Revit Placeholders: Key to Smooth Project Development

A placeholder is an object that you place into the building model; realizing that you will eventually revise, replace or remove it. I kick off many of my projects with a set of standard, conceptually-detailed placeholders. This will include doors, walls, window, tags, dimensions, equipment and data schedules. Placeholders may be 2D or 3D; they usually have simple graphics with some simple data attached to them. We usually name them as a Type 1, Type 2, Type 3, etc doors, windows or walls.

As the project progresses, we revise or replace the "Type" placeholders with descriptive family named components; "Single Flush" door, "Double Hung with Trim" window, "Exterior - Brick and CMU on MTL. Stud" wall.

From concept placeholders to final component families, BIM Standards should be reviewed and maintained throughout the project. In the elevations image below, I encountered problems as I replaced window types. Notice how the window head heights in Step B and D do not match the windows families in Steps A and C. I should have reviewed them against my BIM standards before I released them into the project.

To globally revise, edit or replace a placeholder; we must find and select every occurence of the object family in the project file. First, select an object, right click and pick "Select All Instances" from the shortcut menu. This selects all occurences of that object family on all levels.

Now you may have two or three choices for editing. All choices exist in the Options Bar above. Working from left to right, you can either pick the the Family Properties pull-down menu and change the family type. Or select the Properties button and revise the object's Family types in the Element Properties dialog box. Or you can choose the "Edit Family" button.

BIM placeholders that are properly created and managed willl cut the labor costs and project time. Thereby allowing the designer to do more with less effort.