Architect Patrick Strackx, who works in Zutendaal, Belgium, told us his thoughts on computer aided design and shared with us the experiences he has had while working with ArchiTECH.PC.
You are an architect who works on the computer. How did your relationship with computers begin?I began using
ArchiTECH.PC in October of 1992. I wanted to automate the drawing process. I can tell you that it was very beneficial. Since then I can offer better service, and in addition, thanks to the time saved, my investment has completely paid for itself.
What do you mean by "paid for itself"?A simple calculation will make everything clear. Let’s take an architect who designs approximately 12 family homes in a year, which means about one project a month. When I drew these by hand, it took about a week to produce a plan like this.
Using
ArchiTECH.PC, I am finished in half the time. Taking a 40-hour work week as the basis - which is, incidentally, a huge underestimate - that comes out to a savings of 20 hours per project. 20 hours a month times an hourly rate of 1000 BEF
(approx. $32) comes out to a profit of 20000 BEF
(approx. $640) monthly, or 240000 BEF
(approx. $7680) annually.
From another angle, my investment was relatively modest. I am a young architect. I finished my studies only eight years ago and from a financial point of view,
ArchiTECH.PC was completely attainable for me.
I think my investment in the computer and the design software returned in less than a year, and after a year it brought in real profit even with half as much use.
When calculating this, did you also take into account the learning period?Of course. In the period following the purchase I was still a long way from budgeting my work time well. Even so, even in the learning period I worked on actual projects and from the very first plans I was able to enjoy the advantages of computer aided design.
Thanks to the automation of certain tasks, I was able to provide optimum work quality, meaning plans that are more precise, detailed, and immediately resolved. Most of the tasks for the plans could be quickly transferred to the computer : detail plans, interiors...
In addition to this - because you have to see that in our culture, visual communication is gaining more and more ground and receiving more and more emphasis - I can make visual plans and photorealistic pictures, as well. Of course, it requires special attention to make truly good, quality photorealistic pictures. But the result is well worth the effort. It’s possible to create animation and photo-like pictures, in which you can work with water effects, or reflecting surfaces and lettering...
Aside form the obviously advantageous financial considerations, is there another reason you use a CAD system?In my opinion, there are many other advantages that should not be overlooked, but these are advantages whose financial aspects would be difficult to estimate. In general, they relate to the things I have already discussed. Here I am thinking of greater professionalism in my architectural office, better presentation of my projects, plans that are more easily understood, more precise, and supported by perspective pictures, the speed at which I can respond in the event that modifications are needed...
I provide more precise work while doing less work, because the risk of error is quite low. Saved time is seen primarily during adaptation or modification of larger projects. There is no way I could return to my drawing pen, because that would mean nothing but depriving myself of the comfort of use the CAD system provides me.
What feedback have you received from your customers ?My customers are perfectly satisfied with the quality of my service and the speed with which I carry it out. The color pictures of their plans always have a big impact on them. I am convinced that it not only help me by allowing me to express my ideas more clearly and make them understandable to others, but also makes it possible for me to win new customers who would like to know in advance what their house will look like in real life.
I heard that a users’ club has been started up in your area...That’s right. I started the first
ArchiTECH.PC users’ club in Limbourg. The aim was to create a club of users, for users, that is close to everyday reality. There was a good number of us for the first few meetings, and now nearly all the users in Limbourg have registered for the club. It seems that everyone finds something of interest : questions and answers, advice, tricks, swapping user tricks, searching for a solution to a special problem, continuous software and hardware information, and of course, the enjoyment of finding colleagues who share our enthusiasm. Sharing our experiences is an advantage to all of us. Additionally, we compile all our thoughts and comments in relation to development of
ArchiTECH.PC through the club, and we forward these to the distributor SoftCAD. We were pleasantly surprised when a new version of
ArchiTECH.PC was released and we found in it 99% of our development recommendations.
What advice would you give those colleagues who are still hesitant in regard to design using the computer?I can understand if some architects have reservations regarding the computer. I had similar fears. But perhaps I had the advantage as a young architect of having more time to devote to learning the program. I don’t regret that I had the courage to accept the challenge. You mustn’t regard CAD systems as an unnecessary expenditure or a bad investment. There certainly are programs that allow us to successfully change over to the computer and which are secure investments.