In collaboration with – Archiz – https://www.archiz.fr

I realise that the term DET might seem like gibberish to people outside of France, so i shall explain briefly. The project is under the jurisdiction of the public sector, and as such the PRE contract project falls under the term “DCE” ( Dossier de Consultation de Entreprises) and the elements we are contracted to produce enable companies the opportunity to vision the project in it’s entirety and ultimately propose their services with a detailed quote.

Each company provides detailed accounts, including employee references, finnancial accounts, project references and various other informations that could help the client choose the right company for the job.

In France this kind of contract was put in place to allow equal opportunity to all companies. In reality, this is absolute bullshit and is just another means of controlling the outcome…

Anyways, phase DET (direction de l’exécution du ou des contrats de travaux) is POST contract, so the project is now enterring it’s optimiastion phase. With REVIT, this phase becomes close to childs play. Revisions are numbered, indexed and integrated directly into the title block, collaborators ( structural engineers, services engineers, controllers) are able to integrate directly into the central model and synthesis becomes very efficient.

These advantages are, however, interesting in the LONG term but demand a great deal of work in the beginning stages of the project, something a great deal of small architectural firms don’t seem to understand. so for example; i’m at the head of a small architectural practice, i know it takes my “guy” 3-4 days to shit out the feasbility of a project such as this one, 1-2 months to detail the project sufficiently before chucking it to the wolves and 3-6 months before it goes into construction. Now if i want my client to be happy, he needs his quote ASAP. and ASAP and REVIT don’t mix well in the preparatory stages.

Solution?

Create detailed templates that can be re-used over and over again. HOWEVER, lowe and behold, theres no time for that sort of “non-profit” work, so after-hours work takes a whole new meaning…

ANYWAYS, i personally love this stage of this type of project. Collaborating with other professionals, optimising the building, finding new and inventive ways of pissing off structural engineers… fun times!