both modellers are equally capable when applied to the same problems; blender makes you think more, sketchup spends a few vertices to free the author from caring - it's definitely capable of creating more efficient meshes than the one shown... one easy optimization for the ramp is to allow the polygons to intersect each other, they're not solid objects and the end result may be acceptable when suitably textured. (though it probably wont auto bake so well if its made of intersecting shapes) The poles definitely should not be attached to the floor. They should be entirely separate objects, cylinders with open ends. Ultimately, blender is the better tool for games modelling, sketchup is the first thing I go to if I want to help someone visualize their renovations. There are useful modelling ops that blender can do that sketchup simply doesn't.