Industry Insights: Design, Construction, Estimating Archives - PlusSpec

Residential builders learn to use CAD software for construction

Why small residential home builders are learning 3D CAD software. With material prices at an all-time high and a shortage of quality tradespeople, smaller builders are finding benefits in 3D construction software. Many builders are implementing 3D CAD software that enables them to walk clients through their home and demonstrate what they’ll deliver and how […]


Actual vs Nominal: Why it’s so important

We thought it was about time that we followed up from our recent blog on 'Are You Dimensioning Floor Plans Correctly?' If you haven't read it yet, no problem! You can read this post without having to read the other blog first. But, we would love for you to check out our Dimensioning blog post [...]


MEP for residential construction: Why it costs so much in time, money & waste

If you've listened to Episode 2 of our Architects are from Mars Builders are from Venus Podcast, then you would have heard Ross Beattie (a builder with over 20 years in the construction industry) say "You don’t want air-conditioning shafts coming through your trusses/rafters,  and we’ve all seen that. It’s hard for a tradesman to [...]


Are You Dimensioning Floor Plans Correctly?

Dimensioning a set of plans seems simple, right? Wrong. Dimensioning is way more complex than what most people think, and there is still a lot of confusion and error that continues to be made by the Design and Construction Industry. In this blog post, we're going to discuss the most common mistakes made when dimensioning [...]


I’m an Architect, Not a Salesperson!

If you own an Architectural or Design practice and you think that you are not a salesperson, then you are costing your business more than you know! Many of you are probably cringing right now. Let's face it, salespeople often get a bad wrap. That's why most of us don't like being labelled as one. But, like [...]


Introducing the RubySketch 2018 Webcasts

In 2017 we launched a weekly webinar series, and we were blown away by its popularity! These webinars were simply our way of providing even more free training resources to help you get good fast - or to simply discover PlusSpec (and all of its benefits) before making the switch. These sessions were 100% live, [...]


Are You Marketing Your Work The Right Way?

Architects, Designers and Builders need to show off their work. It's without doubt the most effective way to market your business and generate new leads. However, are you marketing your work in the right way? Because there is a wrong way, and it does way more harm than you think! It goes without saying that your [...]


3D Virtual Design & Construction Models can save lives!

How often does site safety fall to the wayside? 2.3 million workers die every year by work related injury at a staggering cost of $3 trillion, according to the International Labour Organisation (ILO). Is part of the problem that site safety is traditionally just another report of endless (meaningless) paper?  We can't tell you how many [...]


What is a Seamless Texture (Tileable Texture)?

By now, you've probably heard of a Seamless Texture. However, seamless textures can also be referred to as Tileable textures, 3D textures, Texture fills, Material Textures, and so on. To keep it simple, we'll stick to using the term 'Seamless Texture'. But what exactly is a Seamless Texture? To put it simply, a seamless texture [...]


Understanding LOD (Level of Detail) for Design and Construction

LOD (Level of Detail) is the term used to describe how much information a drawing or model contains. Simply put, it is how you choose to show the construction details and materials of a project. When we were designing and drawing with pen and paper only, there was never really an issue with LOD. However, [...]