Andyro,
very good points actually! with a perfect example of a slab vs a roof.
I suppose, we could merge the wall and beam tools as well, like we don't have an option for a curved beam and an option for a wall with the independent empty fill on plan and material settings to all faces, or why would you need holes for a beam (I doubt if anyone has ever used that option) if you could use much more flexible wall openings.
Ok, I can see the reason to keep them separate as they are different building elements by a function, but they could share the very same attributes internally, so I think, it would be easier to code them (same routines for both=less bugs to fix) + clarity of interface (same principles for a hole in a wall/beam or in drawing methods etc).
Contradicting myself about keeping different elements separate, why we keep separately the slab tool and the roof tool when I want to create a concrete ramp (which is a sloping slab!) and I have to use a roof instead(!). Confusing is this world of tools...
::rk