I’ve just run the trial version of Scaffplan for SketchUp and it’s impressed the socks off me. Full disclosure- As of today I have commercial interests in this topic- Don’t take my word for it. They do a 7 day trial with tutorials. Check it out for yourself if you’re curious.
Scaffplan has inspired me even to the point of taking up work as a scaffolding labourer on site, as the architecture/ SU training business is that slow. I’ve only done a few days, and it’s tough work, but I’m actually quite enjoying it. There aren’t many architects/ SketchUp trainers who work as scaffolders- Or maybe there are, and I haven’t heard about it. 
Anyway, I did the basic Scaffplan training which showed me how to put this together:
To repeat this process would probably take me 10 or 15 minutes from scratch- keeping in mind I’m fast at SketchUp. However, insofar as it goes, any determined scaffolder who doesn’t mind sitting at a PC could probably get his head around this in about a week- Less if you have guidance from an experienced trainer- Like me, for example.
This solution is really powerful for small scaffolding companies (the kind of ones that I root for), who need to compete with the big guys. That said, I know that big corporations are also taking this solution on board. It’s a serious piece of kit with serious benefits.
If anyone has thoughts or insights on this topic, please share. Any examples of work you’ve done with it, etc.
