Monday, September 6, 2010

New Career?

Get this: I am more than toying with and less than certain that I will be entering my old '70's brain into the 21'st century of Computer Assisted (or aided) Drafting. After (and during- I'm still building) contracting residential projects for 25 years I feel- and have been reminded- that I'm not Superman any more and my construction expertise needs to find a new level. The world at large doesn't need another 50 something know it all carpenter working at a hardware store, a lumberyard or Walmart, and I can't be saddled with a 9 to 5 and still visit my grand kids a dozen times a year, so the only logical step is to get back to my roots and start drawing house plans again. However.......... nobody draws house plans. The days of drawing with a Pentel .o4, a T-square, a 45 degree triangle, a 30/60/90 triangle (for isometric), an eraser, an erasing shield, velum, eraser shavings to keep the plan smudge free and a horse hair brush to clean them off, a triangular scale, an architectural template for door swings, toilets and bathtubs, masking tape.. you get the drift... are gone. Today it's all on computer. The prints look like it. Not much artistic flair. OK. I'm done. I am not about to say something about the good old days. You know- when men were men. When you'd pull your hair out if the client didn't like the first draft. When the eraser was your best friend and worst enemy at the same time. When fatigue affected your line work. When you had to draw the same damn wall section for every single plan. I could go on but I choose not to.
This is not a case of "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em". It's more like " I could do that!". Though I'm not any kind of computer wizard, I can usually figure things out eventually what with my new found OCD gene. I work with CAD plans all the time now, I visit a young lady who draws (there's a laugh) for my lumber company and she freely educates me on CAD drafting, I build houses from the prints and can spot an anomaly a mile away, and on occasion I've been asked to aid CAD designers to correct their roof designs.
Look, I know more about building a house than nearly anybody. I have to deal with the practical application of every house plan that comes by. I know what's lacking on these prints, and the problems are more related to omission than error. I can also offer structural information that a drafts person would not know- steel beam load calculations, bearing points, trib loads, torsion, shear, bending, lateral wind pressure calcs, header span limitations, joist spans and proper sizing, live load. Dead load. Heat loss calcs- u-factor r-value, infiltration, air exchange rates................
I could go on and on (as I have), but the bottom line is that I know what needs to be presented in a set of plans. I know builders and home owners would like more information, and I have that information. All I need to do is to study these mechanical drafting programs, get tutored, work hard, learn the system required to get the information on the screen and then it's a cake walk. (not exactly). Why? Because I already have all the answers. All I need to do is learn how to present them on a computer screen and sell them to the consumer. Wish me luck. T.

5 comments:

momboe said...

I'm sooo excited! Can't wait to get you started!

Rachel said...

That sounds like such a smart move dad. Plus I think this could lead to a lot of other sustainable work possibilities.

Anonymous said...

Oh Trace, I'm so glad you blogged all that info! You have so much brain power and this can be the perfect outlet for it. Can't wait to see how it all goes, please keep me posted regularly!! I love you and am so proud of you! Mom

Sarah. said...

I love hand drafting, too, and I miss it, but let me tell you, once you go CAD, you'll never go back. When all it takes is a mouse click to change an angle you miscalculated or a quick copy and paste to get a fresh start on a design that just isn't working, you can't imagine how you managed to survive with just a Pentel .04 and an eraser.

And don't be surprised when you start trying to "control z" things in your everyday life. When I was using CAD all day everyday and I'd go home and accidentally use too much salt in my dinner, and I'd immediately try to use my mental "undo" button. It never worked. But you'll do it, promise.

Good luck venturing into PC land, good luck with CAD, and thank you for deciding not to climb on roofs for the rest of your life. You can still be Superman, only now you can be SuperCAD Man.

xoxo

Kay and Jim Mallery said...

Lots of luck to you! My husband just retired from 40 years of being a GC, said it just wasn't fun anymore. We are off in our RV to visit the kids and do some art shows. Hope you'll keep blogging so we can follow your adventure!