Hello Again!
Back-to-back installments of the Skullfuck - aren't you lucky?
While fixing the 'typical' bullshit this morning (it's funny, the most stressful shit I've had to deal with at this job still pales in comparison to the best day I had fighting with Revit), I had somebody ask me about some additions to an industrial building I did a while back.
They told me that there were two remote panels missing (that were shown on the drawings we received) and that the main control panel was shown in the wrong place. I verified that this was indeed the case, and a few minutes later the office manager came by asking about the same thing. He was concerned because we would most likely have to eat the cost of the 'missing' panels.
Fortunately, I don't throw anything away. I used to have people laugh about the number of boxes I kept in my office (five years worth at any given time), but besides covering my (and the companies) ass on more than one occasion, it was also a visual representation of the amount of work I had cranked out over that time period (instead of sitting around whittling my dick in Revit).
Within a few minutes I was able to produce a drawing that I had used while discussing the project with the guy who originally brought it to me. It wasn't exactly what I was hoping to find (someone's markup telling me to take the panels out), but it was the next best thing. Basically, the guy had made changes to the design based on what he thought they needed (whereas I would've done it exactly as shown).
Based on that drawing, the office manager was able to see that the changes were obviously intentional and not an oversight on my part. Now, that's partly a matter of personal pride - but also reflects on my professionalism. It's hard to say whether or not the guy who made the changes would've owned up to it (were it not for having hard evidence), but fortunately I don't have to worry about it now.
I don't go around all paranoid thinking that people are out to fuck me over, but experience has shown that it's better to never give them an opportunity in the first place - and I'll definitely have my eye on this guy in the future if he ever tells me to deviate from a design in the future.
It's the same attitude I took all those years ago when someone tried to fuck me over by convincing me to throw away the tools I continue to use with great success in exchange for a bag full of broken screwdrivers - and I responded with a resounding 'FUCK YOU'.
Especially considering that it was the same people I had to constantly keep an eye on to keep them from throwing me under the bus who were trying to convince me to do it.
Fuck that. Fuck Revit, and if you don't like it Fuck You!
-SkullFuck
Next Time: 2017 Revit Continues The March Into WTF Territory?
Wednesday, February 15, 2017
Can You Hear Me Now?
Hello Sunshine!
It's funny, I spent years fighting the good fight by trying to keep up with the constant changes that result from indecisive project owners, incompetent design staff, and a total lack of fucks given on the part of those who decided to throw Revit into the midst of an already unstable system under the delusion that all of that other shit would somehow work itself out.
I sidestepped that shit show, but still find myself downstream from it from time to time, which makes it necessary to take steps to prevent myself from winding up wading in fecal matter. I received a call the other day from someone in one of our other offices asking about (yet another) hotel where someone reviewing our drawings pointed out that we hadn't put the necessary devices into hearing impaired guest units.
I pointed out to the caller that I had responded to these comments several months ago with some pertinent questions, but received no response (meaning they never read my e-mail, or read it and forgot about it) I forwarded the e-mail to them (yes, forwarded the same e-mail that I had already sent them).
Now, even though I have considerable experience in the skill of convincing people who don't want to deal with their own projects to pay attention for long enough to grasp the intricacies, it can still be difficult to get them to understand the questions that I ask require more than two word responses (and may actually require them to do their fucking jobs).
In this case, after reviewing the drawings we received from the engineer, it became clear that there was no way to actually determine which guest units were hearing impaired. Their typical units only had normal and ADA plans - although I did find one note buried on one of the sheets about hearing impaired unit requirements.
While looking at the list of units they claimed were hearing impaired I started to see that (most of) these units had a '-CF' added to the end of the unit type (although what '-CF' was supposed to indicate was nowhere on the drawings). Looking harder, I found that even that wasn't consistent throughout all of the floors (with some '-CF' units not being on their list, and some on their list without '-CF'.
The one difference between what I used to do and what I do now, is that when there are mistakes, inconsistencies, etc. on the drawings we receive (or changes come along later), we can charge to make these changes. It would sometimes happen at my old job (if the changes were being driven by the owner, and the project manager had the sack to ask for more money), but it's standard practice here.
It still requires getting the project manager on board with the fact that the information we received was incomplete, and that it wasn't an oversight on our part. Fortunately (as always), because I'm using CAD, I was able to put together updated plans quickly so they can see the extent of the changes that were necessary.
I doubt that the explanation that I provided them (and outlined here) will ever get to the people who made the comments (although when I send these drawings - I'm going to reiterate it again). I guess I shouldn't be surprised though - since every project I've ever done with 'typical' units required grabbing someone by the face and convincing them that units requiring special attention need to be brought to my attention.
If I'm successful in making my case, they might even keep me in the loop when changes that affect me are made (the second the decision to make those changes is made - and not when those changes finally make their way onto drawings/models).
Revitards made a clusterfuck out of a the last building with typical units I ever had the displeasure of looking at in Revit (by trying to detail out a specific unit in the overall plan for each 'typical' unit). Even after extensive planning, I still had to hold their hand through the process (imagine that).
Now that I'm one step removed from that whole process, I have to rely on someone taking the initiative to send me updated drawings - but as I mentioned earlier, whether they give them to me now, or wait until later, they are getting charged.
Fuck incompetent morons, and since there is a good chance their incompetence is being multiplied exponentially through the use of Revit, then fuck it too.
Now Go Fuck Yourself,
-Skullfuck
Next Time: Diverting The Bus
It's funny, I spent years fighting the good fight by trying to keep up with the constant changes that result from indecisive project owners, incompetent design staff, and a total lack of fucks given on the part of those who decided to throw Revit into the midst of an already unstable system under the delusion that all of that other shit would somehow work itself out.
I sidestepped that shit show, but still find myself downstream from it from time to time, which makes it necessary to take steps to prevent myself from winding up wading in fecal matter. I received a call the other day from someone in one of our other offices asking about (yet another) hotel where someone reviewing our drawings pointed out that we hadn't put the necessary devices into hearing impaired guest units.
I pointed out to the caller that I had responded to these comments several months ago with some pertinent questions, but received no response (meaning they never read my e-mail, or read it and forgot about it) I forwarded the e-mail to them (yes, forwarded the same e-mail that I had already sent them).
Now, even though I have considerable experience in the skill of convincing people who don't want to deal with their own projects to pay attention for long enough to grasp the intricacies, it can still be difficult to get them to understand the questions that I ask require more than two word responses (and may actually require them to do their fucking jobs).
In this case, after reviewing the drawings we received from the engineer, it became clear that there was no way to actually determine which guest units were hearing impaired. Their typical units only had normal and ADA plans - although I did find one note buried on one of the sheets about hearing impaired unit requirements.
While looking at the list of units they claimed were hearing impaired I started to see that (most of) these units had a '-CF' added to the end of the unit type (although what '-CF' was supposed to indicate was nowhere on the drawings). Looking harder, I found that even that wasn't consistent throughout all of the floors (with some '-CF' units not being on their list, and some on their list without '-CF'.
The one difference between what I used to do and what I do now, is that when there are mistakes, inconsistencies, etc. on the drawings we receive (or changes come along later), we can charge to make these changes. It would sometimes happen at my old job (if the changes were being driven by the owner, and the project manager had the sack to ask for more money), but it's standard practice here.
It still requires getting the project manager on board with the fact that the information we received was incomplete, and that it wasn't an oversight on our part. Fortunately (as always), because I'm using CAD, I was able to put together updated plans quickly so they can see the extent of the changes that were necessary.
I doubt that the explanation that I provided them (and outlined here) will ever get to the people who made the comments (although when I send these drawings - I'm going to reiterate it again). I guess I shouldn't be surprised though - since every project I've ever done with 'typical' units required grabbing someone by the face and convincing them that units requiring special attention need to be brought to my attention.
If I'm successful in making my case, they might even keep me in the loop when changes that affect me are made (the second the decision to make those changes is made - and not when those changes finally make their way onto drawings/models).
Revitards made a clusterfuck out of a the last building with typical units I ever had the displeasure of looking at in Revit (by trying to detail out a specific unit in the overall plan for each 'typical' unit). Even after extensive planning, I still had to hold their hand through the process (imagine that).
Now that I'm one step removed from that whole process, I have to rely on someone taking the initiative to send me updated drawings - but as I mentioned earlier, whether they give them to me now, or wait until later, they are getting charged.
Fuck incompetent morons, and since there is a good chance their incompetence is being multiplied exponentially through the use of Revit, then fuck it too.
Now Go Fuck Yourself,
-Skullfuck
Next Time: Diverting The Bus
Wednesday, February 1, 2017
A-Typical
Here we go again.
I picked up another project - two buildings, one three story with 72 units, and one four story with 63 units. The plans were obviously done in Revit, however there was no attempt at making the typical units based on anything in the buildings.
It was immediately apparent something was wrong though, because they had still attempted to overlay the typical units on the floor plan - and in every single unit, the stove/range extended nearly all the way through the adjacent wall.
What struck me as odd was that I had reviewed a .pdf set and hadn't noticed it looking as fucked up as the plans I was setting up to use, so I took a closer look at them and was amused to find that the way they had made it work was by squeezing the stove/range to fit (leaving the eyes/burners on the range oval shaped).
I supposed it's possible that the width of the range is now correct based on the model they are going to install - however it still looked stupid on the .pdfs and completely retarded on my plans, and even though nobody is installing countertops based on my plan, I'm not about to send out my drawings looking like ass.
Quickly stopping to thank my lucky stars that I wasn't constrained by the idiotic shit that someone else crapped out in Revit, I dove in and fixed the plans (along with any number of other fuckups that have apparently become acceptable since Revit turned everyone's brains to shit).
Even though there was no difference between the building dimensions down both sides of the corridors, they had still somehow fucked up the dimensions within individual units (it would have been unnoticeable except when I attempted to align multiple ranges to their adjacent walls).
I'm still waiting on information to complete some of the systems, but I went ahead and got as far along as I could, and made a few guesses to fill in the blanks so that when that information is forthcoming I can either pat myself on the back for guessing correctly (or more likely end up having to adjust it accordingly).
Again - the ability to sketch out multiple options quickly, and then adjust and insert the necessary one(s) is invaluable to my line of work. I've already sized conduit sleeves into the individual units, so the only other thing I will have to do once I verify the rest of the information is to size sleeves through firewalls in the corridors based on the number and types of cabling going through each.
I'm sure someone somewhere has figured out how to make Revit calculate conduit sizes based on fill charts, but I can generally guess pretty close, and then run calculations to double-check. Of course, I will also leave some spare space - since invariably, someone will forget to tell me about something (or tell me wrong).
One other task I will have to undertake (as with any hotel/apartment) is to grab the person responsible for designing the building, shake them out of their Revit stupor, and force them to give me accurate counts on the number of handicap accessible, hearing impaired, etc. units (as opposed to what they are currently showing on their drawings - which is almost guaranteed to be wrong).
Not that they won't change the number/location of these later - but I want to have it in writing, so if we have to go back and change things, we can demand additional payment (in addition to not having to worry about someone making the mistake of questioning our ability to design our systems correctly).
If experience has taught me anything, it's that someone will inevitably fuck up, and the first thing they will do is start looking for someone to toss under the bus.
And goddamned if it's going to be me.
Fuck Autodesk, Fuck Revit, and Fuck Reviteers. Eat a bag of dicks!
Sincerely,
SKuLLFuCK
Next Time:More Typical Bullshit
I picked up another project - two buildings, one three story with 72 units, and one four story with 63 units. The plans were obviously done in Revit, however there was no attempt at making the typical units based on anything in the buildings.
It was immediately apparent something was wrong though, because they had still attempted to overlay the typical units on the floor plan - and in every single unit, the stove/range extended nearly all the way through the adjacent wall.
What struck me as odd was that I had reviewed a .pdf set and hadn't noticed it looking as fucked up as the plans I was setting up to use, so I took a closer look at them and was amused to find that the way they had made it work was by squeezing the stove/range to fit (leaving the eyes/burners on the range oval shaped).
I supposed it's possible that the width of the range is now correct based on the model they are going to install - however it still looked stupid on the .pdfs and completely retarded on my plans, and even though nobody is installing countertops based on my plan, I'm not about to send out my drawings looking like ass.
Quickly stopping to thank my lucky stars that I wasn't constrained by the idiotic shit that someone else crapped out in Revit, I dove in and fixed the plans (along with any number of other fuckups that have apparently become acceptable since Revit turned everyone's brains to shit).
Even though there was no difference between the building dimensions down both sides of the corridors, they had still somehow fucked up the dimensions within individual units (it would have been unnoticeable except when I attempted to align multiple ranges to their adjacent walls).
I'm still waiting on information to complete some of the systems, but I went ahead and got as far along as I could, and made a few guesses to fill in the blanks so that when that information is forthcoming I can either pat myself on the back for guessing correctly (or more likely end up having to adjust it accordingly).
Again - the ability to sketch out multiple options quickly, and then adjust and insert the necessary one(s) is invaluable to my line of work. I've already sized conduit sleeves into the individual units, so the only other thing I will have to do once I verify the rest of the information is to size sleeves through firewalls in the corridors based on the number and types of cabling going through each.
I'm sure someone somewhere has figured out how to make Revit calculate conduit sizes based on fill charts, but I can generally guess pretty close, and then run calculations to double-check. Of course, I will also leave some spare space - since invariably, someone will forget to tell me about something (or tell me wrong).
One other task I will have to undertake (as with any hotel/apartment) is to grab the person responsible for designing the building, shake them out of their Revit stupor, and force them to give me accurate counts on the number of handicap accessible, hearing impaired, etc. units (as opposed to what they are currently showing on their drawings - which is almost guaranteed to be wrong).
Not that they won't change the number/location of these later - but I want to have it in writing, so if we have to go back and change things, we can demand additional payment (in addition to not having to worry about someone making the mistake of questioning our ability to design our systems correctly).
If experience has taught me anything, it's that someone will inevitably fuck up, and the first thing they will do is start looking for someone to toss under the bus.
And goddamned if it's going to be me.
Fuck Autodesk, Fuck Revit, and Fuck Reviteers. Eat a bag of dicks!
Sincerely,
SKuLLFuCK
Next Time:More Typical Bullshit
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