I finally admitted hand drafting was faster than CAD for small projects

Been working as a drafter for about 8 years now, mostly residential stuff. A couple months ago I took on a small bathroom remodel, maybe 10 sheets total. I fired up AutoCAD like always, spent 2 hours fighting with layer setups and dimension styles. My old coworker Pete stopped by, looked at my screen, and said why don't you just sketch it out. I laughed at first but after 4 hours of CAD I was only halfway done. Grabbed a pencil and scale, knocked out the rest in 90 minutes. Has anyone else run into jobs where the old way actually wins?

2 comments

2 Comments

beth_green9d ago

Oh man, I've been there. Same thing happened to me on a tiny addition, pencil and vellum just clicked way faster than fighting with all the CAD settings.

lilymurphy9d ago

Beth, you totally get it! That exact thing happened to me last summer on a little garage bump-out. I spent an hour fighting with layers and paper space, then just grabbed a mechanical pencil and it was done in 20 minutes. There's something about the physical feel of the pencil on vellum that just makes the design flow better (even if I can't explain why). I swear my hand and brain connect faster without a screen in the way.