This is not a problem for us as I am proficient in both construction and revit use. Stick to cutting corners and providing sub-par products while throwing shade at the architect at every opportunity.

Sounds like that's a staffing problem, not a Revit problem.

tduds: Agreed a staffing problem by hiring people with zero experience that are only great at using the software but have no practical experience. As far as the guy and his cutting corners, you have no business making that type of comment toward me and don't know the superior product we create. You can take your comment and shove it you pompous ass.

My experience gives me plenty to rely on when making such comments. Thank you for noticing.

Scummy constructor will do scummy things. You’ve clearly not worked with quality offices since this type of shit does not happen under my watch.

I don't understand why John came back 6 months later to make the exact same comment, but differently worded?

I know... and then try to call me out on it. The dude is just a plumber turner BIM coordinator anyways, so meh, let him get salty.

Don't feed the troll.

but...but... how else am I to distract myself from all these fire-protection specifications I need to complete?

Get a project architect to do that. Oh wait, that reminds me of something I need to do. On an unrelated note you think it's OK not to put sprinklers in an orphanage . . . friend wants to know.

but I am the PA... and the PM, so do I then ask myself? What more do those orphans want now? air-conditioning too? man, they sure have it all now.

You could always tell yourself you're too busy and to find someone else to do the spec.

I've yet to work with a contractor that knew how to read drawings. Can't be the glasses, must be between the ears. Keep doing what you're doing, and I'll keep rejecting your CO, and issue CCDs.

You again?

Guessing they're hungry? I'll send a muffin over!

rip the band aid off and dont look back

Being perfectly honest here, Revit LT isn't all that useful for drawing coordination or efficiency. We used it in our office until we realized that Revit LT doesn't allow view filters (critical to easily automating what information is shown, and how it's shown, in different views/sheets), and it doesn't allow add-ins, many of which are invaluable in getting Revit to work efficiently (one of my favorites allows me to filter my selections by just about any parameter, so I can select multiple objects that only contain "___" or whatever).

If you're planning to use Revit for time management, internal coordination, etc., skip Revit LT. It's not like AutoCAD LT where you can basically do everything you need, it's more like a trial version of Revit that you still pay for.

No view filters for revit LT ?! Holy shit how is that even useful? You have to individually manage every single view manually?

Yeah. I've currently set up our lighting plans as detail components (because we don't need 3d lighting fixtures), and I use view filters to control the halftone of lighting/electric/mech. groups within the larger RCP template. But I was showing one of my coworkers how I do this stuff in Revit LT, realized there weren't view filters, and told him he had to manually group the lighting items together (so they're all easily selectable, since RLT doesn't have add-ins for selection filtering either), and override in view. It's such a chore.

For those sole proprietors out there, if an intern says they can learn it in a month, don’t believe them — it’s a long haul transition. Worth it, but it def isn’t a “I’ll load the preview copy & learn it at home” kind of thing…expect to provide structured training. /boomerrant #getoffmylawn

curious- what size projects are you working on? i have a lot of revit experience but it still doesn't seem worth to me for single family res or small commercial (our office still uses cad for these).

Proto, I'm the bim wizard in our office and have been dabling in this space since 2006 and even I would rate myself a 6/10 skill-wise on my best of days. I'm also in charge of training our staff and presently using a multi-million custom 7k sq.ft house as our first full revit/full 3d detail project pilot (previous revit have all been commercial in scope) I'm also not supposed to be actually doing any of the drafting, so we'll see how that goes.

Residential is 95% of what we do. Two architects (& adding two [last summer's graduating] interns this coming year). Remodel & ground up. I will never use BIM for clash detection or coordinating with consultants tho we certainly need to share docs.

Square, that's exactly what we do, LOL. I've been frustrated by producing 40+ sheet sets with the constant upkeep of similar yet different drawings (think series of building & wall sections for instance). I figure the computer can help us with that.

interesting, yes i feel you there. i think it's a borderline decision at best- damned if you do, damned if you don't.

@ NS, in some ways, residential as a first BIM project is almost too much. Commercial might have been easier in retrospect. So many particularities that we model for residential vs systems that are relatively uniform & consistent in commercial. I never realized how much we end up glossing over as unique instances until faced with normalizing them in unique objects & tool settings (walls, slabs, doors, etc).

@square, yeah, swapping model maintenance for repeated drafting maintenance 

I've done custom residential and commercial work in Revit. To me they are both the same in difficulty. Keep in mind that I've been working in Revit for over ten years. I'd rate my proficiency with the software as a 6/10.

thanks, it is good to hear how others relate, for sure

I probably still am at a stage where I don't know what I don't know, but... when I transitioned to my current firm, the agreement was that I had to learn Revit before coming aboard (turns out I'm the only Revit user in the office). I spent about four months before I made my move learning at home with a personal Revit license, paid month to month, and have been now working full-time in Revit here for about seven months. All in, about a year.

At this point, I'm comfortable enough that I can produce permit sets for our SFR work by myself, coordinating with consultants who use mixed Revit/Cad. I'd say if you get a person who's eager and quick to learn, they can learn to be semi-proficient with the software in about a year. Granted, I knew how a set goes together long before I started with Revit, so that may play into it.

I still struggle with accurately modeling and documenting complex roof shapes, and I probably cheat them a lot more than I think I do, but a year's worth of full-time work in Revit seems like it was enough to get me able to keep my billable time afloat.

I lot of people a decade in calling out 6/10 skills... Where are the 10/10 experts? Is it like IT where employers want 5 yrs experience on a new software only 2 years old?

the 10/10 are all the fresh grads with shiny portfolio renderings and zero years of experience.  

a bit redundant to say that fresh grads have zero years of experience... and honestly many of the "fresh grads" i teach can kick most of the gen xers asses in revit when they graduate.

10/10 skill in Revit is were you can make functional, parametric, analytical families . . .

There are no 10/10 Revit users. The best case is something like 9.5/10. Anyone who says they know everything about it simply doesn't know enough to know what they don't know, and should not be trusted.

Gotta give a big haircut to anyone's revit experience if they've never gone to site or dealt with a project through CA.

I am a certified Autodesk Revit Professional (2015) and I am only a 6/10 Revit user

tduds - I agree. I was being facetious with my family comment.

true ns, guess im more reacting to your use of fresh grads as punching bags. a bit weird no?

like i said as an educator i'm impressed with the majority of them, and definitely feel for the fact that every year they are graduating into a more and more complex architectural landscape in terms of technology, both in production and buildings. if you've been around a while, you've been able to deal with these things in a bit more of a stride; graduating into a cad world is much more forgiving than a revit one.

^square, by fresh grads I meant all those “review my portfolio” one post ponies. All of them have 10/10 revit skills. They took all the points for themselves, none left for me to claim.

If someone is fresh out of school and says they are an expert in Revit, let them help out on a project that's in the late CD stages or even CA stages and see how they start flapping like a fish out of water. Using a program in school, building fancy parametric families, gives younger people way too much confidence when entering the workforce.

This literally sums it up. This thread should be closed now.

The latter. We're a small firm that does primarily high-end SFR, and we use Sketchup from concept through schematic design, and begin producing a Revit model/drawings as the final meeting of SD, signaling our transition to DD and beyond.

even in the large firm commercial teams i've worked on we don't try to model fully in revit until DD. SD is often only using revit to set out typical floors and "draw" plans. The overall 3D model is studied and resolved in Rhino or sketchup until it's settled enough to model in revit, usually at DD.

Thx midlander & Jovan Millet. That’s helpful!