Complex vs Organic Modeling

What time can you really afford to lose?
Tom, a Residential Architect, shared with me a familiar tale about his attempt to learn SketchUp.

I kept hearing great things about SketchUp. SketchUp is a favorite tool for architects, and I finally gave it a shot.
My goal was to be able design homes in SketchUp, and then to create LayOut construction documents.

Tom’s SketchUp goal

“Everyone told me SketchUp was simple to use, so I downloaded it and started to model my house.
I did pretty well, until I had to stop trying to model the roof.
After struggling for a while with SketchUp, I looked online for some assistance and found a video tutorial.
I was able, following the tutorial, to get close to what I wanted. So I moved on and continued to model my home.
But, the pace of progress slowed down.
The closer I came to finishing the model, I found myself stuck more often and had to look online for help.
I reached a point in SketchUp where my model was almost complete. I thought, “Not bad for my first SketchUp project.”
However, the first time I used it on my job was quite different.
I had to complete the model by a certain deadline. When design changes were made, I had to be able SketchUp to create them.
“I was way too high.”