Window Schedule

[jwhida]

Hi Guys,

I have asked about this a few times over the years, but i am wondering if there has been any progress (or something i missed) in regards to exporting a window and/or door schedule. Perhaps as a csv, that i can import as a table into LAYOUT. I imagine the workflow something like: simply turn on the window door schedule scene, hit export schedule to csv button (which i am imagining). use the same csv file name as used previously, then in layout, simply ‘UPDATE TABLE’ !

The takeoff tool jams all the window door data into a single text line as follows, which is really unhelpful in regards to creating an easy to read and use plan set.

[W1] PlusSpec Residential Sliding Window - SF Surfmist Matt (0.9m x 1.3m)(Single Glazed - Standard Glass)
[W1] PlusSpec Residential Sliding Window - SF Surfmist Matt (1.8m x 1.3m)(Single Glazed - Standard Glass)
[D02] PlusSpec Residential Sliding Door - Surfmist Matt (1.8m x 2.1m)(Single Glazed - Standard Glass)

Can we please please have a simple script to export into a CSV format such as :
MARK, HEIGHT, WIDTH, TYPE, FINISH, GLAZING, HEAD HEIGHT
W1, 900, 1300, Sliding Window, Surfmist Matt, Single Glazed Standard Glass, 2100
W2, 1800, 1300, Sliding Window, Surfmist, Single Glazed Standard Glass, 2100
W3, 1800, 2100, Louvre Window, Anodic Bronze, Double Glazed Standard Glass, 2350

The takeoff tool doesn’t really help with this. So instead I use Sketchup native report tool functionality, along with some post export editing involving Regular Expressions to extract the data. this is really time consuming.

Surely with all the BIM info in the model we can extract things in a structured manner that makes creating a window and door schedule a piece of cake!

What do you think ?

Am i missing something ?

I am both a building designer and energy efficiency assessor, and having a structured table with the info organised would be a godsend

Cheers

John

[Emily]

Hi John thanks for reaching out and asking the question, it is a good one and one I will put forward to development. Here is the spreadsheet example as per your comment, Note yellow cell which is multiple windows that are the same size concatenated into one row.

I assume as you are a designer and an assessor you want the sheet structured in this manner for quantification Basix or NatHERs or similar?
I quickly did an export using existing PlusDeisgnBuild take off/ estimate and this is the result:

If is the case I think we can go one better with PlusDesignBuild you may want to book in a demo as it is still in beta and we could use the feedback, however, it adds a lot of functionality for reporting BIM info and naming things the way you want them. I think this method will save you a heap of time in excel as you will essentially have the area according to wall type or insulation value or…

John thanks for asking, if no one asks we can not improve according to user needs so this helps us help you and others. In an ideal world we export exactly what you need for reporting, I think the window description export already display all of the required info for a Window supply company to deliver the window and also fo a build to understand where the window goes and the frame to understand the opening size when building frames. I may be taking a guess yet it seems as though you are looking for the quantities more so than the window schedule in 2D? If so I think we have you covered or at least we will.

[jwhida]

Hi Emily,
Thanks for your reply.

Possibly you don’t understand what I am looking for.

Currently I am a PlusDesignBuild customer since it’s release last year (I wasn’t aware it is still in Beta though). I have also been a PlusSpec user since at least 2017. Maybe I should book in a demo, though since I use PlusSpec every day I am pretty familiar with what is possible.

What I want is an automated way to put a window schedule into my plans, and currently PlusSpec does not cater to this. The simplest and most common format for this is a table. ( I see many many plans a year as an energy assessor, so this is coming from experience when I say the most common format is as a table)

I want it simple, concise, and organised.

What is not wanted is all the info packed into one sentence such as “[W1] PlusSpec Residential Sliding Window - SF Surfmist Matt (0.9m x 1.3m)(Single Glazed - Standard Glass)”

Further, It would also be really nice to get rid of the ‘PlusSpec’ reference in the window description, it is confusing and suggests PlusSpec is a window manufacturer or component supplier ?

I note that you added a “# number of windows” column to my table format suggestion. This is NOT what I am looking for, I would use a takeoff to get that kind of info. I simply need a table with a single row per window, with the BIM data organised as columns.

Perhaps we can have a chat on the phone, as I am at a loss why this is not obvious to the team.

Thanks for your time
John

[jwhida]

Hi,
Can i provide anything further regarding this request?
I have offered some further clarification, though no replies, nor has anyone contacted me, so I am not sure if the team sees any value in creating window schedules.
Would you like me to send through a bunch of plan sets showing what I mean ?
Cheers
John

[Emily]

Thanks for your patience, John.
So: yes as per the image “Johns request” (Above) minus column B and without the concatenation of similar window sizes.

John my response was in relation to a beta version of PlusDesignBuild that is not released, yet.

To be clear, the beta version, which you do not have, gives the ability to override the names of the windows or doors, in fact, any material or component… yet it does not place these in their own column EG: Height, Width, Type, Finish, Glazing, or head height so for you it is not a solution.

It appears as though I wrongly assumed the reason you wanted to schedule in a Table was: so you can sort by columns to help with assessments, and NOT schedules. We may be able to make a CSV export that does what you require.

John this is a community forum we do not check it every day or in some cases every week, however, we do add items we receive to the development list. Currently, we have 262 items on that list and we rank them in priority according to the number of times they have been requested.

[Emily]

You guys will be happy to know we have made some progress on this. Here is a beta tutorial https://youtu.be/NIun6Q4skrE

How to export window schedule CSV or Excel to layout and link with a table

1. Draw walls add windows with PlusDesignBuild
2. Click take off
   3.Click Export takeoff from Summary page
3. Select Export Window and Door Schedule
4. Organise CSV to likeing and save
5. Inside Layout select File
6. Click “Insert”
7. Select the File menu (top LHS)
   That’s it so easy

If you are a beta tester you will have my details.

[jwhida]

This is a wonderful thing, and i am testing now (beta version)