreens becoming more prevalent.

Another one was to open the properties of the desktop shortcuts and make them open different folders and programs. Double click Revit for example and it opens the archinect website. Easy enough to work around but frustrating until you realize what’s going on.

What about removing the old ball from the mouse trick?

Classic

Great post. In the end, all we have is our memories, and if you have good ones then it was all worthwhile.

That's a good story, citizen. Getting older is wonderful in how it give perspective to previous experiences.

That's actually a great metric for choosing a place to work. "Would I stop by and hang out with these people after I no longer work here?"

Correct - I still hang out / text my friends from my first office a lot.

I still speak with my old boss and mentor. Hell we're buddies on social media.

Now that's a coincidence. My cats are named Igor and Theaster. What are the odds?

He’s jealous of his serpentine...

Good cat names.

I feel like that's a hardware issue, not Revit's fault.

Could also be user error. There are plenty of ways to cause a Revit model to run slowly.

It’s a BIM 360 model, in the cloud, and it’s a huge project.

insert Donna yells at clouds meme.

That is probably why. When you have a lot linked files the models take a bit to save. This gets worse if people are creating and copying in place families throughout the model.

Worksets, Worksets, Worksets...

Standards, Standards, Standards.

I feel your pain. Go for a walk and get a coffee while you wait. :)

I can LOL at myself for yelling at clouds, because it's true, but I also recently heard from a friend who's "putting together a team" for a larger firm opening a local office and wants me to send my resume and my first thought was "but will I have to use Revit?".

Donna, you don't need to use revit to write up your resume. MS Word, or even google docs is fine.

You will have to use Revit though Donna. That's the profession.

so many grey hairs in our office that don't touch revit and don't even produce anymore... wonder if I can dye my hair grey and get out of production work

If you're not working in Revit you're probably not too involved in design anymore. That is unless you're doing a lot of sketching or Sketchup work. :P

Chad, we have two main designers in our office (principals) who don’t touch Revit - they use SketchUp. The other person who does significant design uses SketchUp for design then has become proficient enough in Revit to do some production ( small to medium projects). The design work I do (on small projects) is autocad with hand sketching on top, then autocad for production. My husband’s company does architecture-scaled projects and they only use rhino.

I've never worked in a firm where 'designers' didn't also do production, at least occasionally. I use a combination of hand sketching and Revit for my design work. I know some say that Revit isn't good for design but I've never had an issue with it.

Having used Revit since 2006, doing hospitals, on Lenovo laptops, the ability to not load, or unload burdensome worksets was a life saver.

Confession time: I've never actually drawn a CD set. But my knowledge of how buildings actually get built is pretty darn good. Good enough to lead others who do the production.

me too... actually. I sometimes feel out of place here as someone who is mostly focused on lead design work. I do do production work through DD though and much prefer revit for that. still rhino and sketchup for the 3d design studies though.

I guess the upside to a slow Revit model is I've never gotten so focused and deep into the "flow" that I move faster than the computer and crash the drawing, which has happened to me many times in Autocad. If my Revit file crashes it's just because it decided to, for its own reasons. Which has also happened many times.

maybe you're just too fast in CAD - it gives you unrealistic expectations!

We do all our design work and con. docs in Revit. And since there are only two of us the building science department (we are an engineering firm, we dont provide arch service), Who ever designed it, is taking it through to opening day.

I'd let you try my PEN by Pigma, but it has some disadvantages - doesn't work in the dark or when my hands are sweaty. And it costs at least 10 times more.

Of course, there's a lot of plastic in a computer, which gets landfilled every ten years or so. But there's also the toxic brew that no doubt makes up the ink in a Sharpie. The fumes alone are anthropocenic ;-).

I use a fountain pen and refill it from bottles of ink - no disposable cartridges. There is also a not insignificant amount of energy used by computers, much of it generated by fossil fuels and delivered at 60% loss over the antiquated power grid.

if you think that's bad you should see how much waste is generated when they build the buildings! but the fumes on sharpies are unbearable. why would you prefer them to pigma pens or similar?

I don't know, I've never tried a Pigma.

midlander - what type of pigma pens do you use? Are they the Microns? If so I find that they don't flow very fast. Quick sketching seems to dry them out fast.

https://www.yookers-shop.com/

or, for the cheap knock-offs: https://www.jetpens.com/Point/...

Pentel TRJ50 Tradio Stylo Pen, best pen for sketching/drawing I’ve ever had (and it has refills)...

Rando - how quickly does the ink dry on trace?

Chad - yes actually i use a variety. pigma microns for more careful drawings after rougher fast studies. the fast ones i use pentel sign pens. to be honest i horde pens and don't worry too much what type. pigma graphic pens and pilot super color markers too.

Chad, never have issues with drying speed, but am right handed so that helps, it is not waterproof however...

What type of internet access do you have? Also what are the specs on your computer. Both of these can slow this process down.

If this is taking more and a few minutes then something isn't right.  We run fiber and robust machines.  Even when saving a 470 MB model with another 355 MB of linked models saving to the cloud only took about two minutes.

I can’t answer those questions, Chad. As in, I don’t have any idea what the answers are.

I still think it's a problem when you combine *even with the best computers* "saving should only take 2 minutes" with "don't forget to save every 15 or so minutes"... so over 10% of my time is supposed to be running to the breakroom to get coffee? that's gonna be a lot of coffee

If you had to move a bay of 5 lavs to make room for a baby changing table, how long would it take? Then, when plumbing updated their model, how long do you think it should take them to replumb? Did you guess 6-8 hours because that's what I'm being told... better question, why are we modeling every fitting and the pipe slope... it's not a LOD 500 contract, there's nothing else in the wall to conflict...

Joseff - You realize that in Revit there are two types of save. Save to Local and Save to Central? Local saves only take a few seconds. Save to Central takes your local model copy and saves to the model in the cloud / server. For really large models this can take a couple of minutes and is only done once every few hours typically.

As for your plumbing model question - why not ask MEP?  I know that Revit requires a certain amount of modeling for the MEP in order to provide calculations.  Pipe fittings and slope are part of that required modeling. 

What's the difference between save to local, save to central, and sync to central?

If you're still moving Lavs there's no reason to have pipes modeled.

Donna – 

 First off there are two types of Revit files, Local and Central. Central files must be created via work-sharing and are stored on an office server.  Think of this as the final or main model. 

 When you open the central file, a Local File is created on your hard drive. This Local File is what is you're doing all your work in.  Revit will create backup local files as often as you tell it to. 

 A Local Save will save to your hard drive. This typically takes less than 30 seconds. 

 A Save to Central will take your Local File and save anything you’ve changed in it to the Central Model.  This typically takes 1-2 minutes depending on file size. 

 A Sync to Central is very much like Save to Central but instead of saving to a server it is saved to the Revit Cloud.  This also saves a backup version of the file to a server of your choosing. Basically Revit saves to the cloud and creates a normal central file as a backup. This can take anywhere from 2-10 minutes depending on internet speed and project size.  

^Chad, to add, sync to central will also update your local copy so that it matches the central model. Important when more than one person is messing around.

rather than add more snark... I'll just ask Chad, do you not cause problems with the team by saving locally and waiting to sync until later? We're told to always sync... if we do wait to sync (say every 2 hours or so) it then takes 15 minutes to catch up and sometimes throws errors... I guess on the plus side the coffee breaks get condensed, maybe I can squeeze second breakfast in

what about third breakfast?

revit stans represent!

Elevenses

Josef - Saving to Central is done often. Syncing to the cloud is done on regularly scheduled times - typically every 2 hours. At least that's how we've done it. Haven't had any issues. You may have your work-sharing configured differently than ours.  Just like when working from a central model when a team member touches a part of the model in the cloud they 'own' it.  For anyone else to modify that element they must get permission from the 'owner' and sync to the cloud model.  This also happens if you go to modify an element that someone else has recently changed in their local model.  Again, it sounds like your central / cloud models don't have their work sharing set up correctly. 

 I'm still not sure why it's taking so long for your files to sync to the cloud.  I think you must have a model with a lot of errors in it and / or slow internet speeds.  

I should add that this monitoring of the central and cloud model doesn't require you to save to central or sync to the cloud. Revit simply monitors all the local models and compares them back to the central / cloud model.

Swivel more often than not. You are worth it Donna.

You're looking at the view and not the jail bars, right? (Not that I can talk--my home office only has a tiny window, though a nice view.)

Economics at work, because money is the only thing that matters. The end result is a media landscape that consists almost entirely of advertising in one form or another - from paid placement to brand integration to straight-up propaganda. In many ways traditional advertisements are the most honest part of media because you know they are trying to sell you something.

it was a bit of a historical aberration that ordinary people once thought there was fair unbiased news just kindly provided for public benefit. now you know!

*This reply was provided to you by Lavazza*

Most of my comments are sponsored by kicking horse coffee or some local craft brewery, depending on the time of day.

Your comments are sponsored by Snark Brewery. :P

we put a down payment on a generator in Feb...we were told 6mo wait for availability

go outside and give no f*cks for a few hours...forget the deadlines on a week day!

Not allowed to. Have to stay in the office for a 1pm meeting. :(

Proto - can you expand? Natural gas tied to the grid? Diesel tank? Or something else? I'm curious about your setup if you can share any details

We're getting natural gas piped from the street. Diesel offers a solution in the cascadia earthquake scenario, but 50hrs of run time is a little limiting ultimately. Our typical outage is because we are in a forest and our local power is all above ground (storms that down branches). We've been suffering multiple outages each year, some extending as much as 7 days. So, the office is useless during those times. I think the ultimate backup is PVs on the roof/batteries in garage, but this is more economical for the moment & less likely to be outdated in 5yrs.

I have a manual pencil sharpener for when the electric one is offline.

@proto, if you install a PV system (even a small one) at the same time as a generator, and associated emergency circuit and transfer switch upgrades, battery backups, etc, you are eligible for federal grants for essentially everything except the generator itself. All those expensive inverters, emergency circuit, the pv's of course, transfer switches, new boxes, etc can be lumped in with cost of the solar system and then become eligible for the credits/ grants. Check it out.

@ archanonymous, something to think about, thx, i'll look into it

@miles, I keeping breaking lead on the monitor so a manual sharpener is just the thing! ;)

Did you tell him he was short about four inches?

Hopefully they're printed, Donna. Office computers will block online NSFW materials. (So I've been told.)

"I'll do what I can but really think it would help if I observed the erection as it is happening."

Tell them to be careful if any shaving of nuts is required

[NZaccent]"We'll put all hands on deck & hop on it right away!"[/NZaccent]

i hadn't noticed it - you're one of the consistently reasonable posters. but IRL always takes precedence. good luck and enjoy the summer!

Can't say I've noticed much hostility out of your posts but mental health, however one defines it, is important. Best of luck and there's a cold beer waiting for you if ever our provincial border walls go down and you happen to find yourself on my side. 8-)

Thanks for posting this, b_b, though I haven't witnessed any troublesome posts. I do appreciate your mention of real life, because I recognize my disposition has gotten more prickly and less patient in the last year or so. I need to relax and just let stuff go... so I'm glad you brought up the issue. Don't stay away too long.

I’ll miss you bowling ball! But do take care of yourself.

Take care of yourself and we'll see you when you come back.

wish you a healthy peace. work is too crazy for so many people recently.

It's not just work. Here in Paradise you can't get a sub if your life depended on it. doG help you if your toilet backs up. A caretaker friend told me that bids for cleaning a house ranged from $6,000 to $12,500. What is normally a 10 minute drive can take 45 minutes or more and people are driving like they're trying to qualify for Daytona. Basic behavior reflects these realties - in other words everyone is pissed off pretty much all the time. So much for Paradise.

It happens to all of us achi. Think of it as a learning experience.

Thanks for posting, archi. We can all relate to this. It stings like a mother, no doubt. But it happens, time passes, and we move on. Don't flog yourself for more than a day or two; after that, try to let it go.

It would be hard to catalog all the expensive mistakes I've made! Most didn't end up built or costing much because the project checks and balances worked correctly. It is never only your fault.

Donna, that last sentence ties back nicely to your previous topic :o)

Thanks Donna, I was/am just really overloaded with work for some unknown reason even in a pandemic.

Congrats on the license to snark.

Congrats on getting licensed! Posting on the archinect forum should somehow count as hours needed for a license and should obviously be signed off by the big green head.

^rando, I claim archinect time as part of my cont-ed hour requirements.

How the heck dose that work NS? It has to be some weird Canadian thing. :)

CONGRATULATIONS BENCH!!!!!!! It's so awesome to cross that finish line!

Congrats! Big weight off of your shoulders I'm sure. Comparatively speaking, there aren't many architects out there.

Finish line? I thought that was the starting line. 

Kudos, Bench! You're now an architect. 

Now could you take a look at my house and tell me how to add on, remodel, and identify its architectural style? I can't pay more than $63, but this would be a good chance for you to get some experience.

Thanks all. Donna no idea if you’re still working with our firm at all, hoping we can still get that bourbon down the line.

Citizen - very happy to report that I work for a large specialist firm that has exactly zero market share for any type of housing/residential projects. So when the inevitable question comes up I can politely defer to the “aww shucks don’t know anything about it” answer.

Welcome to liability world!

Instead of "thumbs upping" their achievement we "thumbs down" it? [shrugs]

^ Ironic response, EA. Or is it?

Meant to be ironic. Reality is that it would just look like protectionism and gate keeping ... "Boo! One more potential competitor! Boo!" 

I'm all for something fun as a welcome gift of sorts. All my brainstorming is turning up some duds though. Red ink pad for the stamp labelled "Blood of Archinect's Trolls," ... stuff like that. Do trolls even have red blood?

I know, I was kidding ;o] You've proven yourself a witty compatriot.  ("Boo!" made me laugh.)

I like the blood-of-trolls idea... maybe a festoon of their entrails to adorn the new architect's computer monitor?  You know, something festive for the celebrant while suitably grim for the irritant.  Bonus: if the inductee scored high enough on their exams, s/he gets to choose the 'donor'.

Yup.  

To be fair - this isn't new information. It's also important to note that any damage to the foil face (aka fasteners) of the polyiso will increase its water absorption. In typical assemblies where fasteners pernitrate the facing of the polyiso it's water absorption is increased 0.5 - 3x and it's drying time is increased 3x - 6x

I had been sold on the idea that mineral wool was the way to go, but his analysis has me rethinking that idea. TBH, it seems there's no "real" all encompassing solution, only pathways to mitigating damage. Especially if you are going to use attachment systems.

Very true. I for one have never used mineral wool except for interior fire blocking. Using any type of blanket insulation outside of the water / weather barrier seems foolish.

On a related note we don't use polyiso for below grade insulation.  Instead we use EPS.  It remains 94% of it's r value when wet (R3 inch), dries out fast, and has a water absorption of 2%.  Polyiso retains 54%  of its r value when wet (R-2.5 in), takes longer to dry out, and if the facing is compromised has a water absorption of 5%.

This is how I think about this, and the argument that takes down "revivalists";

This is how I think about this, and the argument that takes down "revivalists";

I don't follow - who is the BS artist in this story? You?

Let's do the math. I suck at math + architects are bad at maths^2 = not structural engineers = call engineers

it's one of those things like self-driving cars that i look at and think "this isn't going to work" and then it doesn't. i only wish there was a good way to get rich being right as a skeptic.

I'm so out of the loop. Never heard of them until now. They didn't last very long, bummer. :s

what is off-site construction management? doesn't make any sense

they ate Lord Aeck and Sargent in ATL and there was some office gossip on what will happen and how the old LAS partners may spin off and get rehired on some of their jobs...nothing note-worthy, but always interesting overhearing firm owners talk about owner things

I was also tempted to hop on the Katerra bandwagon, since I strongly support the concept & the tech they were pushing. But right around the time they were rapidly expanding, I'd recently been through a startup boom and collapse & the whole thing felt a little too familiar for comfort. I decided to look for a more stable place to spend a chunk of time. Feeling justified in my choice, since I'm still with the stable firm.

i only wish there was a good way to get rich being right as a skeptic. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_(finance)

It's really sad that Katerra fell apart. The idea behind it was great, but they pretty much did it the wrong way from step 1 and collapsed. It really was only a matter of time.

That's frustrating. My current issue a client who's not signing contracts yet wants me to work on said projects.

Ask him if he doesn’t pay after eating at a restaurant. Or if he tries to negotiate the menu prices when the check comes.

Some do...

Yeah and they're call d-bags.

The more they have the tighter they hold on to it.

This client is an interesting guy. He built a telecom company of some sort and sold it, then got into commercial real estate development. I broke my rule of not working for real estate agents or developers (because my experiences lead me to believe they're not fully human) to take on his project. I've worked for plenty of wealthy people but none that bragged so much about what they have and none who complained so often about paying me for the work I've done. I'm in a good position--I don't need his job at all, it's complicated enough that it would not be wise to proceed without me, and he knows it. But I still don't need to hear that I take too long to deposit his checks (typically a few days, possibly up to two weeks.)

So this client isn't paying you on time then complains that you don't deposit their payments fast enough? RED FLAG!

He's been a client for 2 1/2 years now. I did get red flags before we signed a contract, but I checked with a couple of contractors who I know had done some work for him and they said he was a blowhard but paid. And he has paid all of my invoices, he just complains about it. I would not take the job today, but at the time it was going to be my biggest, best project. With every project I learn again how important it is to find good clients!

Why not just let you all work from home until it is fixed? We have the technology...like they say.

That's a bladder of iron you have there, Donna.

As one who, on occasion, is not above using the great outdoors as a loo, the pub toilet sounds luxurious in that scenario... especially next to multiple drives home.

Josh, we *are* actually allowed to work from home. But the Revit and submittal review work I’m doing this week are just so much easier on my two big screens at the office than at home. Very few of my coworkers are at the office.

"Very few of my coworkers are at the office" 

That potted fern is looking mighty convenient.  There's your solution.

Also when I head home briefly I get to see the dog, and she likes it, so win-win (I take her out to pee, too).

Uh oh Donna ... sounds like SNL already has you covered !

Bring the doggo to work! Then everything is good! :)

Pretty sure it would be frowned upon for Donna to poop in a yard.

I first read it as "(3) four-hour chunks"...and I was thinking, "isn't 8 hrs enough, donna?"

I'd stay away from good ol' "potted" Fern. She's got her own problems.

Monday morning update: we have working toilets.

Bad news: sinks are out.

On many a jobsite we'd wash our hands in the toilet tank. (Not the bowl.) Just an idea.

Never used that myself (I was never lucky enough to work at a job site with running water), but I like the idea. Flush with gray water.

Any of ya'll have GC put down portable urinals on construction sites? On my last multi-story, they had these banks of 4ish feet tall plastic triangles every 2 or 3 floors. Kept the workers from using the... drains.

No different from the Waltons, the Sacklers, Bezos, Nike, Apple, etc. This is the foundation of 'great' wealth, and we all serve them in one way or another.

That's the sad part, but it's funny they try to appease history with a museum exhibition.

Maybe tell that to the curator and now head of History at the Rijksmuseum Valika Smeulders (the one with Rembrandt's Night Watch)...she herself was born in a former colony (Curacao) and descends from former slaves and slaveowners...this show has nothing to do with appeasing history, it is about confronting it.

I don't see the problem here. It's not like this is the only thing happening and someone is going to be like "Welp, we're good now!" after a museum exhibit. It's part of the conversation.

i think the purpose is helping everyone recognize that history is complex and amoral. viewed over a long enough period there is no clear division of good guys vs bad guys - it's all just a hopeless mess of compromise, groupthink, and well-meaning hypocrisy, with occasionally genuinely evil individuals in charge. it would be useful in contemporary politics where there is an unrealistic push to sort everything into good versus evil and simply isolate the badness away.

such awareness evades those like chemex who imagine there is some ideal standard a country must meet for its people to deserve recognition as individuals.

I'm not trying to mock the effort and the exhibition is great to raise awareness, but as a state or states - not only Netherlands - a sanitized view of the past has the same effect as thoughts and prayers, especially when such colonialism hasn't ceased, it's just legal and civilized now.

Okay they’re not lynching or raping anyone as part of the exhibition, I’ll give you that...

did you order from shooters in rifle?

I guess it isn't bbq? or maybe it is?

JLC -1 - ha! I wish. Nope a local place in Junction. Bummer.

I think our next Colorado archinect meetup is at Shooters.

We'll all get food poisoning then . . .  :)

We won't be there to eat then, just to discuss politics.

Oh you don't want to do that there. 

 I was there with my wife and heard a young child ask his father why all the waitress where carrying guns. The father said that only a good guy with a gun can protect us from a bad guy with a gun. I couldn't help myself and told my wife that it would be difficult for the waitress to do so since none of their pistols where loaded.  Rather easy to see with modern semi autos. 

The man overheard me,  got mad, and challenged me to a fight.  When I told him no and to please sit down he then pulled out a handgun and placed it on the table while glaring at me.  I just ignored him.  Cops came and said I should just leave as soon as we were done eating.  

Classy place with ::meh:: food.  

Exactly.

My last few weeks have felt this way. I'm training a new hire to eventually replace an arch-intern going on mat leave soon and I'm spending more than half my day either on the phone or answering emails related to these phone calls. I booked some vacation time for august (like half the month) and realised it's much sooner than I expected. Will probably take half of november off too if this pace continues.

Been feeling like every change that I need to make is requiring half a dozen people to weigh in before no one makes a final decision ... and the cycle continues.

Last week I tried to corner a guy at the end of a zoom call to just work with me to make three decisions that he needs to make. We made one of three and he was going to follow up with me yesterday on the other two. He never followed up. Oh, and the one decision "we" made ... I told him what I think he needs and he simply agreed (I had already done this via three emails, but I was able to nail it down over zoom).

I think there are some people who measure their value by how many meetings they can call.

Makers vs managers

Ever since I discovered that essay I think about it at least once a day. I should send it to my project teams.

He’s crowdsourcing a publication or phd and doing it rather well...

Nice work, Donna. Especially keeping him out of architecture. Although stage combat could come in handy dealing with clients, contractors, and officials.

Congratulations, Donna! And I agree with Miles... just think of the all creative uses for that hatchet.

He’s a second degree black belt, so he can do both faux combat AND real combat!

you call that an axe?

Where I'm from (MN - aka southern Canada) - that's what is used to shave.

I call that a hatchet.

Congrats, Donna. Sounds like you've done a fine job!

That's a hand axe.

Donna, if I recall correctly, didn't he have a short run of some comics he was drawing and putting up on the web? Congrats on this milestone!

Yes, Everyday, he had a short-lived Tumblr of his piranha comics! I’m humbled and delighted that you remember.

I'll give this a like solely for my new favorite word: curmudgeonry.

Glad I could make up a word for you to add to your lexicon.

Enough of this dang tomfoolery. Somebody has to kick young whippersnappers like Everyday Intern into shape. Time's a wastin' ... where's my cane?

Where is Everyday Intern? Haven't seen that guy around for the past 4 years. Get with the times old man.

Is the intent of the ARE to determine how well one functions in a day-to-day professional setting, or determine minimum competency in the subject matter? 

I didn't open the survey, but kudos to NCARB for looking into this. Let them test candidates in the language the candidate can best show their competency. Let the employer with their employees, and/or the client with their architect figure out what language they best communicate in.

The US of A doesn't have an official language.

There is no de facto language in the US be it for commerce or anything else. The de facto currency for commerce in the global economy is American dollars though. The use of one does not equate the use of the other.

Using the English language dose not provide credibility in this field.  Being a good architect dose and that can be done in many languages.

Unless the definition of de facto has recently changed, you might want to check back on your first conclusion. On your second point, it's the credibility of the ARE itself that I'm questioning not so much the architects that have passes that gate.

The de facto language of construction sites is Espanol. Good luck doing CA on small residential projects with only one language at your disposal.

de facto - in fact, or in effect, whether by right or not.

So Wiggins - you're saying that unless an architect took their licensing exam in English they are not credible enough to practice in America?

OR

Are you saying that if the ARE is given in languages other than English in the United State that the license isn't credible?  Even if the exact same information is tested?

I'm questioning the credibility of the ARE as a qualification standard to practice architecture in the United States if they were to make this kind of concession. I'm looking at this as if the ARE is analogous to the Bar Exam in any given state, regardless of your personal opinion, practicing law and practicing architecture (as a licensed architect) are on similar levels. I've looked, and as far as I've found there are no states that let a candidate take the Bar exam in any language other than English. And for those confused, I'm talking about the practice of architecture as a licensed architect, not the applied process of construction by a tradesman.

English is the primary language for global commerce, thanks to the fact that the British Empire once controlled 25% of the worlds land & the US followed as the largest economy for the last 80 years. I also think its advisable purely from a practical standpoint to learn English if you live in the US. 

But I don't think that matters for the ARE. If they sit there & translate every question into Spanish what difference does it make. The point of the exam is to find out if you know the material, not if you can read a question in English. As long as it's the same material you could give the exam in brail for all I'm concerned.

My wife is a nurse & ends up using quite a bit of Spanish (she's not fluent but does the best she can). We always talk about how it's more difficult than trying to do basic things, because she doesn't have any clue what the Spanish word for long medical terminology is.

"And for those confused, I'm talking about the practice of architecture as a licensed architect ..."

This is where you're just starting off on the wrong thought process. For the third(?) time now I'm saying that the point of the ARE is not to test any candidates ability to *practice architecture.* It is there to simply test *knowledge in a subject matter.* You can know everything there is to know about architecture and still fail to be someone that can actually practice architecture successfully (I think I had a couple of professors in college that fit this description). Testing someone's knowledge in their native language is going to be the best way to *test* *that* *person's* *knowledge.* Passing the test still doesn't mean they will be able to *practice architecture.*

Spend any time around other people taking the ARE and you'll find that many of the more experienced ARE candidates complain that they do poorly on the tests because the answers don't properly reflect what their experience in practice would indicate as the right answer. That's because the test is not supposed to be a reflection of what you would necessarily do in practice. It's meant to test your knowledge of the source material. Many times this is different than in practice.

Perfect example: People struggle all the time with the question of if drawings or specifications take precedent over the other. The correct answer based on AIA A201 is that neither takes precedence. However in practice I see this get messed up all the time where one is given precedence and written into contracts all the time. Does that make it wrong? Not necessarily. Not if that's how the contract is written. The contract determines what is right based on mutual agreement of the signing parties *in practice.* But for the ARE the standard AIA documents are the *source material* so you need to know what they say ... not what you did on your last 20 projects.

With sufficient study, I'm sure plenty of people could pass the ARE without working a day in an architectural office. You keep getting hung up on this idea that the practice of architecture happens in English and so the testing must be done in English. You might be right about the first clause, that practice happens in English (you're not, and my comment below points that out), but that doesn't mean that the testing has to happen in English. Again, the best way to test someone's knowledge of the subject matter is to test them in their native language.

At any rate, I ignored the NCARB survey yesterday when I saw it come through my inbox. I'm going to go dig it up and take it because apparently I can't rely on people being empathetic to ELLs instead of jerks.

Ok, the survey wasn't really trying to get feedback on whether or not anything should be changed, it was simply asking your proficiency in English and then the preferred language you'd want to be tested in. But true to NCARB fashion, the survey appears to only be available in English. Si no entiendes ingles, y no entiendes la pregunta ... ¿Cómo podrías saber contestarla?

Chinga tu madre, NCARB.

Those are outlier situations and in no way representative of what the majority of ESL people working in the USA will experience. Back to credibility as a profession, how many states give the taker multiple language options for their Bar Exam? If NCARB has jurisdiction over areas that English isn't the de facto/official language, then they should present the exam in those languages if a person is pursuing their license there, you chose that when you open you record with NCARB.

Again, you're assuming the examination is meant to deal with functioning in a practice setting, and not establishing minimal competence in a subject matter. NCARB already has a program to ensure candidates have functional experience called AXP. If you really are concerned that ELLs (English Language Learners ... English might be their 3rd, 4th, nth language, not just their second), won't be able to functionally practice as architects in the US, that will probably be figured out during AXP. Maybe focus your gatekeeping efforts there if you're so concerned.

I hadn't seen this; I did arch. school in a spanish speaking country, after 10 years of practice I moved to the US, where I worked as "urban designer" and didn't need a license, I tried starting with Ncarb 6 years after and they said I couldn't try at all because my school would not send the transcripts already translated. Door closed very quickly on that, I'm stuck being an employee. I now have 18 years of experience in the US but can't sit the exams.

No. 

The ARE isn't a test that is applicable to only the US. You are able to apply for and get architectural licensure in other countries with it as well. There may an additional exam or two to take in these countries. For these exams the units are in metric but the tests can be in English if requested.

The country of your SO you keep referring to is an outlier and in no way representative of what most countries practice. 

I heard it causes male enhancement.

Only for women though...men get female enhancement

Shhhh . . . don't tell Non that!

There ... I have Non on my tracking screen now. He's - OH! You don't want to know.

Faster than a speeding bullet train, more powerful than a monarchy, able to leap tall pines in a single bound...

Let's try again, minus the broken link.

Nice. Better be available in both languages or else you might get some poutine thrown your way. These are awesome!

Silly m'ericans... don't they know canadians don't believe in guns.

Of course! Just remind me... what's the other language? ;o]

Not sure citizen, but perhaps we can ask this guy:

That's got to be the butchest wearing of the fleur-de-lis I've ever seen.

Is that Wolverine, if designed by DC Comics?

i find written books on design and architecture (not photo-books) to be hopelessly boring. i stick to fiction and history.

The classics are often good, especially historic / archeological and treasures like Downing's 1850 The Architecture of Country Houses - which certainly wasn't a parody but can easily be viewed as one.

Books by architects today are uniformly awful PR campaigns. 

i stopped reading books that were exclusively about architecture years ago- many others writers from other disciplines have much more interesting things to say, often indirectly, about architecture and design.

I stopped reading arch books at the same time as I finished grad school. Don’t think I’m missing much

Maybe it’s the book...could give The Language of Things by Deyan Sudjic a try, I even finished this one.

Throw in a weird, slightly racist comment from x-jla and that's pretty much this entire form.

Dilbert is appropriate on multiple levels in that case.

Pete! Nah, only an uprising or two, and just the right amount of devastating but understated wit.

Nice! I managed to avoid logging on for the duration that I was out (made a little Pete)

Oooooh, a mini-you? congrats.

you were "making" it all this time? or just receiving it? congrats anyway!

Substantial completion was delayed a bit. Seems the contractor wanted perfection, which is OK by me. The CDs were dodgy to begin with.

Congrats Sneaky!

...BTW, how did you get your name?

Made it up out of the blue one day when I wanted to join 'nect.

Congratulations, Pete! Glad to see you have lots of free time now =O]

hmmm, SneakyPete...not what contractor says... ;)

Congratulations Pete!! It's the best thing ever.

Congrats on the mini-Pete!

Thanks! Babies are the best things ever.

Re: your name ... you should have trademarked or copyrighted it when you had the chance. Bryan Cranston stole it for a TV series for Amazon. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sneaky_Pete

Nice work if you can get it.

Congrats Pete!

Congrats! the unveiling of the project when the scaffolding comes down is otherworldly

Or Frederick's of Hollywood (image NSFW].

The arm on your lamp isn't plumb.

I have the same magnetic level... but in red. I also used to keep it on my task lamp back when in school.

Sketchy
p in the wild, a rare breed in these parts.

Non, I think this one came in an IKEA tool set.

JLC... that makes sense.

BOMA is annoying, but it's basically busy work for a few hours / days.

It's just busy work til you fuck something up and the client's lender is looking for the missing 823 sf in the project that never "existed" in the first place.

Good point.

One of the reasons I never understood assigning these kinds of tasks to the kids, unless the oversight/ education is actually good, which usually takes more time than getting an experienced person to do it. 

BOMA? Good way to piss off the client and if you make a really bad boo-boo, get the project cancelled. 

Bathroom and core layouts? The most likely spot to get dinged in an inspection or plan review, especially on accessibility. 

Door Schedule? The source of many a pricey change order.

God, door schedules. Especially Revit door schedules.

I always do BOMA for my projects (PM here)... so does another PM I know... everyone else at all levels some how find one of us when it's their turn. "well, I don't want to make a mistake and it's a quick turn around." uhuh...