Materials List Revisited

[keithhe]

Ed,

I agree. I have tried and for the most part abandoned the materials list because of all the odd results. Got to where I really didn't trust it. In addtion to what you suggest, having the ability to customize the list for units, for example. Instead of square feet/meters of a material, perhaps tell it to calculate sheets or squares. Yes, I know that I could do this in Excel, but would be nice to customize what and how it displays.

[lbuttery]

Ed:

there are some chiefers who use the material list
but they have to manual manipulation to achieve the desired results

many find this too tedious and prone to error (the trust factor)

even CA states that the material list is only as good as the model

each "workaround" has an impact on the usefulness of the material list

Lew

[Ed_Downunder]

Hi Keithhe,

Thanks for the reply,

I have been working on a excel spreadsheet to manage the exported materials list and reassign the elements into a logical report . Its a spreadsheet we currently use. As I was developing and struggling with the VBA to make it work It occurred to me that I was trying to reinvent the wheel. It also occurred to me that If Chief sorted out this problem we would not export to excel until we were at a stage where our client had committed to the project. That is why I have started this conversation. How many people have abandoned the materials list and how many would like it to function correctly.

With your suggestion it is a natural result. Sheets are sizes not just area. As an example of abandonment I know there is reporting for wall-board but I could find no reason to look past the foundation. Until that works for me there is little value in working out all the idiosyncrasies of the materials list. Material can be defined as sheets but I have not checked how they report to the materials list. Hopefully more will respond to this conversation and we can all learn a little more.

[Ed_Downunder]

Lew,

Thank you for the reply. The promo video Chief uses to sell the product features and highlight the materials list. It's really worth having a look. When Chief say that the materials list is limited that is not good enough. The whole program is limited. That is it has limits, it also has function and usefulness. The limit that is implied by Chief renders the materials list as non-functional . So it gets abandoned and we search for a work around. This conversation is not intended to revisited the frustration but to gauge feeling.

All post are read and important issues feed into their database. this is an important issue for me. If this conversation is interesting to others and they report for example that they to have abandoned the materials list but would like to see it function correctly that is the value. If this conversation dies through lack of interest, well I guess that demonstrates the level of feeling.