PSA: I chose manual dimensioning over auto-annotation on a 200-sheet hospital project

The project lead wanted everything automated in Revit to save hours, but I insisted on placing key dimensions by hand for clarity. We finished the structural set two days late, but the contractor in Phoenix called the drawings 'the cleanest he's seen in years' and had zero RFIs on our sheets. Did we waste time, or is that manual touch still worth it on complex jobs?

3 comments

3 Comments

walker.jana1mo ago

That's a solid win for the contractor to say that. How did you decide which dimensions were the "key" ones that needed the manual touch versus the ones that could be automated?

noahjenkins1mo ago

We just asked which parts made us want to cry the most.

wesley13927d ago

That part about "we just asked which parts made us want to cry the most" really stuck with me. I actually just read something about how some crews on these shows have these quiet moments where they realize how much work went into something nobody will ever see, like the framing behind a wall or the way they waterproofed a shower. That feels like the kind of stuff that would make you tear up if you were the one who did it, you know? It's wild how the emotional weight of a build comes from those hidden details nobody else notices, not just the big reveal shots.