Hit 500 hours of CAD time on a single project last week

I was checking my time logs for a commercial building set I've been drafting since January. Turned out I crossed 500 hours just on the drafting alone, not counting revisions. That number caught me off guard because it's the most I've put into one job since I started. Has anyone else tallied up their hours on a big project and been surprised by the total?

3 comments

3 Comments

william_henderson1mo ago

Have you tried setting a hard limit for how long you stare before you commit? I break at 20 minutes and force a sketch or a note, then move on even if it feels rough. Cutting down the second guessing muscle makes the actual drafting a lot faster.

the_fiona1mo ago

500 hours on one job, that's wild. I once spent 200 hours on a set of stairs for a townhouse project and realized I'd basically drafted the same detail 15 times because I kept second guessing myself. Your mileage may vary but I bet half those hours were just staring at the screen wondering if you missed a duct or a beam.

patricia_schmidt141mo ago

My kitchen cabinet guy once told me he spends half his time just standing in clients' houses staring at walls before he cuts a single board. He said it's the same thing with every trade, we all overthink because one mistake means starting over. That second guessing is just part of doing good work, nobody talks about the quiet panic hours.