Revit from a residential Builders point of view.
I am not a Revit user, however, I did purchase it in 2007, I am not a computer guru my job was to design & build homes. Being a builder, small or large is a veryy draining job as there is a lot to do, I'm not saying other jobs are not stressful as I have dipped my toe in many buckets of water, however, building in my opinion was/is the most stressful.
If you talk with any builder usually you will get short to the point answers, it is not because builders are obtuse it is more that builders have a lot to do. Knowing that builders have very little time and the are somewhat thrifty, the inclination to buy a high spec computer to run Revit, is just another overhead that does not produce more or ***** homes. Back when I paid $3500 for Revit I was happy to pay the money yet the time take to learn was excessive, nothing was set up and from hat I saw, it was not a plug and play program. I think the main reason most builders do not use Revit is because it does not work the way we actually build, so it is counter-intuitive and I really can not see that changing anytime soon. I can understand why a draftsperson or an architect is willing to spend the time to learn Revit as this is their primary focus and what they get paid for. In saying that it is okay for the draftsperson to create drawings that can be deciphered by a builder yet I see this as another cost to the builder, interpreting 2d plans is not for the faint-hearted. PlusSpec and Revit are like chalk and cheese. PlusSpec Virtually builds a home, the way we actually build onsite, I am talking Studs, trusses, joists, steel beams. Revit is basically hollow lines with information and calculations that hypothesise the output.
I have to be honest,
the output of Revit and the time and money it took away from my construction business was excessive, everything was a battle when it comes to customisation EG. new families, ***** quality textures, drop edge beams in concrete, software upgrades and no back saving, lag due to too much information, communicating in 3D with customers and subcontractors. Obviously, I must have been frustrated because I spent years building PlusSpec, yet I continued to build houses whilst I I did it, it allowed me to test to program in real time on real customers and real jobs, basically it allowed me to replicate what happens in the field. I did not originally build PlusSpec to sell, I built PlusSpec to increase efficiency in my design construction company, the only reason it went public is because my construction company went from strength to strength, profit was up 15% and I was knocking back work if it was outside of a 15-minute drive from my office. I had no intention of becoming a huge volume builder, 6 jobs a year more than paid the bills.
So to answer your question:
For the money why not buy Revit.
1. Revit does not output quantities the way industry calculates or purchases products.
2. Revit is slow and harder to learn.
3. Revit requires expensive hardware, You can not duck down to the local KMart and expect the computer to run Revit... You can with PlusSpec
4. You can not back save a model to communicate with people who did not have the money to upgrade.
ARGGGHHHHH5. Revit does not draw studs, trusses, sure you can get a plugin but man that Plugin is slow! Who has the time to switch in and out of Revit to something it should already do? Not me.
6. Collaboration, integrated project delivery and communication in true 3D is impossible unless every party has a Revit license. Great marketing strategy for selling Revit, yet hardly practicable for industry.
7. PluSspec delivers more information in less time and when paired with Sketchup pro, the output quality of construction documentation is superior in many ways.
8. With Revit you need to be a seasoned pro to make special curves or special items, wouldn't it be great if Revit had Sketchup functionality inside of it? PlusSpec does and it will also quantify that with a few click.
9. Revit does not deal with buildability and feasibility of different methods of construction to achieve the same result and that's because Revit is drawing things that it does not know what is behind the hollow shell. PLusSpec draws more than empty hatched shells and it does it very efficiently.
I hope that helps clarify why PlusSpec over Revit for residential construction. Sure if you are building hospitals, skyscrapers, or airports, I believe you should use Revit because PlusSpec was not designed to do this work, however, I have seen some of our users do many things successfully that it was not designed to do.
Revit is not a competitor to PlusSpec and I do not believe that PlusSpec is a competitor of Revit. I have a healthy respect for some of the unbelievable Revit users that I know, I take my hat off to you.
by chrislag » Mon Nov 09, 2015 2:53 am 