Revit and Full BIM implementation

[DaleSmith]

Maybe not the right place for this, but couldn't find which part of the forum to post it. And since Revit will, at least initially, be the focus of our companies approach, I figured here was a good a place as any to begin.

My company is a UK based multidiciplinary practice, with Architects, Civils, Structures, MEP, quantity surveyors and a few more departments all working together. Around 18months ago we moved to Revit, in a steady fashion, with around 10 architects and 4 structural engineers initailly learning the ropes, and the other 250+ people gradually coming on board. And we now have around 80% of these two departments Revit trained. However, due to a combination of experience, enthusiasm, patience, and pressure, the range of skill levels in that mix is huge. Some people have taken to it happily and effectively (I consider myself part of this group) and with others it's been like attempting to herd cats (angry cats who are set in their ways and happy where they are). As a result, and to some extents due to a lack of a clear direction in which to head, the initial projects attempted by the firm have ranged from relitevely successful (where the projects have been well coordinated, and delivered in a timely manner) to appaling (with the 'Angry Cats' seemingly deliberately taking the most obtuse approaches, and then dropping in and out of ArchiCad formats seemingly every five minutes).

As I said, I feel a large amount of the problem has been caused by a lack of clear focus and direction in how to approach collaborating Revit models. Horror stories about copy/monitoring led to that approach being eliminated as an option early on, and it's only now (with greater experience) that people are starting to realise "Hey, this might actually be worth a look". And to make it worse, we still don't know if it is or not. This problem extends to large amounts of the collaboration project in general, and is greatly affecting enthusiasm and more importantly efficiency.

The few enthusiastic people using the program, can clearly see the benefits it brings, and can see the potentially huge area of expansion the BIM work environment/philosophy could undertake. We are therefore desperately trying to open everyone else's eyes, and highlight what a massive advantage we could have over similarily sized competing companies, if only we could get up to speed, especially if we can get ALL disciplines involved in the BIM environment.

As such we have brough together a small number of team members from each discipline to form a BIM implementation group, in an effort to get things started. Unfortunately, all we can see is the massive wall of possibilities in front of ourselves, and we currently have little to no idea where to begin.

I'm posting on here in the hopes that regular users to this forum have been in/currently are in a similar position to us, and hopefully be able to offer some advice on where to begin this process. Implementation is key, new project management approaches etc, and ideas of how to avoid outdated approaches to working are really what we are looking for. But structured ideas in terms of suggested workflows, issuing techniques, collaboration, are also very important.

Are there any websites that may prove useful? Or any books that are well recomended? A few books recomended on Wiki are (Building Information Modeling: A Strategic Implementation Guide for Architects, Engineers, Constructors, and Real Estate Asset Managers by D.K. Smith and BIM and Construction Management: Proven Tools, Methods and Workflows by B.Hardin) but I have no idea as to their quality/suitability. I'm sure a number of books out there for example will be quite strongly linked to the American Building Industry, but I suspect the broad approach will be very similar for us in the UK, even if the specifics are a little less relevant.

I'm sorry if this question seems maybe a little vague and far reaching (it's probably because it is!) but I'm anxious to make sure our company starts getting as much from BIM based practises as possible, as soon as possible. And who knows, I may even manage to get a few of the Angry Cats moving too.

Thanks,

Dale

[damon.sidel]

Hi, Dale. I'm always surprised that Revit elicits such opposition. I've been in a few firms now as they tried to implement Revit and it is always painful. That said, Revit has been around long enough that many people have dealt with implementation. If you are trying to do it internally, I imagine you are going to be reinventing the wheel a lot. My suggestion would be to find a consultant to come in and set you up. With a firm over 250, it wouldn't been a huge expense and could save you a lot of time trying to find resources on your own. If you can't find a consultant, you could probably find another company that's done it and have some conversations.

Good luck and don't discourage!

PS - A lot of firms I've heard about implement Revit slowly, project-by-project. Let it spread exponentially by distributing the Revit users from one project onto other projects with less experienced users.

[jbayne]

We are in the same boat (somewhat). We are not as big of a department but we are just getting underway of trying to implement revit with hopes of using BIM in the future. I can relate to the herding angry cats metaphor. We are going from Bentley Microstation that has been used here since the beginning of CADD to present day. I hope you can imagine the resistance I am getting about changing not only the way we draw but how we need to be thinking about how to design.

I was hired 3 years ago and going from a very strong ACA architect office to drawing doors with a line and arc and then trimming out walls made of lines was very hard to do.

So I too am very interested in this thread and could use any suggestions that are given.

[vgonzales]

Dale,

I work for a company with 25 architects. We used to have 35. The implementation of Revit was a torturous affair as you are experiencing. It was uphill fight to have projects done in Revit instead of AutoCAD and to prove it is a worthwhile endeavor. It took several years to fully convert the entire office. We still use AutoCAD a little bit. However when it comes to DD and CD phase, it needs to be done in Revit. It eventually came down to firing the people who refuse to learn and use Revit. With Revit, you do not need the same number of people only less to do the same project.

Teaching and changing people's way of doing things is very, very difficult. Some see the benefits and some don't or just don't care. Small steps are better and large ones. Implement the BIM process in hybrid format at first. 2D CAD can be used for detailing while using 3D BIM for everything else. You might not do the detailing in Revit but the BIM model excels in creating the plans, elevations, perspectives, axos and sections. It was only when we used Revit in its entirety did we see the benefits. Jumping into BIM without learning it in steps is a very difficult. Learning while working on a project is the most beneficial. Teach people only the things they need to learn to do their task. People need to use Revit in order to learn it. Giving people a choice to use another program is counterproductive. The first Revit project is going to be the most difficult. Mistakes will happen. Just learn from your mistakes. The three day "training" is just an introduction to Revit and does not qualify anyone to being an expert. Creating custom parametric components in Revit is the most important key to implementing Revit tailored to your company's needs. If you can create custom parametric components, I would consider you to be an expert.

Large investments in hardware, software and training was involved in implementing Revit in the past six years for me. We constantly upgrade our network cabling, file servers, notebook computers and the latest versions of Revit.

Hope this helps.

[jsnyder.68308]

...and to some extents due to a lack of a clear direction in which to head, ...As I said, I feel a large amount of the problem has been caused by a lack of clear focus and direction in how to approach collaborating Revit models.

Based on my experience, this may be at the root of the problem. Having senior management express and enforce clear expectations about why and how Revit is to be used is critical to a successful implementation.
Using Revit is a big enough conceptual jump for most people that it becomes more of a social experiment than a software implementation anyway - even if your firm has not yet drunk the BIM coolaid. I have heard it said that adopting a BIM workflow is 10% software and 90% sociology.

[rbcameron1]

I find it helps to have that ONE guy (or gal) that is a Revit genius in the office. No parameter is too fierce of foe for this person. All too often I come across person after person who gets "this far" in Revit and says, "well, it can't do that." I say, no "you can't do that, Revit can." You need to find someone who has no barriers in this program. Its that person that takes everything a step further that will progress your team forward. Unfortunately that person is rare but do not become discouraged, eventually that person shows up.

I left a firm in 2008 that wasn't implementing Revit as well as they could. I went to a firm that had one of these Revit Genius's. He had 10 Revit blogs he was following, wouldn't shut up about going to AU every year, beta tester for Revit, etc... Revit was just a 8-bit video game for him and that rubbed off big time on me.

I am no longer with that company and I'm at a 20-25 person firm who is willing to pursue Revit heavily, we're just lacking a lot of depth in terms of knowledge and computer equipment. We all face "this part" of our careers at one point or another. Chin up and keep chugging away at management.

Cheers,

-ryan

[crawfords]

Based on my experience, this may be at the root of the problem. Having senior management express and enforce clear expectations about why and how Revit is to be used is critical to a successful implementation.
Using Revit is a big enough conceptual jump for most people that it becomes more of a social experiment than a software implementation anyway - even if your firm has not yet drunk the BIM coolaid. I have heard it said that adopting a BIM workflow is 10% software and 90% sociology.

Absolutely! Having senior management COMPLETELY on-board with a shift to BIM is essential. At the previous two firms I worked for, the senior project managers kicked up a fuss when put in charge of a BIM project. Perhaps understandably, they were not interested in having to develop a new work process to go along with the new technology. Frequently, they turned around and complained to senior management about the imposition and potential negative cost impacts of implementing BIM. Frequently, senior management would back off, and in some cases, projects that began in Revit finished in AutoCAD. Unfortunate.

At my current firm (SERA Architects), the Managing Partner laid down the law: we will henceforth do all projects in Revit, no exceptions. The implementation wasn't easy - it never is - but just putting our collective heads down and working through the new process development was key to a successful BIM implementation.

It's not going to be easy to implement the change to BIM, but having a committed senior management cadre does make it a lot less painful in the long run. It's like removing a Band-Aid: do you want to rip it off quickly and get it over with, or go REAL SLOW and maximize the Time of Pain.

Good luck!

-Crawford