Land F/X vs. VectorWorks Landmark for Design/Build

[Lucas Vannice]

Our office is contemplating upgrading design software, and I’m looking for input on Land F/X vs. VectorWork Landmark.  

We are a design/build office that currently uses Pro Landscape, SketchUp, CAD, CS6 and ArchGIS.  I’m intrigued with the estimating tools Land F/X has as well as how it autopopulates plants, schedules, ect.  I really know nothing about VectorWorks Landmark, besides that it seems to be the preferred software for many LA firms, which I am curious about as Land F/X seems superior.  Any and all feedback is much appreciated!  

[Tyson Carroll]

Depends on what you are trying to get out of the program. I do not have much experience with Landmark but am a user of Land FX and thoroughly enjoy the program and believe it is a huge time saver on the design side of things. The staff there is also very helpful and updates the program based upon the users suggestions and comments which makes its evolution user based. 

That being said my company operates much like a design build firm so my first question is what are you looking for specifically?

From the procurement side of things I have found the auto population for plant counts, material counts, and units most helpful, plus it has the ability to correlate counts to symbols as not to leave anyone out.  From the irrigation side of things the ability of the program to generate pipe lengths is fantastic but seeing as how irrigation is diagrammatic it won’t be exact and is typically on the high side once you get into the field. 

If yall do have to bid parts or components of the project it makes getting the quantities to the bidder very efficient. 

Hope that helps. 

[Andrew Spiering]

Have you checked out Dynascape?  Depending on the scale of project that you work on, it might be a perfect solution.  

Vectorworks is all-in-one solution that is trusted by the top designers in the world – from large studios like Peter Walker to boutique design studios like Jeffrey Gordon Smith.  The product is awesome and is supported by a very stable company.  If I were to start my own studio, I would get everyone on Vectorworks.  A former co-worker went from our AutoCAD+Land F/X office to a design/build studio running Vectorworks and couldn’t believe how easy it was to learn and use.  

I have the most experience using AutoCAD + Land F/X and agree with Tyson that it is a huge time-saver.  If you do irrigation design, their IRR FX software is by far the best irrigation solution available.  The company is very small, which makes them nimble to incorporate new features quickly based on user feedback.  However, I would not base my decision on this alone.

It comes down to what you are looking for in a CAD solution.  What are the must-have features that want?

[Andrew Spiering]

Just came across another solution: http://keysoftsolutions.com/landscape/products/keyscape-design-studio

[Jeremiah Farmer]

Lucas,

Having just returned from the ASLA Expo, and our customer appreciation party there, I can relay the vastly common sentiment among our users, is that the Land F/X experience is like no other — the service, the quality of product, the response time, and so on.

Go ahead and grab a trial of Land F/X, and I’m fairly certain you’ll appreciate the robust connection to SketchUp, the ease of plant labeling, you name it.

Though we are a small company, we have been doubling each year, while still maintaining an incredibly personal user experience.  Call our main number, get right through to someone who can answer your questions and even show you the software, and browse our vast free training resources on the web site.

Should you end up hiring, you’ll find an ample supply of skilled students at the University of Idaho.

Have a great day!

–J

[Andrew Garulay, RLA]

I D A H O, Idaho, Idaho,  Go, Go, Go!

[Robert Anderson]

Lucas,

Did you make a decision? I have made the transition from Autocad and sketchup to Vectorworks Landmark and can’t imagine going back. The issue I would have is that at its core Land F/X is Autocad and once you have used the more graphically oriented Vectorworks you will agree that it is vastly superior. It also has much better drafting tools that Autocad dose not have.

I’ve helped one firm transition over three years ago and would be happy to assist you and your firms transition as well.

[nca]

Robert,

We are a small firm of two, both with over a decade of experience in AutoCAD. We are looking to transition to a BIM platform, but I am waffling between something like a Land f/x addon and VW Landmark.

Landfx of course has the advantage of being AutoCAD based, so the interface and commands are familiar. As I understand, the BIM component of Landfx comes in through its connectivity through sketchup which is also very appealing as we use Sketchup and Vray for rendering. I understand we could share models from sketchup as our BIM (SIM) option??

VW is attractive because it is an all in one bonafide SIM package. The disadvantages are:

1. learning a totally new program

2. interoperability with revit, cad, civil3d, archicad, etc

3. cost

I’d love to hear more from you and others on the solutions theyve chosen and why.

[Author]

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