I send this informative email about once a month, offering helpful hints and 
CAD news from a variety of sources.  
Richard's Rant - December, 2018
Happy New Year. I hope you all are off to a fantastic year.
 
My youngest son and I do Scouts, and I thoroughly enjoy the organization. We are in the thralls of the annual Pinewood Derby, and we hosted about 10 scouts last night to work on their cars in our garage. I enjoy woodworking, and I have a lot of the needed tools - band saw, scroll saw, etc. We did design, Dad's cut out their cars for the kids, and then the "boring" set in for the boys - sanding and more sanding.
 
I am surprised more and more at how impatient I have become, but more so, how a younger generation has become impatient. It was difficult to keep them on point and to dedicate the time to do it right. Some sanded their models only for a few minutes, and then exclaimed that they were done. We put them back on task and gave a few pointers. One even said, "This is taking forever. Why do we have to work so hard?" I told him what I have told all my kids: If it is worth doing, it is worth doing right.
 
My New Year's Resolution is: I will do my best to practice patience and take the time to do it right
 
 
-Richard

Quote of the Day

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."
 
- Lao Tzu


Tech Tip of the Month

Platform: Autodesk Revit

Issue: What exactly is a parameter?

Solution: Parameters are a bit of data you can add to items in Revit to give it more intelligence. Parameters can categorize items, add an R Value to a Window, and additional information for a tag. They fall into 3 general categories.
  1. Project Parameters - specific to a single project; these can be used to categorize Views for example.
  2. Family Parameters - these are for objects and generally control variable values of an object - width, height, glass value for window
  3. Shared Parameters - these are parameter definitions that are shared to a family or project. For example, if you want to schedule some items that are tagged, they must be a shared parameter

BuilderMT PlanServices™

The BuilderMT Plan Service™ team is doing well and growing. We can do drafting work in AutoCAD, AutoCAD Architecture, and Revit. We have been doing lot specifics for some builders and full Revit conversions for other builders. We have a micro-website on BuilderMT at http://buildermt.com/plans
 
Drop me an email, call, or fill in the website form if we can assist with plan generation, red lines, plan maintenance, lot specifics, rendering, or just general CAD work.


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US Dept of Housing Report

January 18, 2018
The U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development jointly announced the following new residential construction statistics for December 2017:
 
BUILDING PERMITS
Privately-owned housing units authorized by building permits in December were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,302,000. This is 0.1 percent (±1.4 percent)* below the revised November rate of 1,303,000, but is 2.8 percent (±1.9 percent) above the December 2016 rate of 1,266,000. Single-family authorizations in December were at a rate of 881,000; this is 1.8 percent (±1.2 percent) above the revised November figure of 865,000. Authorizations of units in buildings with five units or more were at a rate of 382,000 in December. An estimated 1,263,400 housing units were authorized by building permits in 2017. This is 4.7 percent (±0.6%) above the 2016 figure of 1,206,600.
 
HOUSING STARTS
Privately-owned housing starts in December were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,192,000. This is 8.2 percent (±7.7 percent) below the revised November estimate of 1,299,000 and is 6.0 percent (±11.7 percent)* below the December 2016 rate of 1,268,000. Single-family housing starts in December were at a rate of 836,000; this is 11.8 percent (±6.5 percent) below the revised November figure of 948,000. The December rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 352,000. An estimated 1,202,100 housing units were started in 2017. This is 2.4 percent (±2.3%) above the 2016 figure of 1,173,800.
 
HOUSING COMPLETIONS
Privately-owned housing completions in December were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,177,000. This is 2.2 percent (±17.8 percent)* above the revised November estimate of 1,152,000 and is 7.4 percent (±13.0 percent)* above the December 2016 rate of 1,096,000. Single-family housing completions in December were at a rate of 818,000; this is 4.3 percent (±20.5 percent)* above the revised November rate of 784,000. The December rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 346,000. An estimated 1,152,300 housing units were completed in 2017. This is 8.7 percent (±3.1%) above the 2016 figure of 1,059,700.

 

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