Lost a whole project because I ignored the layer naming rule

Last month I was finishing up a set of residential floor plans for a builder in Tucson. I had been lazy about naming my layers properly for weeks, just using default names like 'Layer 1' and 'Layer 12' while I rushed through the drafting. When I sent the file to the engineer for coordination, he couldn't figure out which layer held the electrical versus the plumbing. He called me up and said 'I can't work with this, you need to redo the whole thing.' I spent a full weekend renaming and reorganizing 47 layers from scratch. Has anyone else had a client or engineer blow up at them over messy layer standards?

3 comments

3 Comments

wilson.olivia9d ago

47 layers, jeez. That's like a whole extra week of your life you're never getting back. I bet the engineer was probably having a bad day already and just needed to yell at someone about it too. At least you didn't name them something dumb like "Layer 1 (definitely not electrical)" like I did once. Hopefully the builder paid you extra for the redo, otherwise that's just a lesson in pain.

charlies379d ago

47 layers is rough but naming one "Definitely not electrical" is actually a pro move and I'd argue pretty smart. If someone else picks up your file they might actually check that layer first because the name screams "this is definitely electrical" and that's a solid misdirection. Though you're right about the engineer being in a bad mood, I think you're being too nice to them. In my experience bad engineers make everyone redo stuff because they messed up the schematic, not because they were having a bad day. Either way the builder probably didn't pay extra unless the contract had a clause about engineer errors, which is rare. Most places just shrug and say "redlines are part of the job" which is garbage but that's how it goes.

kai_burns738d ago

100% agree with you @wilson.olivia. Naming a layer "definitely not electrical" is a power move I've done too but in my case it was "Layer 17 (probably plumbing)" and the plumber took it seriously and ran pipes right through my conduit run. Total nightmare. Had to redo the whole floor plan because of that one joke. Builder didn't pay extra either. Told me "next time don't make jokes in your layer names" like I was the problem. Engineers never admit they messed up and the client always blames the drafter. It's just how it goes in this industry.