Hit a deadline 2 hours early with a simple template tweak

I've been drafting floor plans for a small retail build-out in Denver and kept getting bogged down on the electrical layer. Last night I made a custom layer set with all my common receptacle symbols pre-loaded and aligned to a 4-foot grid. Cut my drafting time on that sheet from 4 hours to maybe 2.5. Has anyone else found a layer trick that saved them serious time on a tight deadline?

2 comments

2 Comments

brookebailey5d ago

I honestly used to think templates and pre-sets were more trouble than they were worth, but this changed my mind after trying a similar thing on a residential project last month. I set up a custom layer with all my standard door and window symbols snapped to a 2-foot grid, and it cut my drafting time by nearly an hour on the first floor alone. It's amazing how much time those little tweaks save when you're up against a tight deadline.

anna_green485d ago

It's funny how that works, isn't it... you fight the setup time but once it's done it pays off over and over. @brookebailey I've noticed the same kind of thing with my own projects at home. I spent a whole Sunday organizing my garage shelves with bins and labels, and now I save 10 minutes every time I need a tool instead of digging through piles. It's like that with a lot of stuff. We're so focused on the finish line we skip the prep that makes the whole race faster.