Liability And You

Wow - we've covered a lot of ground. I say 'we' in the royal sense - since I don't know (or give a fuck) if anyone else has taken the time to read any of my rants. With an internet overflowing with peoples idiotic opinions (and porn), this is probably more therapy than anything else. I accept all criticisms and comments that anyone might like to share (unless you work for Autodesk - in which case you need to go fuck yourself).

Today we're going to talk about something that I mentioned early on - the reasoning behind doing things the way that I (and others) do them. Like I said then - not that I need a reason, but they are many, and mostly revolve around little things like liability. Anyone who has worked in this industry for any period of time understand the importance of Construction Documents that are accurate, easy to read/comprehend (more on that next time), easy to reference, easy to modify, and difficult for anyone else to fuck up for you.

Some have managed to accomplish this task with Revit, and I applaud them their successes - they have been hard won.  While almost none of those I talk to on a regular basis would ever consider going back to ACAD, most are painfully aware of the shortcoming of Revit.  Some have decided (not altogether un-wisely in these trying times) to simply 'go along to get along'.  Autodesk was extremely lucky in this scenario - besides making it easier to frighten firms into being 'left behind', it also made it easier to demand a radical change in the way their employees were doing things, otherwise 'we fire you'.

Ironically, at least 3-4 Reviteers (or willing victims if they weren't already on-board) from my department were axed, while the remaining team (including myself) was staunchly ACAD - and still demanding that Architects be responsible for exporting and updating all necessary drawings for reference.  One was brought back when things picked up a little, and had picked up some Revit training in the interim - and the rest have been more or less forced into it, leaving me as the single 'hold-out' (read: guy who manages to juggle 2-3 times the workload of the rest of the team (or anyone else in the firm for that matter). 

A lot of co-workers can't figure out how I've been able to manage keeping my middle finger up at Revit for this long and still have a job - the answer is in the money.  I make money for my firm hand over fist.  I have seen some VERY impressive Revit models cranked out over the last couple of years - but the time and effort involved (and the coordination problems still plaguing these projects in the field) definitely don't work out in the cost to benefit analysis.  From the get go - my main concern was, what happens when someone jumps into Revit with both feet, and despite a good attitude, resources, training, etc. they simply cannot complete projects on time or on budget?

I was told that since it was Revit, it wouldn't be a problem because it is so awesome.  Reality tells a much different story.