Wow, where does the time go? I swear that yesterday it was February and there were two feet of snow on the ground. Time to tackle some spring cleaning around the practical office! Every year at this time we take stock of our software needs and try to budget out what our hardware purchases for the year will be [I think this will be the year that we finally commit to using dual monitors on our workstations. Yay!]. I’ve had several conversations with others recently about the computer hardware and software we use in our small office, so i figured I’d share.
Computers: Currently, we are running a PC office. Our workstations are Precision 390’s with 19″ LCD displays, running Windows XP. Our file server is a Poweredge 800 running Red hat Enterprise Linux 5. We have had this configuration for several years and it seems to be working well for us and for our computing needs. XP, you say? Not Windows 7? Yup. We do have some legacy hardware (mostly printer) issues that are not supported under Windows 7, so for now XP is just fine. We will most likely upgrade OS’s as we replace our workstations in the next few years.
Printers: Our main plotter is an HP DesignJet 1050c, and we have an old HP DesignJet 750c as a backup, just in case. Both are 36″ spool fed. The last time I was going to get rid of the 750c (which still works like a champ), the big plotter decided it needed a prolonged vacation. I’m glad I kept it. For smaller printing we have two 11×17 printers, an HP 1220c and a Canon BJC-4550. Both of these are legacy units but for dependability and output I haven’t been able to part with them.
I also have an HP Laserjet 1020 printer and our Canon copier is networked as a laser printer. The latter also does 11×17. For a paperless office we sure can produce our share of recycling.
Software: For everyday 2D drafting and design we use AutoDesk’s AutoCAD Architecture. When I first started in solo practice, I used DataCAD as it had a much lower price point for entry into the CAD market. From there I jumped back into Autocad Architectural Desktop and have stayed there ever since. I’ve been in several discussions recently about the benefits of BIM (Building Information Modeling) and have seen several other offices switch over to REVIT, but I have yet to be convinced of the efficiencies of this for a small firm.We have been looking at other 2D drafting options (DoubleCad XT and AutoCAD LT for example) but are staying put for now.
For 3D modeling no other program comes close to Sketchup. I have been an avid user of this program since version 1.7. The ease of use and consistent output is a huge benefit to the small office. We do very little 3D in AutoCAD.
Throw in Podium as a rendering package and you can get presentation quality equaling some of the bigger offices.
For an office suite, we are still using MS Office (2003 and 2007) as it has proven to be cost effective and dependable. If cost is an issue for other firms, I would recommend checking out either Open Office (Free) or, if you’re into cloud computing, Google Docs (Free or Subscription).
Other programs we utilize on a regular basis are StruCalc for beam sizing and EnergyPlus / ResCheck for energy modeling.
Accounting is done using QuickBooks by Intuit; one of the best pieces of advice I got early on from my accountant was to set things up correctly from the beginning. It has made it much easier to go back and compare things historically. It can also be used to track time, although we have had mixed success with that feature.
I don’t know if this has been helpful in terms of giving a little insight into what we use, but I’d love to hear what other architects and small offices are using for their everyday workload.
The Practical Architect 