April has been a big month.

Just before sunrise during my vacation.

Even if you’ve never worked with an Architect before I feel like there’s a good chance that you’ve heard the term “CAD” in reference to drawing on a computer. The abbreviation has been around a long time sort of a catchall term for computer drawing in the way that we all know what a “zoom meeting” is even if we’ve never used the actual software called Zoom before (I’m still amazed at how quickly it became a verb in 2020 and even more amazed that it is celebrating it’s 14th year of existence!). CAD can refer to a broad swath of software packages the most well known being Autodesk AutoCAD which became the industry standard in the 80s and 90s only to be replaced by Autodesk Revit in the first two decades of this century. Revit draws in three-dimensions rather than two and earlier in my career I got excited by the possibilities the software promised and became a big advocate for both in a firm I was working for (where I became the Head of Revit Operations and trained a lot of the staff in it’s use) and by leading the Revit Users Group at the Boston Society of Architects. I’ve used the tool on a near daily basis for 15 years now, I’ve made presentations about its use in for coworkers, builders, college students and very, very skeptical firm owners who weren’t sure about expense and return on the investment. I’ve used the tool in all aspects of projects, I’ve installed it, updated it, troubleshooted it, written standards and procedures for it’s use, but there is one thing that I’ve never done with it before - actually purchased it.

That changed this month when my borrowed license came to the end of its cycle and I had to make what was the single purchase of my young companies life: a 1-year subscription that covers Revit and some of the other Autodesk tools that I use. It was a big deal and I think worth remarking on how odd it was that I’ve never actually been in this part of the process before, I’ve advised about it, but the actual purchase has been done by firm ownership or administration (of course now I’m both!). I’m glad to have it done, makes the business feel more real.

I followed that big expenditure up with an even bigger one on tax day, which was a whole other experience - one that I’m glad is behind me. My first vacation conveniently fell a few days later and was a much needed rest, but the month was doesn’t with me yet.

After Revit my second most used software is probably a tie between Microsoft Outlook and Bluebeam Revu. Outlook isn’t a big cost and is included in a bundle with a bunch of other stuff I use but Bluebeam came due at the same time as my Autodesk license and is a higher cost than Office 365. In a digital age what we think of as “blueprints” are actually PDF files because they’re portable and basically uneditable and Bluebeam is the best software that I’ve found for making and interacting with those files. Just today, a random Wednesday, I’ve made well over 100 individual pages of PDFs for communicating with clients and the builder of an active project - and I wouldn’t regard today as out of the ordinary. Regardless, I had to extricate my email address from the account I had been using with Bluebeam which took many inquiries to their helpline and the dogged work of a very helpful customer support agent, but it got done and I’m glad to be sailing into May without having to deal with those issues for another year.