Tried manual drafting vs digital for a basement remodel and digital won by a mile

Honestly, I've been a pencil-and-paper drafter for almost 12 years now. Always felt like digital was too finicky for residential work. But last month I had a basement remodel with weird angles and plumbing runs that took me 3 tries on paper to get right. Switched over to a free CAD program and finished the whole set in one afternoon with zero eraser marks. Has anyone else made the switch later in their career and regretted not doing it sooner?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_fiona3d ago

Right? "Took me 3 tries on paper" is basically my entire life before I switched. I did a kitchen remodel with this weird bumped out wall, and I swear I redrew the elevation like five times trying to get the cabinets to line up. Finally loaded up a basic free CAD app, and it snapped everything into place in under an hour. I was mad at myself for not doing it sooner, honestly. That afternoon I deleted like half my drafting table clutter.

troy_owens3d ago

Made me feel real stupid when a free app fixed my mess in minutes.