Does Chief X1 make your plumbing & electrical details?

[Curtis Johnson]

Gay:

My recommendation for you is to go to your local bookstore and get a couple of those fairly cheap "how-to-do" books on construction, electrical, plumbing etc. so that you can get a basic understanding of how the construction process works and how all the different systems are typically installed and function. Even after you do that, you will still need to make sure that anything you are putting on CD's (construction documents ... plans) will need to be compliant with your local building codes. If you don't know which electrical circuits are to be GFI protected or which plumbing drains are to be 2" vs. 1-1/2" etc., then what is the good in showing this type of information on the CD's?

In my area, many designers and architects don't do plumbing or mechanical designs or details in their CD's because the local codes don't require it, at least for residential work, which is all I do. Some do electrical designs like the one Allen Brown posted, but I frequently see those as more generic in nature and what actually gets installed can vary significantly depending on what customers decide when sitting down with their GC (General Contractor) and/or their Electrical Contractor and figuring out exactly what fixtures etc. they want to purchase and have installed in their new home. This often happens after the CD's are finished.

I will do generic electrical plans for my customers if they request me to ... otherwise I don't. On one project where the customer wanted their specific electrical plan included in the CD's, I provided them with a full scale (1/4" = 1') set of plans on which they penciled in all the switches, outlets, lights, fans, phone taps, tv taps etc. and then I put all that on the electrical plan for their project's CD's. My suggestion is to only do that which is required for your building department. Leave the electrical, plumbing and mechanical designs to the professionals who will be doing the work.

Lastly, if you don't have them, I recommend you get the training videos and go through them several times and practice as you learn. I still frequently go back and watch some of those as a refresher on how many of the tools function etc. Another good place to learn is from Chief Architect's Help Database Articles, which you can access from the home page of this forum. Don't forget that clicking F1 will get you into the manual where you can quickly look things up as needed.

Lots of luck to you as you learn and grow with CA.