Michael Holigan: There's been an explosion over the last few years in CAD systems. CAD is Computer Assisted Design, and it was created to help architects design homes and other buildings on computer. We're going to look at the best. We're looking at Archicad and we've got a specialist with us. We've got Peter Eskuche with Lakeside Development Company. Good to have you here Peter.
Peter Eskuche: Hi Mike, thank you.
M.H.: Hey, we're just outside of Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Peter has got this thing dialed. He knows how to do it right. And tell me a little bit. Here's your standard floor plan, but this is a view you normally don't see with a CAD system. What have you got there?
P.E.: Correct. First of all, the floor plan that we create all the elements on and what it allows us to do is uhm, just like a traditional plan, you enter all of the dimensions and the data and the colors. The result is we get to see, or the potential home owner gets to see the house in real scale and see what the colors look like and actual grab the mouse. The owner can actually grab the mouse.
M.H.: Oh, so you're actually moving it with that? Can I try it?
P.E.: Sure, go ahead.
M.H.: I've seen a lot of systems where it has it's own pattern it runs through, but never one where you actually move it yourself. Go in the backyard, take a look?
P.E.: Ah-huh. And you can actually go inside the house too, if you want.
M.H.: And this was a house that Peter and I were at earlier this morning. And it looks just like the front of the house, I mean, it's not close, it looks exactly like it. And you can even go up.
P.E.: You can see more of the roof lines if you want, and get a look...kind of an aerial view. What really makes a big difference is, we still enter the data in plan view. But what we used to do is show 'em plans, and, you know, plans are very hard to understand and it takes a lot of visualization.
M.H.: Yeah, unfortunately I even have subcontractors who can't quite understand the blue prints, so yeah, I see that this would actually help quite a bit. Okay, so we're inside the interior. That looks like where we walked through the front door earlier today.
P.E.: It can get pretty detailed. And then, not only that, but you can zoom in and change rooms.
M.H.: Go right into the next room.
P.E.: Go right into the next room.
M.H.: This is easier to understand than when we're actually out there, because it still wasn't complete yet.
P.E.: Right.
M.H.: Then this is how it's going to look with the furniture, painted, done?
P.E.: It really helps the owner understand what the scale of things are because now there's furniture there. So that you really get a good sense of proportion once the furniture is in the house.
M.H.: No matter what system you use Peter, you're going to have to design the house plans themselves. Is it hard to take this on to the virtual reality stage that we're in now?
P.E.: Well, what's nice is it really actually saves time. So it's better for the home owner in the end, because once you've created this virtual reality part, the construction documents are about half done.
M.H.: So it's not going to take any longer really to design a house this way than it would with any normal system.
P.E.: No, that's correct.
M.H.: How about as far as pricing. If you want to add maybe a few more windows back here on this back wall, will the system add that in there and give you a price on what it's going to cost?
P.E.: You can easily go in and change and then you just go right back to the 3-D, take a look at it.
M.H.: So you can see the windows in there and you can even get the pricing on the windows and what it's going to be?
P.E.: Right.
M.H.: So after the original designs done, the builder and the home owner, future home owner, could set down and actually just change the house right there, look at the prices, see if it still fits the budget. Once you design the house for a home owner and they have a chance to come in and look at it with you, can they take a copy with them?
P.E.: Yeah, we can give them a disk. All they have to do is put it on their computer.
M.H.: So a whole house, even with all of that animation and virtual reality, you can take home on a disk?
P.E.: Right. All of the information that you give 'em is all on one little disk.
M.H.: So they can take a week, look at it, spin it around, figure it out, and decide if that's what they really want?
P.E.: Sure.
M.H.: And what's the customer's reactions to being able to walk through their house before they make sure a large purchase?
P.E.: It's really great. It's like test driving a real expensive car before you buy it and this is the way you can really test drive.
M.H.: Well Peter, I appreciate your help. I'm going to head back to the house. I know that our future home owner is there and I want to get her reaction to it.
P.E.: Okay, great.
M.H.: Barb, is this your first house to build from the ground up?
Barbara Jorgensen: No, actually this is our second.
M.H.: Oh, really?
B.J.: Yeah.
M.H.: Can you see a difference between working with virtual reality plans?
B.J.: Oh, definitely, definitely. Building a house can be a scary thing. But with the virtual reality, it really helped us visualize what we actually going to get. So we really found it to be a great tool.
M.H.: Well, I build quite a few homes and they all scare me.
B.J.: So I'm not the only one!
M.H.: Even the home owner...even the builder gets scared, but did it make a difference when you walked through the house? Did you see changes that you wouldn't have noticed probably on a set of blue prints?
B.J.: We probably made the most changes from the exterior. We were really concerned about how the garage was going to present itself to the front of the house.
M.H.: And how does the actual house, now that you're getting close to completion, how does it compare to what you saw on the computer?
B.J.: It's unbelievable that you can actually see on a computer what you're really going to get. So, it's been a tremendous experience and we just couldn't be more pleased.
Episode 010 1995 - 96 Season
| How Bricks Are Made | Smoke Alarm Installation | Choosing Brick Patterns | Acrylic Plastic | CAD Systems | First Time Home Buyers Programs |
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