This article, purely and simply, highlights a few things that are good with Revit. It’s not biased and it’s not personal preference. There are other platforms out there that provide good aspects and advantages too, but the aim here is to inform and share my experiences if you are considering migrating your CAD/”BIM” platform . . . and Revit is a good choice.
If you are considering when to make the move, then NOW, December 2018, is a good time to saw your software seeds, so that you are ready and equipped for the changes in 2019. True to DDC Solutions’s ethos and goals, we want to be transparent as possible; We work in partnership with our clients, forming long term relationships, assisting where we can. In order to help you, we are currently running a promotional offer for the early birds, where not only do you receive the software licence at cost…YES….AT COST….. BUT we, DDC Solutions, will also help you with additional added value, free advice and give you additional discounts on ALL our other services…..”WHAT” I hear you say “At Cost, free and discounts!”….. As I mentioned, we collaborate with our clients and help where we can. So, take advantage of our “December Promotional offer”, get in touch with one of our friendly staffs to see how we could help your practice get ready for 2019.
See the article Get in gear on the topic of changes to come from 2019.
https://www.ddcsolutions.co.uk/getingear/
Ok, so back to the information on Revit.
I will use my experience from previous and existing clients and only illustrate what is true for the majority of the cases. For some of these clients the choice was to migrate completely to Revit and for some, the choice was to integrate Revit in to the practice to be coordinated with the existing platforms (e.g. Vector Works or MicroStation etc.). In doing so, we needed to ensure that the clients and wider design teams could collaborate and coordinate across platforms. Great, all done. Back to Business as usual then.
Implementation
Implementation of Revit. When comparing the implementation time and reliability of Revit to other systems, Revit is much faster, more reliable and takes configuration and technical complexity in to consideration. It helps to have an established implementation structure in place but, even when starting from a vanilla Revit download, it is still faster and more reliable. Something I personally started for a new client only last week (28/11/2018).
BIM Level 2
To make the software you choose to implement work with the BIM Level 2 process (that you also should implement), one would need some experience and technical knowledge to carry out the customisation. But, when comparing the time and energy required to customise the software to meet these requirements, Revit has caused the least issues and delays. Revit has also allowed the project teams to start producing information and collaborating with the wider design teams, much faster.
Part of the ease in establishing these standards and processes are due to, well first, understanding how Revit works. But also, to the quite easy work environment that Revit present you with. I dare to say that Revit has one of the easiest User Interface of all software. There are some cross connections, configurations and Revit principles that need to be understood. But we are comparing here, and Revit is easier!
Learning and modelling
The easy UI helps when you train up new users. They “get it” very fast. (some credit must go to the trainer as well). I am comparing this with experience on delivering workshops and training sessions on MicroStation, AECOsim, Solibri, Navisworks and having attended training from “market leaders”. There is definitely a right and a wrong way to deliver training! With the right delivery method, Revit allows the users to do very impressive stuff in very short time whilst being more efficient and more cost effective, for the practice…. In other words,…saves you time and saves you money!
Examples are:
- Full concept models for large commercial and office blocks developed over 14h, with no previous experience of Revit at all.
- A team of one with no previous Revit experience at all, migrating from a 2D platform and delivered a fully coordinated project stage in less than 4 weeks.
- A team of 2 delivered the interiors of a large shopping centre in 4 months with no previous Revit experience. The project was coordinated with building architects and structures across the globe.
Project Coordinates
The next topic is not an easy one and is one that causes a lot of issues and confusion on all platforms. I am obviously talking about Project Coordinates. Sure, it’s not a beginner’s topic, but the setup and management of project coordinates in Revit is, in my experience, much more approachable and allows for cross platform coordination, even if other stakeholders don’t know how to set up Shared Coordinates properly (it happens). i.e. Revit allow for different coordination setups. And with the Management system DDC Solutions implement, the Revit Project Coordinates is pretty robust.
Output
Getting the information, you need out of the Revit model is something that the users are very positive about.
We do need an understanding of parameters and some settings and it comes with a little bit of a learning curve. But the learning curve is not as steep as with other platforms and the ease of how one can get the information output is brilliant. Schedules, Drawings, DWG, DGN, IFC, COBie, PDF. It’s all automated (after a sound implementation) i.e. the data update as you produce, and the export and prints are all batch enabled and pre-set to output at a “click of a button”.
Everything mentioned here can be done with other platforms as well! Revit is not technically unique with the points in this article. But, what I have seen over the years is that these points raised here, are in general, much easier in the Revit environment and the users don’t have to deal with technically difficult user interfaces, raising support calls on configuration issues or deal with hordes of reference models and CAD layers. Working in the Revit environment is a lot friendlier than with some other platforms and so is coordinating across disciplines.
If you are looking to move to Revit and are and are unsure as to when/how to purchase the licenses, then get in touch.
DDC Solutions will help you with the cost of both software and implementation and will ensure that your investment is future proof and the teams ready to reap the rewards.
Tags
#Revit#Preparation#BIM #Licneses #BIMLevel2 #Discounts
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