Why does nobody talk about the clash between CAD standards and real world field measurements?

Had a talk with an old surveyor last week at a job site in Memphis. He told me my drawings look perfect on screen but they don't work when you try to lay them out in the field. He said I lean too hard on what looks clean in AutoCAD instead of accounting for how things actually get built. Made me wonder if we focus too much on precision and not enough on practicality. Which side do you guys lean more on on your jobs?

3 comments

3 Comments

miles_young593d ago

I've been hearing this argument for 20 years and it drives me nuts. Look at the structural steel industry - we have 1/16" tolerances in our connections but somehow expect concrete to be within 1/8" after it cures in the sun. Your old surveyor is right that perfect CAD doesn't always hit in the field, but that's because field guys sometimes ignore basic layout principles. If you set your control points right and check your math, 95% of these "clashes" disappear. The real problem is nobody wants to take the extra 20 minutes to triple check their field measurements before they start blaming the drawings.

tara7933d ago

Oh man, this totally reminds me of this one time I was helping my cousin build a deck in his backyard. Nothing to do with steel or concrete, but he spent like three hours marking out where the posts should go with a laser level and string lines, perfectly square and everything. Then his buddy shows up with a shovel and just starts digging holes like a foot off from where the marks were, saying "close enough, the wood will flex." And my cousin was just standing there with his survey stakes looking so defeated. I mean, maybe it's just me but it seems like some people in the field get this weird confidence that their eyeballs are more accurate than actual measurements. Like if you can't be bothered to double check your tape measure, at least own up to it instead of blaming the guy who drew the plans.

wendyprice3d ago

@tara793 your cousin's deck story sums up how field confidence often wins over careful planning.