James Richards, Drafting Designer

7616 Perla Del Mar Ave., Las Vegas NV, 89179                                                                                       

Email: james.richards1959@yahoo.com

Phone: 702-505-0451

 

Overview:
My expertise has been to development drafting rutines and proceedures that inable me to track project progress with an advanced level of efficiantcy to meet deadlines while maintaining a high degree of accuracy. I have a great deal of experience in the development of residential and commercial building sites using a variety of the following computer programs: Civil 3D, Auto Turn, AutoCAD R13 to 2011, SolidWorks, Inventor, Excel, Word, Office, and Windows. I have also had experience working with Architectural, Mechanical and Electrical plans. I regularly use client based CAD standards or develop in-house CAD standards as needed and am familiar with the use of National Cad Standards.

 

Experience

 

·         CAD designer, 4/2011 – 2/2012

Advanced Interactive Systems/Shooting Ranges International

Duties include: design and document the conversion of shipping containers into modular shooting ranges, compose manufacturing details for out sourcing of mechanical parts and assemblies, establishment of company CAD standards. Programs used: AutoCAD 2010 and SolidWorks.

 

·         Adjunct Instructor, 1/2002 – 6/2011

College of Southern Nevada 

Duties include: lecture and lab, instructor of Intro, Intermediate and Advanced AutoCAD using  Parametric modeling with Autodesk Inventor, Civil 3D and Manual Drafting. Expanded instruction in Dynamic Blocks, Ex-References, and use of Annotative techniques.

 

·         Civil Designer, 12/2006 – 10/2008

Jacobs Engineering (formally Carter & Burgess),

Duties include: commercial and residential grading and drainage design, site plan development, QA & QC of final maps, grading plans, and architectural standard plans, in-house instructor for advanced AutoCAD techniques.

 

·         Civil Designer, 2/2005 – 12/2006

Triton Engineering

Duties include: overseeing plot plan department including creation, quality control and developing procedures for consistently accurate plot plans, lot fits and site designs; creation and evaluation of standard footprints from architectural plans, assisted in creation or revision of grading plans, drainage plans, final maps, tentative maps and residential layouts.

 

·         Plot Plan Department Coordinator, 9/2002 – 2/2005

KB Home

Duties included: plot plan creation, lot fit construction and evaluation, architectural footprint and standard plans checker.             

 

 

·         Lead drafter & local CAD manager, 8/1999 - 9/2002

Signal Perfection LTD

Duties include: integrating architectural plans into low voltage plans utilizing ex-reference and layer management for the design of audio and video systems as well as data and fiber optic systems using riser diagrams, wiring schematics, block diagrams and AV Rack design. I also developed and maintained block libraries, drafting standards and managed the electronic and hard copy filing system.

 

Education

·         Associates Degree: Culinary, Le Cordon Bleu Las Vegas, 2012

·         Associates Degree: Applied Technology, computer aided design, ITT of San Bernardino, California, 1999

·         LSU: studies included drafting and mechanical engineering, Alexandria, Louisiana, 1980

 

Selected Project Experience

·         The lead drafter and assistant to the lead engineer on the Aladdin Casino project, Las Vegas Nevada. Designed the layout of all audio, video, fiber and data conduit runs and fixtures, touch screens, patch panels and AV rooms in the gambling and convention areas as well as the Theater for the Performing Arts. 

·         Created an in-house plot plan department for KB Home to internalize and regulate the production of plot plans and permit gathering for up to 4,000 homes per year. Increased efficiency from a 72 hour to a 24 hour turn-a-round and reduced delay causing errors to near zero levels. Estimated savings for the company was 1.2 million dollars per year.

·         Standardized procedures for lot fits, plot plans and standard plans that were implemented by KB Home, Richmond American Homes, Triton Engineering, Stantec, Carter & Burgess and Jacobs Engineering.

·         Worked with the Clark County residential building permits department in 2003 to establish a new criteria for plot plans to meet Title 30 implementation of reduced setbacks. This affected the way all homes were permitted after June 2003 in Clark County.

·         Converted the Park Highlands North 600 Acre project line work and layering to meet North Las Vegas requirement to submit all Master Plan developments in Civil 3D digital form conforming to NLV standards for implementation into their GIS data base.

·         Converted all existing active projects from SoftDesk Civil to Land 2 and AutoCAD 14 to 2002 for Stantec and developed procedures for the training of some 250 employees to start using the new system and company standards.

·         Reverse engineered standard 120 foot modular shooting range into a complete set of buildable plans for Shooting Ranges International.

·         My knowledge of the latest AutoCAD release has lead many times to me being the in-house CAD expert and often CAD Manager. I have used the training tools I have developed for the classroom for occupational use blending accuracy with efficiency.

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