Google Sketchup has some fairly powerful modeling tools. In particular the ability to draw out a a curve on a side face and then use a kind of reverse extrusion to lathe that corner into a curve. It is more flexible than the bevel system in Blender.
Has anyone attempted to copy these tools in Blender?
Yes I don’t think Blender will ever be able to make Sketchup’s claim:
No one wants to waste time learning complicated software… If you want to be productive within a couple of hours, you’ve come to the right place. Try SketchUp now.
Yes indeed Sketchup is the last word in 3D. Being a Blender user I can’t even understand what they mean when they say:
we don’t sacrifice usability for the sake of functionality.
Still, maybe if you show a picture of what it is you are describing someone could get to work trying to write some code to do the same thing in Blender.
@dualhammers
I don’t know what you mean, maybe you can show as an example ?
@all
Blender has alot of new and old Addons that makes architecture modelling easier. But it’s still tough task in Blender.
Sketchup is still the fastest and easiest modelling tool for architecture modells, I don’t know any better software for that task.
The only lack is that it sometimes generates inverted Normals and double Faces, but I’m not sure if it’s because of me or the Software. In Blender you get a cleaner Model.
Kind regards
Alain
time saving tools such as the one you describe have a tendency to leave behind bad topology. hard to say from your description, but you may be able to accomplish what you want to do with the recently added edge connect tool, + bevel. that would be the quick way, but would also leave behind bad topology. best way would be to take advantage of the retopo / surface snapping tools, and build a ‘patch’ with correct topology.
“…retopo / surface snapping tools…”
I’ve never tried this, but isn’t it more for organic modelling than for straight architecture modelling ?
As long as the “bad topology” doesn’t influent the final quality of the image and the modelling speed, I see no reason to care about it.
Kind regards
Alain
Same here and same is in all Cad softwares I know, objects are full of triangles, far away from good topology but architects need not to know or care about those.
@alain I do not see where you mentioned what type of model you are making. it would be helpful to include this info, or better yet a screenshot.
(edit) whoops I confused alain with the thread starter, apologies.
I had to choose what to use for my personal arch project - Blender or SU; it was from Google back then. It’s been a while now. SU was fine and easy to use without any introductions or lengthy internet rides to search for basic things. However… It soon hit the wall (well, after i had done almost all i needed) by saying that this and that is available only in Pro version … blabla. You know what follows.
I wasn’t really able to get the end product out of this and only then i realized fully that most of the features are paid addons or Pro.
Same you could go about any other “Pro” 3d soft we’ve seen posts here how good that is and how many features this has. Long story short - you get what you pay for. Blender offers most imho.
Speaking triangles - who cares you can not export SU to Blender without mess and triangles? Devs (management) over there at SU? I think they are least interested ones. Blender, as opposed, offers ways to export tessellated mesh (triangles) or quads. And the end result short before rendering is triangles in any soft btw.
Bevel is not the only tool you could use - there is Curves: make edge duplicate as Curve and use other as a bevel profile. You can adjust it’s thickness along, which might be a bit fiddly. Then there was excellent addon from @zmj100 - extrude_along_path which also can be used.
SU would take longer to form ends and was failing on occasions too.
You get what you pay for - but Blender is the exception to the rule! 
