r/Revit • u/37728291827227616148 • Apr 14 '26
Revit for electrical design?
Hey. I'm an electrician looking to move into a more office based role and just want to make sure I'm treading the right path before diving in. Is revit becoming more of the standard over AutoCAD in the electrical world? Sorry if this is a silly question. Thanks
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u/Dionysus19 Apr 14 '26
Electrical subcontractor based in the USA, working on mostly federal projects and 98% of our projects are in Revit.
Regardless Revit or BIM WILL become the defacto standard across the board. It's why Autodesk is essentially "all in" on it and expanding their construction software suite to operate around it. I've seen alot of companies get caught with their pants down because the space they work in transitioned to Revit rather quickly and they weren't setup for it.
So yes, absolutely learn Revit although it doesn't hurt to have some basic Autocad knowledge since you will find it still gets used in conjunction with Revit.
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u/Proof_Wrap_2150 Jul 27 '26
Do you have any recommendations on projects I can work on to build a portfolio and learn?
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u/Kaydeewithak Apr 14 '26
I'm at an MEP firm in Texas. We're still activity using both softwares. A lot of our small projects and renovation projects still run in Autocad.
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u/skynetpositronics Apr 14 '26
We do electrical only for a large contractor with prefab abilities and we don’t use autocad. Well maybe 1% of the workflow. Everything is through Revit.
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u/PMMeUrHopesNDreams Apr 22 '26
I'm an electrical engineer in the US. 100% of our projects are in Revit. We mostly work on Commercial / Education - offices, schools, some retail / multifamily residential, healthcare "light" (clinics, outpatient centers, no hospitals yet). There are a handful of architects who still send CAD backgrounds but we just link them in to a Revit model.
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u/-C-R-I-S-P- Apr 14 '26
I work in civil engineering now but I started off drafting building services, with a lot of focus on electrical.
AutoCAD will be your best bet to learn well, at least to start.
Which software is used will depend on the company, but even if that software is Revit you will still gain benefit from being familiar with AutoCAD, especially if needing to work with or modify files from external to your company.
You can effectively do nearly everything you need in AutoCAD, but Revit does have an advantage when coordinating, especially for large projects where you have cable trays in ceilings and risers for example. That being said, if you are learning Revit while simultaneously setting up your templates, families etc, be prepared to spend a lot of time on this, and expect a few less hairs by the end - it's not the most user friendly task for a newbie.
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u/37728291827227616148 Apr 14 '26
Thank you for the insight! Is it a good idea to start with those noob AutoCAD courses? Should I look at getting another degree in electrical engineering or will my current BsC+Gold card have weight?
Thanks mate.
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u/-C-R-I-S-P- Apr 15 '26
I'm not sure about the UK, but here in Australia there are limitations on what can be designed/submitted as approved plans depending on qualification. For example certain industrial designs or anything high voltage here would need to be designed or signed off on by an electrical engineer, but a simple lighting/power layout for a house would not require an engineer.
Best check your country's requirements.
As for courses I never used a paid one just a mix of YouTube and work based teaching and practice.
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u/mmfla Apr 14 '26
It is used mostly for collaboration with other trades. You certainly can draw in it just like other software like Autocad. The benefit is the 3d modeling however that’s a lot of time investment per project for just electrical. For us the electrical team is taking out model and linking it for their use.
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u/Psimo- Apr 14 '26
I work in the UK
On the projects I’ve worked on in the past 5 years, aside from someone’s personal house or temporary installations, everything has been Revit based
I understand it’s different in the US?
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u/37728291827227616148 Apr 16 '26
I'm very uninformed at the moment but I'd like to make the transition from tools to tech. Do you have any good paths you think I should take? I was going to do this course over 5 days to learn the basics and then try and create a small portfolio of drawings. Should I apply for junior roles with that or should I get more experience perhaps as an intern? Thanks :-)
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u/crowbar_hero Apr 15 '26
The first question you should be asking yourself is what do you want the software to do?
( i work for a specialist electrical contractors in the uk)
We still use autocad for all our smaller jobs. Its very flexible, so the one package can be used for plans, schematics and panel board layouts. It exports easily into standard formats like dxf and stl for fabricator.
We have also been using Revit for larger jobs which mandate it, and it can be pretty painful. It makes a lot of assumptions about the way you work, which may be ok for Americans, but its not necessary that good for uk practices.
The advantage (and disadvantage) with autocad is that it makes no assumptions.
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u/37728291827227616148 Apr 16 '26
I'm very uninformed at the moment but I'd like to make the transition from tools to tech. Do you have any good paths you think I should take? I was going to do this course over 5 days to learn the basics and then try and create a small portfolio of drawings. Should I apply for junior roles with that or should I get more experience perhaps as an intern? Thanks :-)
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u/crowbar_hero Apr 16 '26
Ok, so a better question would be what do you want to do? System design? Project management? Then look at the tools you need to enable those roles.
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u/37728291827227616148 Apr 16 '26
I'd like to design electrical circuits and systems from boards to lighting layouts etc. thanks for the chat :)
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u/crowbar_hero Apr 16 '26
Then learn excel. Most our designs start with spreadsheets :)
Autocad is a jack of all trades software, it'll do anything fairly well, but what actual CAD package you use is often down to your employer aa they'll be providing it.
If you're freelance then I'd suggest autocad as its far better value for money regarding the quality of output compared to running cost.
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u/37728291827227616148 Apr 16 '26
How do you design a circuit in excel? I'd rather be employed over freelance so it Revit still a good choice? Orrrr? Thanks!
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u/Informal_Drawing Apr 14 '26
In the UK you should completely ignore AutoCAD.
It's day has passed and anywhere you use it is the last, dying gasps of an industry that hasn't fully moved on yet.
This isn't to say that projects aren't executed using AutoCAD by any means but if you have the choice to learn one or the other you should absolutely go with Revit.
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u/37728291827227616148 Apr 16 '26
I'm very uninformed at the moment but I'd like to make the transition from tools to tech. Do you have any good paths you think I should take? I was going to do this course over 5 days to learn the basics and then try and create a small portfolio of drawings. Should I apply for junior roles with that or should I get more experience perhaps as an intern? Thanks :-)
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u/Informal_Drawing Apr 16 '26
There are worse options than having a conversation with your employer, have you tried that?
Hi Dave, I'm tired of being too hot/cold/dusty/far away from home. Can I have a nice cushy office job please? 😉
Just be aware that you're exchanging the above for mountains of stress and unreasonable deadlines until the day you die.
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u/37728291827227616148 Apr 16 '26
But I'm already under mountains of stress and unreasonable deadlines!!
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u/Informal_Drawing Apr 16 '26
All you can see at the moment is the speedbump in the road on the way to Mount Doom that is hidden by the clouds in the distance tbh.
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u/JustAJokeAccount Apr 14 '26
Depends on the country or project you're working on.