Across the last 18 years I've been working on many different projects with different material systems; my journey looked like wood framing → steel → reinforced concrete → precast → mass timber → structural steel → composite materials → modular construction + all possible foundation types (from shallow footings to deep pile systems with geotechnical analysis).

I have a lot of projects I want to design/prototype quickly, but every time starting a new structure I feel stuck and paralyzed with many choices, end up reading engineering journals and CE forums for 3 days on all possible material and structural system options and find myself exhausted even before breaking ground.

I know I should just pick one system and stick to it, but it's very hard. I spent most of my career working exclusively on residential concrete construction and I know that system inside out. I was efficient and could estimate quantities quickly. With the rest I feel like everything is at the same level of unknowns and I have zero engineering judgment.

Do you happen to experience the same and how do you fight it?