August, 2008

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Concrete Balusters and Railing

Revit OpEd

Several years ago, as part of a task I was given by a team at WATG , I created six concrete baluster families and mocked one of them up in a stair that I posted in a THREAD at AUGI. I thought I'd dig them up and post them so that others might either use them or reverse engineer how I built them. The balusters are comprised of a Generic Model Solid Revolve derived from the profiles available from CDI.

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The often unappreciated MINUS SQL query

Construction Dive

skip to main | skip to sidebar. Confessions of a Java Programmer. A guide on solving common programming problems using Java, Groovy, Grails, SQL, PL/SQL, Oracle, Spring, and other technologies. Saturday, August 23, 2008. The often unappreciated MINUS SQL query. There are times when you need to verify that a given record is associated with all of a given type of records.

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Welcome Enforcement

PSMJ Resources

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) recently required a local transit authority to return over $900,000 in federal grant funds that were used to pay an A/E firm for the design of a new facility. The Lackawanna County (NY) Transit Authority must return the full federal grant applied to the hiring of an A/E firm to perform design services for a proposed intermodal transportation center.

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Is Your Business Enhanced with Each Job?

Constructor Marketing that Works

'Oops, I did it again. (Apologies to Ms. Spears, perhaps the only one she’s gotten in awhile.) But I – well, “we” since my wife is an accomplice – bought another project. It’s an old, dilapidated, run-down house, exactly the condition we like. Seems to be a theme with me: “HEY LOOK! There’s a project where I’ll need contractors in my work life AND nonexistent spare time!

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Optimize Operational Processes With an Industry-Specific ERP

As the use of Enterprise Resource Planning systems in the construction industry is critical to optimizing operations, it's critical that decision makers conduct a thorough software evaluation to find the one that best aligns to their needs.

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Plagiarism!

Do

I wanted to draw everyone's attention to this important post on Steve's blog. No need to re-hash, but this is a pretty big deal. I haven't thoroughly checked to see if any of my stuff has been re-posted. Though I don't tend to write tutorials or such. Read all about it!

More Trending

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AutoCAD Revit MEP Suite 2009 Product Update 1

CAD Shack

Autodesk has released AutoCAD Revit MEP Suite 2009 Product Update 1. To download it click here. This seems to only address issues with AutoCAD and AutoCAD MEP. For a full list of problems addressed (in English) click here.

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High Score on LEED AP Exam

C-School

I ran across this blog posting with study tips for the LEED AP exam. The blogger reported a score of 197 out of 200. This is the highest score I have heard of on this exam, so I thought the readers of this blog would like to know how this person studied. Be sure to check out my study tips at: How I Passed the LEED AP V2.2 Exam.

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Roll with the changes

PSMJ Resources

When times are tough, such as they are right now for some of you in the AEC industry, there's a mentality that often creeps up among firm leaders that "we need to get back to doing what got us here." Sounds like a good idea on the surface, but you have to keep up with the times. What got you from a $1 million firm to a $10 million firm will not get you from $10 million to $100 million.

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Take Nothing For Granted

Constructor Marketing that Works

'Woe is me. Seems my last editorial about a laparoscopy which was really a “colonoscopy” but who cares?) didn’t go over that well with some of the more “delicate” readers, one of whom simply wrote “GROSS!” on her re-faxed copy. How’d I know it was from a female? Because guys think burping and making noises with their armpits is hilarious; we don’t gauge gross…. we ARE gross!

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The Ultimate Procurement Software Buyer’s Guide

Choosing the right procurement software is a crucial step in ensuring third-party risk management, process governance, and bidding efficiency. With so many procurement solutions to choose from, it can be overwhelming without a frame of reference and a solid starting point. This free buyer’s guide will cover: Benefits of Procurement Software –– Why do you need it?

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Experienced Revit user looking for work.

Do

No it is not me. 4 years of experience in Architecture, preparing to take ARE tests. Looking for work in Philadelphia or suburbs. Has worked on master planning, dormitories, student centers and classroom buildings, other previous experience too. Familiar with all aspects of Revit including 2009. Comments are moderated through me either contact me that way or by e-mail.

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Green Home Building and Sustainable Architecture: Building with.

Natural Building

Green Home Building and Sustainable Architecture. Sustainable architecture is an exciting and important field, with many people reviving traditional methods of building and others creating innovations to established practices. Kelly Hart, webmaster of the popular website www.greenhomebuilding.com, posts text and photos featuring what he discovers from around the world.

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Orient to View

CAD Shack

Working in 3D can be e real challenge at times when you are used to only worrying about 2 dimensions. One tool I have found to be very handy is the ability to orient a 3D view of a multiple story building to show just one floor at a time. To do this go to the View menu and select Orient and then To Other View. This will bring up a dialog that allows you to select the floor you want to view.

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Update: ENR to buy Building Design + Construction?

PSMJ Resources

Last month, we wrote that McGraw -Hill (which publishes Engineering News-Record and Architectural Record , among many other publications) is interested in buying Reed Business Information (which publishes Building Design + Construction , among many other publications). According to a Folio magazine article published earlier today, Reed Elsevier is said to have allowed first-round bidders for RBI to resubmit their bids last week.

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Stop Making These Mistakes and Start Scaling Your Specialty Contractor Business

Anything that is built on a poor foundation will soon crumble from the ground up. This is literally the case in the construction stage of projects and it applies just the same during the pre-construction stage. This free eBook is your ultimate guide to scaling your business with customizable software as early as during the bidding stage.

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HOK Sport Venue Event splits from parent

PSMJ Resources

The managers of Kansas City-based HOK Sport Venue Event, the world's leading sports architecture firm, and the board of its St. Louis-based parent company, HOK Group Inc., have agreed to a transfer in ownership of HOK Sport Venue Event to the leaders of that practice, according to a Kansas City Business Journal article published Thursday. Financial terms were not disclosed, according to the article, which said that HOK Group shareholders approved the transaction at a meeting on Thursday.

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Convention bad for business?

PSMJ Resources

Interesting article in today's Denver Post about how this week's Democratic National Convention is negatively impacting businesses near the Pepsi Center that is host to the event. Many businesses have either shut down or significantly scaled back operations this week. Among them is Staller & Henry Inc., a landscape architecture firm. "Our phones are ringing about 10 percent of what they normally do," said Adam Anderson, who works for the firm.

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Las Vegas architectural firm shutters its doors

PSMJ Resources

The realities of the economic marketplace are causing Las Vegas, Nevada-based Trevi Architectural to close on Friday, according to an article in the Las Vegas Review-Journal. The firm has provided custom fountains, statuary, sculptures, columns and moldings to resorts including Wynn Las Vegas, Wynn Macau, The Venetian, and Caesars Palace, but company founder Scott Acton told the newspaper that a combination of factors led the to the business' closing, including a series of unpaid bills and a dec

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Serial acquirers keep on acquiring

PSMJ Resources

In case you missed it, URS Corp. and Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. announced three acquisitions in the past week. Two firms, three acquisitions? Yes, you read that correctly as URS, the 50,000-person engineering, construction, and technical services firm based in San Francisco, bought LopezGarcia Group Inc., a 250-person infrastructure firm based in Dallas, Texas., and acquired most of the assets of Tryck Nyman Hayes Inc., a 60-person engineering, landscape architecture, and surveying firm based

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The Specialty Contractor's Guide to Job Cost Accounting

Supply chain challenges and rising material costs are forcing specialty contractors to pay more for what they need to complete each job. Following a simple set of principles, this easy-to-follow guide can help you manage job costs, ease the pains of accounting, and run a more profitable businesses. If you are a Specialty Contractor or Self-performing GC, you do not want to miss out on this essential guide!

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AIA Architecture Billings Index shows decrease in billings for sixth straight month

PSMJ Resources

The American Institute of Architects' Architecture Billings Index (ABI) posted its highest score since January, but the numbers announced earlier today represented the sixth consecutive month with negative scores, indicating that the economic outlook for U.S. architecture firms remains bleak. As a leading economic indicator of construction activity, the ABI shows an approximate 9- to 12-month lag time between architecture billings and construction spending.

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Shift the focus away from cost on K-12 projects

PSMJ Resources

Here in Massachusetts, the K-12 market has become a lightning rod for controversy. Prodigious cost overruns on certain high-profile school projects have left the local K-12 design community with some significant challenges and some outstanding opportunities. First, let’s discuss the challenges. Boston’s Big Dig is the national poster child for what can happen when there is shoddy oversight on publicly-funded projects.

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Solid hiring advice in any industry

PSMJ Resources

For the past 20 years, my wife has worked for a firm that provides financial software products to the structured finance industry. It’s a great story – a couple of MIT guys working out of modest digs in 1985 are in 2008 the undisputed leaders in the cashflow modeling industry – managing a firm of over 100 people on three continents. So what’s their secret?

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Get me the (free) 411

PSMJ Resources

I heard a story today on National Public Radio about a handful of companies that are infiltrating the multibillion-dollar 411 market. As we all know, the phone companies today make a fortune on 411 calls (a service, by the way, that used to be free). These new directory assistance companies don’t charge users a fee. Rather, they charge advertisers to run short ads through the information retrieval process.

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Report: Optimism for Construction Growth in the Next Year Remains High

Research reveals 96% of respondents are very or fairly optimistic about their organization’s growth prospects for the next year. The InEight Global Capital Projects Outlook also finds over half see digital technology as the greatest growth opportunity. But these are only some of the findings. Don't be kept in the dark when it comes to the future. Read the report today!

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Denver revisited

PSMJ Resources

A couple of points of clarification on one of our posts last week from the Society for Marketing Professional Services Build Business conference in Denver: The remarks about former SMPS national president Ron Garikes did not come from current president Donna Corlew. They were part of Bruce Lea's acceptance speech for the Marketing Achievement Award.

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Live from Denver: Day Two

PSMJ Resources

Hello again from rainy Denver. We're about to head over to the big networking event at the Hard Rock Cafe, but we wanted to wrap up the 2008 Society for Marketing Professional Services Build Business national conference. Here's a quick look at last night's Awards Gala and today's happenings: * For the first time in my five trips to Build Business, last night's Awards Gala went off without even a hiccup.

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Live from Denver: Are you kidding me?

PSMJ Resources

Finally, we sat in on this afternoon's panel of industry magazine editors. The panel, which consisted of Building Design and Construction's Rob Cassidy, Architectural Record's Jane Kolleeny, Architecture magazine's Ned Cramer, and Engineering News-Record's Jan Tuchman, talked about what they looked for in deciding what to publish. For the most part, everything was fine, but there were a few things that stood out. * Cassidy took a shot at both AIA and the Associated General Contractors of America

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Welcome to Denver

PSMJ Resources

Hello, everyone, from Denver, site of the 2008 Society for Marketing Professional Services (SMPS) Build Business national conference! We made it in successfully yesterday afternoon, although some of the folks flying in from Boston had their flights delayed late into the night and are likely going to be quite bleary-eyed this morning. The early buzz here is quite positive.

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Discover 7 Ways to Cut Construction Inefficiencies

Construction sites are often just-barely-controlled chaos. Without clear coordination, you risk everything from clashes to delays, cancellations, and missed deadlines. Get the free eBook & learn how to solve the biggest challenges in construction!

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Live from Denver: The Medici Effect

PSMJ Resources

Interesting presentation this morning from opening keynote speaker and best-selling author Frans Johansson (The Medici Effect). We only caught the last portion of Johansson's talk, "The Medici Effect: Groundbreaking Innovation at the Intersection of Disciplines and Cultures," but we liked what we heard. Among Johansson's points: "Diverse teams outperform homogeneous teams quickly.

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Live from Denver: Economic Outlook

PSMJ Resources

After Johansson's keynote, we listened to the first half of the "Economic Outlook and Hot Markets" breakout session. The highlight for us was hearing the numbers and statistics from McGraw-Hill Construction's Rusty Sherwood. Sherwood's presentation of McGraw-Hill Construction data on the AEC industry was clearly the reason many of those filled the room, as when he was done, people started leaving slowly.

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Live from Denver: The M&A dilemma

PSMJ Resources

Had an interesting chat this morning with an executive vice president from a very well-known A/E firm whose job it is to find possible acquisition targets and bring them to the president/CEO for the greenlight to close the deal. He says that while he has brought many deals to the table, his firm has not closed any deals in 2008. One of the problems facing many possible buyers, as the EVP told me, is that buyers see firm valuations dropping and are waiting for them to hit the floor before making

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