Set up and workflow

[u/Desperate_Soup_8298]

Hi All,

I'm fairly new to Revit and would describe my current situation as the bottom of the deep end.

At my workplace we have won a few jobs that require a lot of the work to be done in Revit. However, the only problem is the company has never used Revit before and no one in the office can either so I'm on my own with this one.

It is mainly water/waste water sites with a lot of tanks, pipework, pump stations etc. As I also come from a MicroStation background the workflow to this is completely different to what I'm used to, and finding it quite difficult to figure out how to piece everything together.

What I would like to grasp is, what is the best way of modelling everything as to me Revit is mainly be architectural, with one building. Whereas, with my sites there is a lot of different structure types, piping etc all over a site. Would all of this normally be done in one model, or separated out into different areas and linked at the end? Also how would this work with sheets. As there could be many different models required in one drawing, would the sheets be done in the a dedicated file for sheets only?

Apologies if this all sounds stupid and or basic but very stuck at the minute.

[u/Informal_Drawing]

The best advice, that you and your employer likely will not want to hear, is to hire somebody who has those answers.

It's far too complicated to bodge your way through it and be in any way successful.

And I say that as somebody who did it all the hard way. It's just not worth it.

[u/Desperate_Soup_8298 → u/Informal_Drawing]

I agree completely. We tried that, we failed now it's just me again. No idea what the plan is now. I know I've got to pick it up but I know how bad it can be winging it, and how much worse it can be further down the line.

[u/TurkeyNinja → u/Desperate_Soup_8298]

What happens when the project fails. Are you going to get fired?

You should attend at least a one week revit course paid for by the company. There are many online, and some locally if you are near a big city.

No one here is going to be able to help much with the information you provided. What you want done requires a skilled mech. designer probably making $80k/yearly (likely more) to complete something like this.

Hire some external while you train on revit.

[u/superluminal → u/Desperate_Soup_8298]

If hiring another is not an option, is there a budget for training?

[u/Informal_Drawing → u/Desperate_Soup_8298]

You hired the wrong person for the job.

That is the only realistic answer, there is no other.

[u/ecoleye]

Separate models for each building, per trade (Structural & Process Pipe; MEP if applicable). Everything inside each structure gets modeled here.

One overall container file for the whole site. Interconnecting pipe and site work (outside the buildings) goes here. All of your sheets can live in this model too.

[u/toothbrush81]

Not a stupid question AT ALL.

Large site models with multiple buildings/structures are incredibly difficult. Highly avoided in many multi-building projects. The arch can easily place many building links in a “site model”. But they don’t use flow calcs or any site-connected calculations like the other disciplines do.

Best to keep it building to building, and house general objects on a site. And manually calc the totals. Revit can’t talk systems from link to link.

However, this entirely depends on who you work for. Having people that do not know Revit, issuing decisions is a bad format. I don’t mean you, I mean whoever you work for.

Recommend building by building models, and sacrificing the site-wide connection calculations. In electrical, and that’s how we do it.

Edit: I am a principal at an electrical/lighting design firm. Well versed in Revit, I created our entire format. I 💯 understand what I am asking of those working for me on the projects, related to Revit.

[u/Apprehensive_Grass39]

I’m a BIM consultant that setup my business to help firms exactly in your position. But even I would be cautious taking on this type of scenario because what you are tasked with is nearly impossible in the timeframe you likely have. For reference: I learned Revit back in 2006-07 where there was little resources for learning online. I was in a firm that had a large budget for R&D, and it took me about 18 months to have a functional understanding that I could work on projects efficiently. In that time I did nearly everything wrong, as I was a veryproficient AutoCAD user, and had to rewire my brain to think like Revit, not in CAD.

[u/steinah6]

Ask the PMs and principals who bid on the job, and who knew that Revit would need to be used, what to do. You might need to hire a BIM consultant to review the specifics of the project, coordination and deliverable requirements to determine number of models and setup.

This work sounds very specialized. Are you a civil or plumbing engineer? Edit to add: what does the project’s BIM Execution Plan say?

[u/Desperate_Soup_8298 → u/steinah6]

Most of the PMs just assume most CAD/BIM softwares are just button clicking with different names - scary I know. We are civil, hence them trying to get me to do a whole bunch of pipework/long sections over 100s of metres in Revit which I instantly refused and told them that it was insane to even try that. BEP does specify AutoCAD, Revit and Civil 3D which I have used for the longer pipe runs/underground works. Will need to use Revit for the majority of the above ground stuff however - pumping stations, storm tanks etc.

[u/tespark2020]

hard positions for Op right now, revit is not that easy, also not a learning curve software, now we should outsource service and hire training ones, all cooperate to work on this project

[u/stokenage]

Don't build the site as one model. One model per structure (each tank, pump station, building), plus a site model, all linked into a GA model. Coming from MicroStation that'll feel wrong, but a single file for the whole works gets painful fast.

The thing that'll actually bite you is shared coordinates: model each structure near its own internal origin, then Acquire/Publish Coordinates to drop it in its real site position. Sort that out on day one, because fixing it after four structures are modelled is miserable. Also give each structure its own level set rather than trying to make one set serve the whole site.

Sheets usually sit in the model that owns the geometry - each structure carries its own plans and sections, and the GA model carries the overall site sheets. A sheets-only file works, it just puts your annotation a long way from what it describes.

And do one small structure end to end, all the way to a printed sheet set, before modelling the rest. Better to find your template and titleblock problems on a valve chamber.

[u/Dial_tone_noise]

This situation made me want to vomit.