How easy is it to get the perimeter of a rectangle versus its area in architectural software?
Because a lot of times by the time the designs get to a general contractor or plumber they're already fairly baked. The placement of various rooms (kitchen, bath, powder, laundry, etc) is one of the first orders of business, and it's an easy way to have them think of layout without getting into the plumbing details (home-run, race/speedway).
It also allows for multiple hot water heaters (e.g., in commercial builds), where there are units that serve localized needs.
User training for this metric ends up being easy: draw a box, smaller is better.
Because a lot of times by the time the designs get to a general contractor or plumber they're already fairly baked. The placement of various rooms (kitchen, bath, powder, laundry, etc) is one of the first orders of business, and it's an easy way to have them think of layout without getting into the plumbing details (home-run, race/speedway).
It also allows for multiple hot water heaters (e.g., in commercial builds), where there are units that serve localized needs.
User training for this metric ends up being easy: draw a box, smaller is better.