Friday, August 26, 2011

Using SketchUp For New Homes and Remodeling

The new age of new or remodeled home improvement helps us to take advantage of the latest software which helps us to create our new living area. With some designing software like Google SketchUp, the designers actually have to build the house just as a construction crew would have to. You start by building the foundation, frame, the floors and walls. Add the roof, add windows and doors, siding, shingles, and paint it. Then do the same for the entire interior, add drywall, insulation, doors, cabinets, fixtures, flooring, trim, furniture and decorations. As you can see by building in the same order as the real life builders it is possible to pre determine almost all the possibilities of the finished product. With this information I cannot see why anyone would not have their plans for home improvements modeled in 3d at an absolute minimum. The benefits are clear from just that brief overview of the steps involved to use a cad system to set up a 3d model.

Even though it may seem an added and unnecessary expense to pay to have someone put your plan into 3d, it makes things easier for everyone involved. For starters it puts all the plans into an electronic format which makes it so much easier to view the plans from practically any where. All you need is a computer and you can set up a meeting between all the people involved in your project once you have a computer setup it's possible to have a meeting of all the parties involved the builder, the architect, and the customer. Now that you have all of your plans moved to a computer file you can instantly make change orders anytime you want. Once on the computer it's easy to change the plan and confirm the changes simply by calling the designer and asking for them to be applied to the set-up and 3d model for your viewing. Each and every time that you want a change in plans it's as simple as making a few phone calls and the designer a few mouse clicks. Not only does this save time, money and effort and it also reduces the anxiety of what the change will look like in real time.

When talking about the cost to have a plan modeled in 3D we need to look at all of the things involved. Today usually when you're doing your own home improvement project the cost can easily run from tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars all for a very basic remodel and new homes can cost in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. With such a large investment why wouldn't you want to develop a 3D model that you can check beforehand to see in real time what you're paying for. It seems like a huge expense but to pay a thousand dollars or more for a three D. model is well worth every penny for just the ease of use and having fewer questions down the road. Also it would be so much more helpful to the building inspectors if they could use an electronic format for checking all of their plans because it would make it easier for them to actually see what you're thinking of for your project. It would cut down on all of the paperwork that is involved and going from department to department when you're getting a building permit. I'm sure in the modern age most of the new inspectors probably already has a computer at their desk and would not mind all the modern day conveniences of having 3D modeling and plans in electronic formats. In these days of green, think of all the efficiency of doing plans computer to computer without all of the wasted paper and trees saved. Also all the driving mileage saved if you are building a house or doing the renovation on your vacation home that was hundreds of miles away and you could do all of this just by clicking a mouse, change the plan, look at the elevations and 3D model all without having to leave your own home or your area. Plus the modern software systems have highly accurate material list generators so you can tell exactly what you need, how much you need and some can even narrow down even further by a showing the builder exactly which pieces to cut and where to cut them eliminating it down to virtually nothing. Even though that is just a dream to have zero waste still, less is better.

Now that we're convinced that 3D modeling online is the way to go. Let's talk about some other building practices that really help the modern builder and help all of us save energy for our future. The big buzzword today is Green Building and anyone can be a green builder it just takes a little thought to score your system and say how green of a builder you are. Today by default just getting a building permit for a new house is going to make you a passive green builder. Also anything you can do to increase energy efficiency is one category of green construction. There are lots of ways to build green, one of the best ways is to orient your home layout for natural sunlight to heat and cool your house, and this makes a lot of sense especially in the northern climates where you need sun for heat in the winter and shade for cooling the summer. Plus using energy efficient windows and really help increase the efficiency by bending of sun's rays to help facilitate the same objectives. Another way is using windmills today which are becoming much quieter and smaller, you can get a small windmill that would produce approximately 1/3 of the power needs for an entire year for a reasonable price today and with tax credits you can save even more money and make an investment that will pay off in a relatively few years

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