Revit families management

[clarkitekt]

I have a folder in the project directory for the repository of new RFAs.

Once the project is complete, I then decide, with input from the team, as to which should be added to the 'official' set of families.

These are in a read-only central location for all teams to share. I also check all new additions first to be sure they are constructed consistantly with the others already there.

This is essentially how we do it too. We use SmartBIM Library to grab families directly from the Revit project file (we find it works better this way, because there really is no longer a project level need to have a family saved out as a file in a folder and this insures that we get the final version). These families are first collected into a project folder and then the better of those families get reviewed, modified as needed, and added to an approved office library (which is read only). Project library folders are accessible to all project teams but with warning. Project teams are allowed to create, find, and use their own families as needed to meet he projects requirements.

For us, this is the best solution because we so very rarely use the same building systems from project to project and even when we do, the details used are usually very different. It would be a huge barrier to the projects and the design if every time they wanted to do something they had to stop and ask someone else to create a component (family) for them...

[bruce_bb]

A few years ago, HOK developed internal custom libraries with dedicated resources. Libraries were created for annotations, doors, casework and furniture. These families were distributed firmwide in read-only folders. Local offices created their own local content that could be "promoted" to the firmwide library.

Now with so many manufacturers creating families, (MEP, furniture, light fixtures, etc.) HOK uses more and more manufacturer-created families. The internal list of manufacturers had a few dozen manufacturers listed. Use of consolidators like Seek or Arcat helped a little, but some manufactures dropped off of those sites, so the internal list became important - but difficult to maintain.

Now HOK uses BlueBryk (www.bluebryk.com) to find manufacturer-created families.