Project Workflow

There are a number of sites out there that have interesting information on Revit and how others use it. I saw this detailed listing as an example of project work flow and thought it was good to share:

http://revit-detail.blogspot.com/2011/12/detailed-revit-modelling-guide-work.html

What do you think? Is this how your projects flow? Are the times reasonable? See any holes in this plan?

The past and the future

The CSI meeting (past).

I'm happy to report that we seemed to have a successful meeting at the Central PA chapter of CSI last week. Lots of good information was shared. I would suggest that if you haven't checked out CSI, you should. It also gave me some ideas for things we could talk about as part of the user's group.

The next meeting (future).

I've given the question of what to do at the next meeting a lot of thought and come up with some suggestions. I've mentioned a couple of these before to John, but I thought since the number of members was increasing here it wouldn't hurt to post these as their own topic. Please feel free to toss comments on here and say what you think would work for you!

I think in January we should start with a "bring your issues from the office" meeting. I'm not sure what the logistics would be or what kind of time frame we'd have to consider for this one, but it seemed like a good place to start. We could take a list of topics (here on the site?) and line them up before the meeting. IF you've got a USB drive, toss an example file on one and bring it along. Sometimes the only way to see what's up is to get into the file and take a peek at it. Putting the topic up here would give other members a chance to look at the question and see if they've got an answer handy - maybe we can solve it before we even get to the meeting!

After that, here are some other suggestions I have:

Linking and monitoring - how do you coordinate between disciplines in your office? Do you have Navisworks or something else? What if you don't have Navisworks? What do you see when you bring the other guy's project in?

Sharing - once you've got everything coordinated in your own office, how do you share it with somebody else? What will the contractor see / get when he's looking at your model? What is he looking for? Will your "cheats" or work-arounds help or hinder anyone else?

Notes and Specs - do you link your spec in some way? Do you use the notes that show the spec sections? How do you handle manufacturer specific models?

What do you think? What issues do you want to tackle?

Preparing Your Mind for BIM

Hello Everyone,

Whether your in the process of implementing Building Information Modeling (BIM) or your just thinking about it. I have a list of 10 things you should know to prepare your mind for the journey ahead.

1. Its a Process - CAD to BIM is much more than a change in the software you use. Its a change in the whole process of delivering a project to an owner. Instead of drawing lines and inserting blocks and references for the sole purpose of creating documents, your creating a data rich 3D model that will prove to be a valuable resource for the life of the building. BIM is a process that will change the way buildings are designed, constructed, and even operated.

2. Support From the Top - If your going to have any success in implementing this technology/process, you will need buy-in from the executives in your company. Implementation will require an investment of time and money and if you don't have support from the top, you can only go so far. My opinion: If your company's executives don't see a value in this, they need to take a second hard look at it, because they are making a big mistake. They can't afford not to implement BIM.

3. Return on Investment - You can find all kind of data online regarding the ROI for BIM but none of it will take away the pain of changing to this way of doing things. Calculating the ROI on BIM is extremely difficult. Its because every project is different, not only in the type of building, but the contractors, owners, designers, and conditions only controlled by God himself, are always different. That being said, you would basically need a time machine to be able to calculate the real ROI for BIM on a particular project and although the possibility for time travel exists, the technology required does not exist yet.

4. BIM is Not Magic! - Please don't make the mistake of thinking you can buy Revit Architecture and use it on your next project with no problems. I heard a good saying recently: "You can't buy BIM in a box!". When you pull that software out of the box, you have only made one small step towards a successful implementation. It will be extremely counterproductive at first.

5. Don't be a talker, be a walker - Before you go touting to potential clients how you can provide them with this great BIM project, think about what your really capable of. There are a lot of companies that are marketing BIM deliverables that they have yet to really provide elsewhere. Don't get yourself in an embarrassing situation.

6. Lots of potential - I often equate the introduction of BIM into the construction industry to the opening of Pandora's Box (but in a good way). Now that its open, all kinds of valuable uses are coming out of it. I won't specifically list anything but when you start to understand its power, the uses could be endless, especially for the owner. It actually makes me wonder why they don't offer an intelligent model when I purchase a vehicle. That would really come in handy when performing work on the car.

7. Investment of Time - As with any new way of doing things, it will take lots of time until you learn, implement, and perfect this process of Building Information Modeling. And depending on the size of your company, you may need a full-time individual to spearhead the implementation. It may take 1, 2, and even 3 years before you can really start producing results that save money and keep you competitive.

8. Don't Complicate the Process - You can get pretty overwhelmed thinking about all the things you have to implement or change; almost to the point where you decide to put it off till next month or year. Just start small. Start with the lowest hanging fruit first, set goals, and understand it will take dedicated time.

9. Stay in Tune - During implementation and even after (if there ever is an after...lol), keep up to date on the latest news in the BIM industry. Keep track of trendsetters in the industry to see what they're doing. I like subscribing to news/blog feeds myself. If you don't stay abreast of things, you may end up right back were you started. Understand that using BIM will not give you a sustainable competitive advantage; it's just plain necessary to stay competitive in future. If your not on top of the latest trends, you will be behind the curve.

10. Learn to Share - This is a big part of the change. Building Information Modeling tends to create an environment conducive to collaboration. It almost necessary if your going to get the full potential out of the model. I understand that contractual boundaries can make this hard, but lets face it, its our job to give the owner the best project possible and if we can't share data or collaborate on a common level, then we're wasting our time and their money.

My next post is going to be on how to become a follower and set yourself up so you get email updates on all new posts on the RUG.

Crossing the streams

I haven't had tons of connections from my last post, but hopefully some folks are out there reading even if they're not chatting or posting yet.

Coming up on December 13th the Central Pennsylvania chapter of CSI is having a meeting that will feature some information on BIM - the next step.

For anyone that doesn't know: The Construction Specifications Institute is a nationwide organization comprised of architectural and engineering design professionals, specification writers, construction product representatives, contractors and construction managers, students, and other building industry-related individuals. CSI’s mission is to provide programs, services, resources and exchange of knowledge that serve to improve construction practices and the communication process for the building industry. For more information, please visit www.csinet.org and www.cpc-csi.org. Guests and visitors are welcome and encouraged to attend. Dinner reservations are requested by noon, Friday, December 9, 2011. Free for Central Pennsylvania Chapter CSI Members; Students $10, All Others $25.

I'm looking forward to an interesting meeting that night. I hope you'll pop over to the CPC site and join us!

Contact!

My last post here (before the move) asked if anyone was ready to have a conversation. Much to my chagrin, I realized after the post that I hadn't in fact provided any way for interested folks to get in touch! Worse yet, the post actually cut off my information (presuming that John posted it).

I'd like to remedy that here and now. With the new site up and running, I think it would be great for folks to provide some method of getting in touch - just in case you can't find everyone you want to talk to through the comments or the members list.

I'll start (and hope my lack of technical skills doesn't draw a slew of SPAMMERS).

Eric Hardenbrook (that's me)
ehardenbrook (at) murrayassoc.com (office)
evhardenbrook (at) gmail.com (personal)

http://www.facebook.com/people/Eric-V-Hardenbrook/100002443656757 = My Facebook page
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/eric-hardenbrook/33/723/226 = My LinkedIn profile

Who else is out there?

BIM Forum DC Takeaway’s

Last week, I had the privilege of attending the BIM Forum Conference in Washington DC. The BIM Forum is an organization sponsored by the AGC of America and whose mission is to facilitate and accelerate the adoption of building information modeling (BIM) in the AEC industry. In attendance, there were approximately 225 BIM enthusiasts from across the country representing contractors, designers, engineers, educators, software developers, and even owners. There were 9 speakers, 3 technology demonstrations, and 2 panel discussions. Most of these were very captivating and had no problem holding my attention, however, when the insurance guy took the stand, I think my eyes started to glaze over. I guess insurance isn’t a passion of mine. Anyway, although I would love to summarize all the notes I took throughout all the presentations (not!), I chose 4 takeaways that showcase what I found most interesting and rather than keep all this information in my head, I’m going to follow my collaborative nature and share them. So here they are!

ROI² (Return on Investment in Innovation): This was the main theme of the event and all presenters were instructed to incorporate this into there presentations. Although most attendees didn’t need to be convinced of BIM’s value, some of the metrics presented were pretty impressive. One of the speakers presented data from two identical buildings, one used BIM and the other didn’t. Although this data created a compelling case for BIM, I think we can agree that, even on identical projects, the dynamics on the two projects could be completely different and would easily influence this type of data. Bottom line; BIM’s value won’t always be easy to measure but we all know it’s clearly a better way to build buildings.

BIM to Field: One of my biggest takeaways from the forum was bringing BIM into the field. Whether it was at one of the vendor tables or part of a presentation, I gathered this to be the current initiative for contractors implementing BIM. Vela Systems unveiled there new Beta Model Viewer for the Ipad. This will allow users of there Field Management Software to also view the Navisworks model with relative ease. Also, in speaking with a Tekla rep, I discovered that Kinsley has the ability to use its Trimble layout equipment in conjunction with Tekla Structures or even Revit to locate points in the field.

I’ll have the box of BIM: I think most of us can agree that BIM is not software, but a process. I thought one of speakers put it well by saying “you can’t buy BIM in a box”. This was a key point in most of the presentations and validated my own feelings on the effect BIM will have on the industry. Its not something that will be the job of a few individuals in the “BIM Dept”, in fact, it will be a tool that every construction professional will need to grasp in order to be competitive in the future market.

Think outside the box: Throughout the forum, many of the individuals I met and listened to described the various innovative ways in which they utilized BIM. When you think BIM uses, you think of 3D clash detection, 4D scheduling, 5D cost estimating, and all the other D’s that may be out there. However, these individuals shared with me other small ways of utilizing BIM technology to increase productivity in the field and in the office. I won’t be specific about each use for the sake of keeping this short but to sum it up, they were an inspiration to search for innovative techniques of our own.

I have to be honest; I initially went to this forum for the networking opportunity not expecting much from the presentations. Looking back, however, I learned something new from each speaker and was inspired to be more innovative as a BIM implementer for Kinsley Construction. I have so much more to share in the form of notes, but since I have probably lost your attention by now, I will conclude by saying that I would highly recommend this event to others in the future. It was well worth the investment made.

Topics for Future Meetings

What topics would you be interested in learning about? Do you have a topic you would like to present or discuss? Please let us know by either commenting on this post or emailing jclemons@rkinsley.com

On The Rug

I’m going to jump in and make some contributions to the site, but I need to put a couple of things out there before I go on.

First, I’d like to say thanks to John for putting this together. Communication really is the key to making Revit (or any other program like it) work. I hope this will eventually become a solid source for the folks in this region to come to for all things Revit. Thanks John.

Second, in this day and age I believe the disclaimer is all important. I have a presence on the web, but it is not tied to my work. Revit is part of what I do here at my firm, but not all of what I do. Having put both of those things out there, what I post here are strictly my opinions. They are not meant to come from or be connected to the firm where I work. My hypothetical examples are actually hypothetical, not thinly veiled attempts to say things about the place where I work. Yes, one of the owners of the company pointed out the Revit User Group to me - so management is aware of things that are floating out here on the web. You should be aware of that too - particularly before you post your own “hypothetically speaking” kinds of things.

I hope that others from the area will post here and open the lines of communication. Getting folks talking isn’t always easy. There seems to be a sense that you’re “giving something away” or costing yourself business because you’ve given your “edge” to somebody else. Most days I simply wish I could find somebody that has the answer I’m looking for - but maybe that’s because I don’t run the place.

What do you think - ready to jump into a conversation?

DC BIM Forum - Click here for registration details

John Clemons here....

I wanted everybody to know about this event. It will be a great opportunity to step out of Central PA and get a peek at what the major movers and shakers in the industry are thinking about. I imagine this will be an extremely forward thinking event and I am really looking forward to it. I have already booked myself for the two day event. If you decide to go, let me know.

http://bimforum.org/events/40/fall-bimforum/

Welcome to Central PA's RUG!

Hello everyone, my name is John Clemons. I am the BIM program Manager for Kinsley Construction (based in York, PA). I am also a member of the Central PA Revit User Group and co creator of this magnificent blog :) Anywhoo, we created this blog to serve several purposes. 1.) create an increased awareness of BIM's impact on the surrounding community. 2.) showcase how Autodesk's Revit software leverages this technology for all phases of the project. 3.) Increased membership and bi-monthly meeting attendance by staying connected through weekly member posts.

We hope you find this Blog informative and we hope to see you at the next RUG Meeting.

John Clemons

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We found you one - Click Here

Models by CEG

Some shots of actual projects that we created. Remember these are projects from the last 3 years so as the software and skills improved so did the models we could create.


Jackie Smith, BIM Technician, CEG

Quote

“Now that we are as comfortable with Revit as we were with AutoCAD, our former Drafters turned BIM Technicians, can complete jobs with fewer markups from engineers, more creativity and problem solving abilities from the 3D atmosphere, and deliver more coordinated drawing sets easier than ever before with an information rich model to go along.”

Jackie Smith - CEG

The RUG's First Post

This blog is for the Central PA Revit Users Group, which meets to help the everyday users of the software. Anyone is invited to attend and I will place a way to get on the invite list in a later post. Revit Architecture, Structure and MEP are represented equally in the presentations and attendance because much of how things are done stay similar from each flavor.

As the first blog post I’ll introduce myself, Jackie Smith of Carney Engineering Group, York PA. I have been a Structural “drafter” for 6 years utilizing Revit Structure for the last 5 years and exclusively for the last 3. I love BIM and everything it can do for the process of designing and building buildings, and have tried to position myself to be in the front of this technology that, if you have not realized, has taken over the 3D design world. I have also worked with my coworker, Mick Dennis, for several years and with more than one company, and together we have solved most problems for the many building types we have been presented within Revit.

There are multiple topics that I would like to discuss on this blog including Point Clouds, the importance of a custom template and standards, Family Creation, the challenges of having things not look like CAD, best practices, how outside software can improve Revit’s time saving abilities and many other things. As well as answering questions that anyone would ask.

Here is a Point Cloud… this is all we had to start!







Jackie Smith, BIM Technician, CEG