[kl0an]

I've been running my own architectural plan business for about 5 years now. I use a Not For Resale version of Autocad 2010 still to this day that has AutoCad, Revit, AutoCad Architecture, and Revit Architecture. Got it when I worked for a reseller many moons ago and it still make me good money.

Just wondering if there's anyone else doing this type of work and more importantly, what state you're in and what are the requirements for drawing floorplans for permitting purposes?

Here in the Pacific NorthWet, the only stamp required is for Structural Design, rafters, floor joists etc. that you can get from your lumber supplier as part of the cost for the lumber you're going to use.

I'd like to know what other states are this lenient as one of these days, I'd LOVE to get the hell away from all the Liberals in Portland that spend tax dollars on absolutely useless projects..

I've thought about creating my own website but, advertising on Craigslist under Services for $5 a month keeps me busier than a 3 legged cat coverin up crap onna tile floor as it is.

 

[Ghost863]

I've been running my own architectural plan business for about 5 years now. I use a Not For Resale version of Autocad 2010 still to this day that has AutoCad, Revit, AutoCad Architecture, and Revit Architecture. Got it when I worked for a reseller many moons ago and it still make me good money.

Just wondering if there's anyone else doing this type of work and more importantly, what state you're in and what are the requirements for drawing floorplans for permitting purposes?

Here in the Pacific NorthWet, the only stamp required is for Structural Design, rafters, floor joists etc. that you can get from your lumber supplier as part of the cost for the lumber you're going to use.

I'd like to know what other states are this lenient as one of these days, I'd LOVE to get the hell away from all the Liberals in Portland that spend tax dollars on absolutely useless projects..

I've thought about creating my own website but, advertising on Craigslist under Services for $5 a month keeps me busier than a 3 legged cat coverin up crap onna tile floor as it is.

I use but not for structural engineering. I use it for machining. I draw up my plan and then convert it over to a CAM software to write complicated G-Code for CNC Programming. I usually have to look through Hundreds of thousands of lines of code to make sure everything is up to par before I even put it on a CNC Machine to do a dry run.

 

[ManyFeathers]

I converted over to Revit some years ago, I also use Bluebeam Revu

Anything for public use has to be stamped by a PE, I would highly suggest that anyway because he then assumes the liability. The cost really isn't that high, especially when you look at the overall project and what could go wrong

I'm on the mechanical side, not too familiar with the structural or architectural side of things but there are lots of PE's here. State of Texas is pretty stringent as far as following local, federal codes and even international codes

You can design it, then send it out for the stamp, provided it meets his approval

 

[Sky1950]

I'm a Civil. Using ACAD primarily for Hydraulic and Hydrology on small commercial (storm sewer, Sanitary and water associated with the structure). Here in the Houston area, anything over two stories require a structural egr seal, your foundations all have to be sealed. The Arch. have to seal. The county here has lost it's mind since Jan 2019 (final reaction to Hurricane Harvey), so much so, I am refusing anymore work in Harris County, permanently.

In short, yep. big cities are big cities no matter where they are. Politics get into development everywhere. It's their game and they set the rules, but I can decide whether I want to play. I retired back when I was 58 for 2 years, got bored and started working again. Well it's not fun anymore, when your work isn't fun and you don't need the money, it's time to check out. All the Arch. and Egrs down here are P.O.ed and frustrated

To recap, your need your A.I.A. stamp for your Arch Dwgs and a few of P.E. types.
A Mech P.E. MEP for your mech/elec/plumbing/HVAC,
Civil P.E.s for 1) your site drainage, sanitary and water, 2) a foundation egr for the slab, 3) A geotech egr for the soils report, 4) possibly struct P.E. if you go higher than 2 stories

We went from 4 review cycles to get approved for permit taking 3-6 months to now I am getting 7 reviews to get a permit in 9-15 months last year, due to sloppy incomplete reviewing. They mark up their comments, I get the redlines back and make corrections, resubmit, then they find NEW things to redline. Rinse and repeat up to 5-8 times

Now out in the non urban areas of Texas, they are not as bad, but you have to have your A.I.A. stamp and a couple of good P.E.s to get project going pretty much anywhere.

 

[charliemeyer007]

I took AutoCad as a elective, one of the first ChE's to take it back in the 90's. I would really like to learn cad/cam stuff - I'd love to have a small 5 axis mill that could do steel.

Maybe if I can make any money brass casting with a plastic 3d printer, I can buy some new toys.

 

[PaulKersey]

SolidWorks for me.

 

[Iamfarticus]

I'm retiring this year and would like to get a copy of regular Auto Cad for home use. I see I can get a licensed copy for around $1600 a year. I could live with a bootleg (older) version and use it on a PC not hooked up to the internets. Any better alternatives? I'm using this for designing parts and tooling. One guy I know with a shop has something called Bob CAD... really quite cumbersome to use.

 

[Iamfarticus]

Hmmmm....

https://cadshop2020.pro/browse/search/?q=autocad

 

[Sky1950]

Hmmmm....

https://cadshop2020.pro/browse/search/?q=autocad

thanks for that link. I bought my acad for $7K years ago and now if my computer craps out they want 250/mo? screw them.

It is like hand calculators, They may have 105 functions, but you only ever have use for 20. ACAD 2013 works for me just fine. IF I ever need it again (doubtful), I'll buy the 2013 version for $300

 

[Iamfarticus]

Years back (1994 or so) we had a bootleg Windows 3.1 version, came on 3 or 4 discs. It was GREAT, but didn't do 3D which was fine for what I was doing with it. We ran out of PCs we could load it on and who knows where the discs went.

So an older version in the link I found would be perfect for many of us.

 

[Loves_Chickens]

I have an autodesk construction suite subscription I get through work. I have everything installed at the office, my site office and home. Most of the side work I do is for some steel fabricators, shop drawings of stairs, fire escapes and platforms. I usually use Revit, but sometimes I'll use autocad if it's a complex job that will require a lot of adjustment.

If you're getting the work load to pay for a legit autocad license I'd just do it. Having the most current version and knowing it's going to work beats trying to find a cracked copy from a decade ago.

 

[Sprig]

...I use a Not For Resale version of Autocad 2010 still to this day that has AutoCad, Revit, AutoCad Architecture, and Revit Architecture. Got it when I worked for a reseller many moons ago and it still make me good money.

I suggest you take a look at FreeCAD.
1)The GUI totally sucks, and you will absolutely hate the learning curve; you have been warned.

2)FreeCAD may not work "out of the box" for architecture. However, it has several additional Workbenches that can be added to it that add task specific features. You will need to find a Workbench with the tools that allow you to accomplish the same end results.

3)The GUI is among the worst that I have ever used.

Good Open Source software is getting better and better every day.

The software, files, and file formats are yours to keep for as long as you like.

With the research that I have done, the learning curve of the GUI is FreeCADs Achilles Heel. There are videos on The University of YouTube showing designs being created with FreeCAD versus the same designs done in other pay-to-play software.

And, I get it. There will be a significant investment in personal effort and time learning any advanced CAD program. It would really suck, worse than the stupid GUI, to learn a CAD program only to have it become something that ends up being discard for yet another CAD program in the future... to have to yet once again learn how to do same tasks another different way.

 

[Jackpine1]

I use Rhino 5.0 (haven't upgrade to 6). It's the Airedale Terrier of CAD programs, not stellar at anything but pretty much can do anything. And it's reasonable.
https://novedge.com/products/2217?_pos=13&_sid=b0727850c&_ss=r

 

[kl0an]

I was an AutoDesk Application Engineer for 2 different resellers many moons ago and AutoDesk required me to go to their annual training seminars to learn about the latest release that was coming out. They also gave us Not For Resale versions. I still have my Revit Architecture Suite that has Revit Arch, AutoCad, and AutoCad Arch all in the box. I still use it to this day. It's version 2010 which is one of the years that all the newer versions write back to.

Here's their trick. AutoDesk changes the drawing format every 3 years to allow for changes they've been making for three years to work with the drawing format.

That's the main reason they have Save as 2007, 2010, 2013, etc..

I've never paid anything for mine and it's still working great to this day. I have a ton of lisp routines as well as a ton of lisp commands I put in my acad.lsp file that load up every time I start the software.


One other thing I figured how to use is a Leica distance measurer laser that has bluetooth that's compatible with my bluetooth on my tablet (which is running AutoCad Mobile) $50 a year, and I can take measurements with my Leica and it will make a line of that measurement on my tablet screen. It's a lot harder than it sounds but, I can hold those two things in my hand and walk around taking shots and as-built a house in less than 30 minutes..
If you want to know more, drop me a line.

 

[Ghost863]

I was an AutoDesk Application Engineer for 2 different resellers many moons ago and AutoDesk required me to go to their annual training seminars to learn about the latest release that was coming out. They also gave us Not For Resale versions. I still have my Revit Architecture Suite that has Revit Arch, AutoCad, and AutoCad Arch all in the box. I still use it to this day. It's version 2010 which is one of the years that all the newer versions write back to.

Here's their trick. AutoDesk changes the drawing format every 3 years to allow for changes they've been making for three years to work with the drawing format.

That's the main reason they have Save as 2007, 2010, 2013, etc..

I've never paid anything for mine and it's still working great to this day. I have a ton of lisp routines as well as a ton of lisp commands I put in my acad.lsp file that load up every time I start the software.


One other thing I figured how to use is a Leica distance measurer laser that has bluetooth that's compatible with my bluetooth on my tablet (which is running AutoCad Mobile) $50 a year, and I can take measurements with my Leica and it will make a line of that measurement on my tablet screen. It's a lot harder than it sounds but, I can hold those two things in my hand and walk around taking shots and as-built a house in less than 30 minutes..
If you want to know more, drop me a line.

I bought a book called "Up and Running with AutoCad 2012 so I went online and got the student version of it and have not installed it yet because I haven't picked up the book yet. Right now I am learning CNC Programming and thought I would learn AutoCad next. So I may be Pm'ing you soon

 

[Iamfarticus]

I learned Autocad in college possibly as far back as 1992, the old blue screen maybe version 7 with no icons yet. I still have a manual for version 12 that is useless.

I hadn't used it in years since college, then my CAD system (Applicon BRAVO) at work crashed and they refused to re-load it since it was unsupported and the license expired.

Great, what else ya got? I believe it was Autocad 2006 and they loaded it for me. It initially took me an hour to figure out how to draw a simple line. No manual, nothin'. AND there was a conversion between the old CAD system and the new one... but nobody wanted to help convert our existing files over.

I quickly became as fast with it as I was with BRAVO.

 

[jfountain2]

I'm currently using AutoCAD 2017 (work paid subscription, not me) and first started with autoCAD in college with release 4. I have used Maya, 3D Viz, Revit, Acad arch suite... and a few others. I don't do any outside work or contract work but had a few friends that did. Not really sure where they came up with the jobs. My work is mainly designing buildings for retail use for the company I work for and involves all 50 states.

 

[justin22885]

I stopped using 2D CAD years ago and use 3D CAD / solid modeling for engineering projects. Autodesk Inventor at first, but now Fusion.

 

[maxton2367]

3D CAD for structuring, modeling and designing the different projects is best ever.

As I'm performing for textile designing gives me a lot.

 

[jetgraphics]

I'm a Civil. Using ACAD primarily for Hydraulic and Hydrology on small commercial (storm sewer, Sanitary and water associated with the structure). Here in the Houston area, anything over two stories require a structural egr seal, your foundations all have to be sealed. The Arch. have to seal. The county here has lost it's mind since Jan 2019 (final reaction to Hurricane Harvey), so much so, I am refusing anymore work in Harris County, permanently.

In short, yep. big cities are big cities no matter where they are. Politics get into development everywhere. It's their game and they set the rules, but I can decide whether I want to play. I retired back when I was 58 for 2 years, got bored and started working again. Well it's not fun anymore, when your work isn't fun and you don't need the money, it's time to check out. All the Arch. and Egrs down here are P.O.ed and frustrated

To recap, your need your A.I.A. stamp for your Arch Dwgs and a few of P.E. types.
A Mech P.E. MEP for your mech/elec/plumbing/HVAC,
Civil P.E.s for 1) your site drainage, sanitary and water, 2) a foundation egr for the slab, 3) A geotech egr for the soils report, 4) possibly struct P.E. if you go higher than 2 stories

We went from 4 review cycles to get approved for permit taking 3-6 months to now I am getting 7 reviews to get a permit in 9-15 months last year, due to sloppy incomplete reviewing. They mark up their comments, I get the redlines back and make corrections, resubmit, then they find NEW things to redline. Rinse and repeat up to 5-8 times

Now out in the non urban areas of Texas, they are not as bad, but you have to have your A.I.A. stamp and a couple of good P.E.s to get project going pretty much anywhere.

Sure bet - no one has bothered to READ the specific law / statute that imposes the requirement to abide by the code.
Everytime I checked, the law was perforated with trap doors and exclusions so it never really applied to the free people - just the gubmint and its "consenting" subjects.