Multi Unit Residential Revit Files

[d.stairmand]

I've searched thru the Forums & haven't found any Tips on this
I'm doing a 50 Unit Town house Development, with 5 different Unit Types.
Done all the Planning Documentation, linking in all the different Types etc. Looks Fantastic!
Now I have to document them up! I am wanting a Set of Tender Doc's for each Unit (50 in total)

I need to be able to Link in the Units, so that any changes that happen go throughout all instances.
Currently I have only been able to Link the Site back into the Unit itself (which creates separate Units), that don't update.

What I would like to do is to Link the Site & Link the House into a Project & then create the Documents via Linked Views. Building Floor Levels etc would be brought through from the main Site Model

Any Tips from the Revit Masters out there would be Hugely Helpful

[d.stairmand]

Been away & done some Tests
May look like Linking a File into a File into a File may do the trick!
Confused - Here is an Image of what is happening.

Generally I want to change 1 File, and have the Changes gone throughout all Documentation, to all Units on all different Levels.

Only Drawback is that when using Shared Co-Cord's, Revit has no Capability to process Mirrored Units!

[Scott Womack]

For this type of thing, we typically use groups, instead of links.

[jdagen4]

Why groups? We have read a lot in support of using links. We have had a lot of problems with groups breaking, loosing hosted elements etc. One issue we are trying to wrap our heads around for either groups or links, is if floor to floor heights are different and the units interior walls go to the floor deck. You would need a unique group or link for each unique unit type. Any solutions or suggestions for this?

[jhalaby]

One issue we are trying to wrap our heads around for either groups or links, is if floor to floor heights are different and the units interior walls go to the floor deck. You would need a unique group or link for each unique unit type. Any solutions or suggestions for this?

Here is a handy trick for re-using the same group at different floor-to-floor heights: Set the walls in your group to be "unconnected height" and specify the height of the most common floor-to-deck dimension. Then copy your group up/down to all levels. Where you have a different floor-to-deck height, simply attach the tops of those grouped walls to the floor above (use tab to select individual walls in the group). Only that instance of the group will be affected by the attaching.

[sbrown]

Here is a handy trick for re-using the same group at different floor-to-floor heights: Set the walls in your group to be "unconnected height" and specify the height of the most common floor-to-deck dimension. Then copy your group up/down to all levels. Where you have a different floor-to-deck height, simply attach the tops of those grouped walls to the floor above (use tab to select individual walls in the group). Only that instance of the group will be affected by the attaching.

BEST TIP EVER!!!!

[Ning Zhou]

great tip, but does this mean using group is better than using link for multi-unit residential case?

[sbrown]

This is not a simple answer. Next to impossible to answer in a post. Its one of those questions that needs diagrams, explanation drawings etc. But basically, your typical unit should be a standalone file that you document everything about it in. You can link your "core and shell" model into it for reference, so you can see the exterior walls etc. that is then loaded into the host project as a "group" or a link depending on how you need it(I know vague, but once you do a few you'l see what I mean, some instances of the "unit model" can remain just links, while others you may need to "bind" make a group(group and link are the same with the only diff. being wether they are "bound"), so you can join walls etc. any edits that need to be done are done on the original and reloaded. So basically I recommend you have your sheets set up with series dedicated to everything about the "unit" in the unit model. Then your core and shell shows the units greyed out and ref. the unit model sheets for the documentaion for those. Then you "core and shell" model documents the exterior shell.

[kxtracy]

How does one handle a door schedule with the 'linked file' method? It appears to repeat the type mark/door number multiple times in the same schedule. Any way around this?

[sbrown]

The unit doors would be scheduled by Type not number so you just uncheck the itemize every instance button. I typically Bind one of the links so I have live access to the info. Then the actual numbered doors(corridor/ misc other doors) are in the live model not the link. So I do 2 door schedules one type(Unit Door Schedule) and then the door schedule by door number.

[MTristram]

I have a question regarding scheduling the number of 'instances' of a linked model within a file - is there an easy way to achieve this?

Basically we have a masterplan of a multi-residential property with various house types - we are wanting to schedule the number of type 1, type 2 etc...

[vgonzales]

The unit doors would be scheduled by Type not number so you just uncheck the itemize every instance button. I typically Bind one of the links so I have live access to the info. Then the actual numbered doors(corridor/ misc other doors) are in the live model not the link. So I do 2 door schedules one type(Unit Door Schedule) and then the door schedule by door number.

At my company, we use the same method. Two door schedules. One is the exterior building door schedule using Revit schedules. The other is a unit door type schedule. The unit type door schedule is usually drafted manually in Revit using text and lines ressembling a schedule. Unit door types have different designations such a A3684 (for 3'-0" x 7'-0" door).