Big Thanks to Our Contractor

We're making plans to move into the home I designed in Revit within the next week. As a note of thanks we took out a personal ad in our local newspaper to thank our general contractor, Jim Helms owner of Quality Built Homes, Inc. for his efforts. We punctuated that personal ad with a webpage that featured him and a few of the subcontractors that brought this project to life.

I've been photographing and creating video snippets of the project weekly since we started in August. I should have a rolling photo gallery posted soon using a product called FilmLoop.

Andersen Windows: Role Model for Combining BIM and Green?

Designing a building using a BIM process or designing a building using specific green-sustainable design features requires an answer to "What's in it for me?" This includes all stakeholders; the building owner, designers, engineers and contractors.

If I google the internet for "window manufacturers"; I get dozens of pages of window manufacturers and resources. I chose to highlight Andersen Corporation (Windows-Doors) for a couple reasons.

• When I first started designing projects with Revit, Andersen was the only window manufacturer that provided predefined Revit families of their window products.
• I've used Andersen window Revit families on my design projects; including the design work I've done for our house in Revit.
• I'm also highlighting Andersen's Energy Star tax credit resources that we're submitting for tax credits for the Low-E glass Andersen windows designed in our new home.

More than five years ago my first impression of Revit was greatly elevated when I saw a Revit Andersen Window library (Series 400) that was accessed directly from the Revit software on an Autodesk Revit server.

The Revit Andersen Window Door Libraries get updated with each new version of Revit. They are located in the Web Libary under Revit Manufacturer 9.0 Library > Andersen Corporation Library > 400 Series (includes casement & tiltwash double-hung)

WOW was my first reaction! I had used Andersen 2D software to create AutoCAD elevation blocks of their windows; but nothing like this. Finding a manufacturer that invested time (AND money) to create Revit families was really encouraging. Over the years; working with Softdesk (AutoArchitect) and ADT we had almost given up on finding manufacturers' product content that was designed specifically for our software.

Several years ago Reviteers visited the zoogdesign website and an upstart website called Revitcity looking for free family downloads. Today we can find additional Andersen and Pella Windows families on Revitcity created by users. If a window manufacturer offers elevations of their products in DWG format; consider using the technique I highlighted in my blog titled "Revit Tips to Tracing DWG Floor Plans".

Visit the EnergyStar website to search and find door-window manufacturers that provide EnergyStar Windows & Doors. Search their sites for energy tax credit information regarding their products. With a little digging on their websites; I found EnergyStar information on both the Pella and Kolbe & Kolbe window websites. Visit your favorite window manufacturer website for EnergyStar certifications and rebates.

Use the The Database of State Incentives for Renewable Energy (DSIRE) database to search individual states for tax credits and rebates that are currently offered by other product manufacturers; windows, furnaces, lighting, solar etc.

Green Homes Put Green in Everyone's Pocket

Designing homes? Building homes? Have you been competing on price or on the value of your home designs? Has it become a buyer's market in your locale? Has the cost of construction materials delayed or cancelled any projects.

Here's a great article that provides you and your client with the opportunity to put some green into the home design; but also put green into both of your pockets. For those builders that are interested in earning several thousand dollars of tax credits, check out item #2 on Jerry's list.

Ten Reasons Why the Green Home Market is Ready to Surge
By: Jerry Yudelson, Senior Editor - Monday, July 17, 2006 Source: iGreenBuild.com

Green or Sustainable Design usually means longterm payback as you invest money upfront. The website described below (DSIRE) is updated weekly and monthly. It provides upfront rebates and cash-back incentives for buying products that match the specifications database; furnaces, air conditioning, lighting, appliances, insulation and more. Financing for these rebates is provided through local, state & federal government agencies, utilities and/or product manufacturers.

The Database of State Incentives for Renewable Energy (DSIRE). It's a comprehensive source of information on state, local, utility, and selected federal incentives that promote renewable energy. DSIRE now includes incentives for energy efficiency. Choose one or both databases for searching.

As part of the learning process, visit the U.S. Greenbuilding Council (USGBC) site for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Homes (LEED-H). You can download a checklist sustainable features that will determine the LEED rating of your designs. It features contact information for more than 40 state agencies. The U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) has reprinted a four-page article title "Green Building for Homes" from Home Energy magazine.

We are in the beginning stages of LEED-H. You have time to begin incorporating the easiest sustainability features into your designs. Automating the LEED material and performance documentation for your home designs is important to qualify for funding. Next time, we'll look at a couple Autodesk Revit features to assist with automating the documentation and performance simulation of your home designs for LEED-H.

Our Home in Revit

My wife, Georgene and I are "patiently" waiting for our county to provide us with our building permit for our new house. Since Revit Version 4.5, I've designed 3 variations of homes before we received bank loan approval a couple weeks ago.

This was last year's home design model. It's a tri-level home plan that we ran through the estimating and preliminary construction review process. However, it didn't make it to final production so its not complete. However, using copy and paste I created a ranch version of this design in only a few hours which will be built this summer-fall.

We're experiencing the benefits of design-build and working with a contractor that has embraced 3D modeling (BIM) throughout the design and production process. (BTW, our builder has been building homes for 30 years) The BIM process with our builder has incorporated cost effective construction processes into the final design. When he arrives at our home I usually connected my laptop to the TV and conducted the meeting using Revit. Here's a 3D DWF file of the tri-level home

As I look back over the last few years of design, the following items stood out as the main Revit features to help me design a house that could be constructed cost effectively, provide a level of sustainability and incorporate a little universal design. Yea...we're getting old and I'm sounding like a commercial. So here they are...

Visualization and Analysis

1. 3D people figures to assist with scale of space in 3D views and sections.
2. 3D isometric and perspective views for the builder, bank, bank appraiser, Georgene and anyone else that wanted to see it.
3. Design options for the porch, kitchen cabinet layout and master bath & closets
4. The sun shadows feature to design the soffits and landscape to the final project
5. We used the gross area analysis tools to define and manage gross square footage and thereby manage budget.
6. 3D Revit floor plan furniture, equipment and casework libraries helped verify space and traffic patterns.
7. I created animated walk-throughs and sometimes exported them to video playback files (AVI)
8. 3D DWF files for communications with builder, kitchen designer and Georgene.

Production & Design

1. Whole house modeling that immediately updated my plans, elevations, sections, and schedules.
2. Live building and wall sections to design the stairs, roofs, cathedral ceilings and structure.
3. Creating data (take-off) schedules for doors, windows, sheet index and space efficiency analysis.
4. Locking dimension values on our design decisions.
5. Auto tagging the doors and windows types in plans and elevations.
6. Sloped slabs, cathedral ceilings and roofs.
7. Sweep profiles for footings, railings, soffits, fascia boards and gutters.
8. Using the pre-built Anderson window and Kohler plumbing libraries.
9. Revit sheet set (page) management for documentation and printing.
10. Export 2D DWF files for printing bid sets. My reprographics vendor just loved getting one file with all of the pages inside it....BTW, they used a KIP 6000 to print the DWF files.
11. Designed in-place families to create custom countertops footprints complete with backsplashes and bullnoses.
12. Revit callouts (enlarged plans) of the kitchen and building sections.
13. The split face tools for adding corner boards and porch fascia to the building elevations.
14. The underlay feature to coordinate floor plans features between each floor.
15. Reference planes to coordinate interior and exterior alignments.
16. Auto-create interior & exterior elevations that auto-update as changes are made.
    
    Revit's 3D site topology around this home design actually became the brake that "shelved" this design for our building site.

I'm sure there's more you'll find as you look through the construction document set and 3D DWF file posted above. Remember, in the 2D set created by Revit 9 you have two options in the DWF viewer.

First, if you use the "arrow" (select) tool in the viewer, you can now pick a window, door, or any object and it will tell what it is and the parameter information assigned to it. I find it fascinating that if you select an object it will highlight in all of the views on the sheet. Make sure you set this feature in the EXPORT to 2D DWF dialogue box under OPTIONS.

Second, if you use the "hand" (pan) tool in the viewer, you can pick on section, elevation or level tag to navigate the sheet set. Usually these links are blue. Make sure you set this feature in the EXPORT to 2D DWF dialogue box under PRINT SETUP button.

Get the Free DWF Viewer to view these DWF files.

Related blog posts I've written:

Residential Design: Revit 2D Sketch Tools Define 3D Curb Appeal for Homeowners

Residential Designers-Builders Sell Their Projects Using Revit Design Options and Whole House Modeling

Free DWF Movie Download