Standards: Buying Into BIM Without Busting Open Your Wallet

Revit is a tool used to help the development of buildings from conception through construction.  There is no magic button or miracle macro that can take a design and make it happen while you sleep.  Not yet at least.

Revit is a great tool that is meant to help shave hours off project designs by standardizing some aspects and automating tasks.  If the user only uses Revit to draft the design in 3D and has nothing set up in templates or other preferences, then this tool will easily burn through the fee of a project and the team will wonder why they even bother.  It isn’t until the team builds the framework for their design that the time savings begins.  Develop Templates and Preferences that can be implemented into a project.  The Leap of Faith is to invest time into this process that will save more time in the end which then saves money.  

Beyond the Project Model Settings, the Model Elements used in a project will also determine how efficient the design progresses.  One idea is to have basic, generic 3D Families that represent selected equipment regardless of any specific manufacturer.  Simple cubes and cylinders that carry basic properties can be used initially.  In the Schematic Design, the basic families and drafted schedules based on note blocks can be developed to rapidly produce simple plans for discussion with the building owners.  As decisions are made, the families can be swapped out with more accurate Custom or Manufacturer content and Live Schedules.

How is this possible? Autodesk has published a Standard Library of Shared Parameters, yet barely anyone knows about it.  The other problem with this Library is that the Shared Parameters carry generic names that could already exist in a company’s own established library.  That led to the creation of the Master Labeling Convention and its use in the Master Library of Shared Parameters.  The best reason to adopt this standard is that many major manufacturers are already using this library in their product representation.  Having the Master Library preloaded into a Project Model helps identify which Parameters are included when Washing the Shared Parameters.

One issue that is preventing a building being developed within one model through the entire process is how the different users need to use that model as the building is developed and constructed.  The conceptual design is not as concerned about every hanger and bolt as it is with how the systems perform and connect.  Designers are more focused on the performance of the building systems and use developed content that focuses on that aspect.  The problem is in the real representation of that content, which is almost entirely useless for the team tasked with building the design.  Keep the design simple and let the contractor do what they do best.  As time passes, and content becomes even further developed, we may see a day when designers are using families and setups that provide design feedback as well as material accuracy.

There is a lot of available content developed for use in Revit.  Look outside your office before busting open your wallet and trying to do it all yourself.  Recognize which content is built around a purpose of community development rather than isolation.

-Craig

 www.ModelingDynamics.net