I'm not a SketchUp user...yet, although I've been tempted. I have a sophisticated architectural software (Chief Architect) that I use for home designs, but it lacks the ability to design simple projects that I might want to construct. ShetchUp fills the gap & more. Now that my compass is pointed toward more wood working in the future, this software looks like it would be extremely handy, a time saver, an error avoider, and fun to use. This was a nice tutorial in itself.
I just downloaded the free version of SketchUp 8 and expect to use the online tutorials to get me up to speed.
Thanks for posting!