Unpopular opinion: hand drafting is faster than CAD for small jobs

I was down at a little print shop in Portland last week, watching this older guy knock out a set of floor plans on vellum with a pencil and a scale ruler. He was done in like 25 minutes flat. Meanwhile I spent an hour fighting with my CAD software just to get the layers right and snap my lines. I get that CAD is king for revisions and big projects, but for quick sketches or site measurements, I think hand drafting has a real edge. No booting up, no crashes, no updates. But my buddy says I'm crazy and that modern software pays off in the long run. What's your take for small residential work where you only need a few sheets for a permit?

3 comments

3 Comments

ruby4501mo ago

And that old guy never had to sit through a fifteen minute software update either, dead serious.

finleyw991mo ago

Time myself on updates now, @ruby450, feels like a whole shift.

danielw8817d ago

Wow ok you're totally right, I used to be all "just wait for updates" but now I swear they take half my afternoon too. @finleyw99 timing yourself is smart honestly cause it makes you realize how much time these things actually eat up. I used to think people complaining about updates were just impatient but yeah, fifteen minutes is ridiculous for something that should be quick.