Revit Protects Homebuilders' Design Services

A homebuilder-designer's biggest uncaptured pre-sales/design costs can come from prospects that expect them to design their house plans without a contract.

In that scenario, the homeowner may take those "free house plans" to a different homebuilder for pricing; naively thinking they're getting a better deal.

Here are a few suggestions I've given homebuilders to showcase the value of their design services. My homebuilder clients began using these in 1990; when the first 3D CAD floor planning software packages appeared in the market.

It protects the homebuilder's investment of design time while assisting the homeowner during the design qualification stage.

Its a win-win for the homeowner who obtains a valuable visualization tool to qualify both the builder and their new home floor plan design.

The most obvious, do NOT design or redesign client/prospect house plans for free. Provide the client with a design service fee structure that is independent of construction bid/fees. Provide a sliding fee structure as the client requests more detailed plans.

Provide homeowners with printed Revit 3D isometric/perspective floor plan views rather than the traditional 2D floor plans views. They are unscalable and non-duplicable for another builder to create construction drawings.
Revit 3D house plans provide homeowners with a dramatically better understanding of their design. 3D house plans subtly reflect a higher level of value on your organization when compared with other builders.

Revit's whole house 3D floor planning tools (walls, doors, windows, plumbing fixtures, dimensions, etc) expedite the creation of house floor plans. The entire house (all floors) is designed and coordinated in a single file.

Homebuilders' design services provide homeowners with a financially valuable service during the design process. Their construction expertise helps design a more valuable house for the homeowner that also meets their budget.

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Our Home in Revit

Big Thanks to Our Contractor

Design Schools Embracing BIM-Based Design Practice

Today's design practice is a digital design practice.

Credible design schools and their educational staff are ensuring that when students graduate with their BS in Engineering or MS in Architecture, they are well prepared and employable for their immediate roles in the "real design practice world".

I compiled this list of references for an educator on Revitcity.com. He wanted to show his peers the tangible need to update their design school's classes. Thereby improving the professional credibility of their professors, underscore the university's competitive-educational image and the value of their students' degree and employability.

Questioning the Role of BIM in Architectural Education: A Counter-Viewpoint
by Paul Seletsky, Associate AIA, the Director of Digital Design for Skidmore Owings and Merrill’s New York office. It was published in the AECbytes.com newsletter.

BIM Goes to School (PDF) Download Global perspective: This white paper focuses on how BIM is being leveraged within several universities around the world and how students who have access to this way of working are accelerating their design thinking and their studio work...and laying the foundation for dramatically advancing their industry in the future.

Autodesk Launches Academic Certification Program to Help Prepare the Next Generation of Professionals is a press release by Daratech (statistics crunchers) 9/2007

Autodesk Helps Bridge Gap Between Education and Industry press release from ThomasNet-Industrial Newsroom on connecting Nebraska schools to current and local industry required software.

1-2-3 Revit: BIM Goes to School By Bill Rundell, AIA.
This is a 2005 article when more than 80 colleges and universities were using Revit for their architect-engineering programs.

From an Educational Perspective: BIM in the Architectural Curriculum (PDF)
David R. Scheer, AIA, Associate Professor and Director
Center for Integrated Design and Construction
University of Utah College of Architecture + Planning

Abstract: As Building Information Modeling becomes the new standard for the AEC industry, the training of young professionals to work in this environment becomes a critical issue. Certain tendencies in current architectural education are clearly unsuited to BIM, whose value lies in its capacity to facilitate collaboration and accumulate information throughout the entire building lifecycle. An entirely new approach to architectural education is needed. This process has begun at the University of Utah's College of Architecture and Planning.

Curriculum changes are being tried, ranging from rethinking the design studio to the addition of new courses specifically addressing BIM. Greater involvement by industry in architectural education is needed to bring the collaboration-building aspects of BIM into the classroom and studio. Read on...

AECCafe: Autodesk Presents Revit BIM Experience Award to New Jersey Institute of Technology for Creation of Fully Digital Approach to Architectural Education

For those that feel that architecture is art, the [bim]x blog provides a quote from Frank Gehry on the business case of using digital design tools.

The employability news underscores the growing demand for BIM literacy and compentency. Take a quick look at the AIA job banks and engineering placement agencies. We can't find enough architects and engineers that know Revit to fill the waiting jobs for this BIM design process.

Design students are choosing degrees from institutions that have credible programs; that are relative to the current design business. Employers are hiring more graduates from these schools. Eventually the post graduation learning and financial costs fall back on the student (now employee) and the respective design firm that has hired him or her.

The message to design schools: A prestigious sheepskin that delivers unemployable skills, student loan debt and soaring employer training costs; is meaningless for tomorrow's designers and their respective employers to grow a successful design business.

Congratulations to those design schools and their staff that understand and teach the "real design practice methodology".

Revit. Mac or PC Platforms?

An architect in our Seattle office recently shared his successful experiences using Revit on a Mac. I did a little investigating from his email and found this blog article which I sent to him.

Blogger David Light, from Winchester, Hampshire, United Kingdom published this post on his successful experiences with Revit on the Mac

Cheers!

Revit Architecture Wish List

Revit Architecture Wish List?

Stop by AUGI's Revit Architecture Wish List webpage.

Use their submit your Revit Architecture wish / suggestions link to provide your ideas for improvements and added features for the next generations of Revit software.

The first AUGI Revit Architecture ballot is available for you to vote on new features and improvements. You'll need to be logged into AUGI to vote on the ballot.

Time is running out for your suggestions that can shape the future of Revit software. Stop by the Revit Wish List Forums for more ideas.

Free Workout With Revit Worksets - AUGI ATP Director

Eric Wing, AUGI ATP Director provides a 2-part series of free Workouts With Revit Worksets.

His first installment; Worksharing in Revit, Part 1 - September 2007 is now available.

Eric has also written (the first in a 2 part series) a Revit tutorial for AUGI's Magazine; AUGI World.

Eric's article; The Missing Link: How to Leverage Building Model Content Across Platforms is published on page 26 of September/October 2007 AUGI World. He outlines the process for linking and coordinating changes with Revit models from different disciplines.

Eric and I work together in the same company. Eric lives in New York. I first met him when we took/passed our Revit Implementation Expert (ICE) exams in Chicago earlier this year.

Eric’s activities within AUGI include: ATP Director, Survey Manager, ATP instructor, HotNews columnist and AUGIWorld columnist.

Revit Architecture & Structure 2008 Web Updates Now Available

Autodesk updated the Revit Architecture 2008 and the Revit Structure 2008 product download sites.

Revit Architecture
Web Update SP2 build (20070810_1700):
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/item?siteID=123112&id=9408083

List of Revit Architecture 2008 updates.

Revit Structure
Web Update SP2 build (20070810_1700):
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/item?siteID=123112&id=9281007

List of Revit Structure 2008 updates.


There are two separate downloads; one for the single Revit product and one for the Revit Suites products (those products that come bundled with AutoCAD). Choose the correct product based on the product type you purchased.

Revit 2008-3ds Max-Expert Visualization Blogger

Blogger and longtime 3D visualization expert, Mark Gerhard has posted an article "Revit to 3ds Max" which highlights the file exchange between Revit Architecture 2008 and Autodesk 3ds Max.

Recent topics include high level technical reviews; 3ds Max 2008 Announced and VIZ or MAX?

Mark's Visualization Solutions Blog has a RSS feed you can subscribe to and post in your RSS reader.

Make sure to stop by his Visualization Solutions Archive.

Mark Gerhard serves as an Autodesk webboard forum assistant for the 3ds Max forums. He has seventeen years experience with 3D Studio and 3ds Max products and was the first application engineer at Autodesk dedicated to the multimedia products.

Free Revit Structure Tutorials-Streaming Media Format

Free audio-video Revit Structure tutorials have been posted on this site. They are presented in a general overview format. Consider using them for your next company "lunch and learns" or to provide users/management with an idea of Revit functionality.

The site includes a Revit Structure Tutorials RSS/XML feed if you want to plug this link into your RSS reader. Your reader can monitor the site and alert you when new tutorials become available.

Currently the site has posted archived Revit Structure demonstration webcasts and these short overview tutorials:

Top Features

• Single Model for Both Structural Analysis and Documentation
• Bidirectional Associativity Between Model and Views
• Construction Documents Structural Details
• Import/Export in DWG/DXF/DGN/IFC and CIS/2 formats
• Bidirectional Links with Analysis Packages
• Multiple Materials
• Structural Parametric Components
• Multi-users Worksharing Interoperability with Revit Architecture

Auto-Rotating Revit Components: Revit Productivity Techniques

Revit provides two methods for rotating components as you place them into the project.

The easiest technique is to "tap" the SPACEBAR prior to placing a component.

Each time you tap the spacebar, the family component will rotate 90 degrees.

Use this same technique to place components parallel or perpendicular to building elements that are not on a 90-degree angle.

For example, as you insert a component, hold the cursor on the "linework" of an angular oriented building element or component.

While the linework is highlighted (not selected) by the cursor, tap the spacebar. The component attached to your cursor will pick up the angle of the reference object and will begin rotating at 90 degree increments, relative to the reference object's angle. The component is now parallel or perpendicular to the reference object.

The last method for rotating components prior to placement is located in the Options Bar.

Select the Component command and check the "Rotate after placement" checkbox in the Options Bar.

You can dynamically set the angle by picking a point on screen...or just start typing the value of the angle and press the Enter key. Done!

Important Revit Structure 2008 Update

There are 20 reasons you may want to download and update your Revit Structure 2008 with this new build. (20070607_1700) Most noteworthy is a fix for product activation. The other 19 are listed on this (English) Revit Structure 2008 download page.

Choose this page to select your language:
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?siteID=123112&id=9339705

Important Revit Architecture 2008 Update

There are 10 reasons you may want to download and update your Revit Architecture 2008 with this new build. (20070607_1700) Most noteworthy is a fix for product activation. The other 9 are listed on this (English) Revit Architecture 2008 download page.

Choose this page to select your language:
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?siteID=123112&id=9262388

Revit Structure 2008: Analysis Partners Resource Websites

More than eleven hundred Application Specialists from North America finished their fourth and final day of Tech Camp on Thursday. My last day was spent training on the new features and process improvements of Revit Structure 2008.

Here are the company websites whose analysis programs link to Revit Structure.

ADAPT

http://www.adaptsoft.com/revitstructure/

RISA

http://www.risatech.com/partner/revit_structure.asp

ROBOBAT: Download and use these free extensions for Revit Structure

Robobat features a bonus site of free extensions for Revit Structure you can download and use immediately

http://www.revit.robobat.com/n/revit

http://www.extensions4revit.com/

MIDAS

http://eng.midasuser.com/revit/overview.htm

I'll continue to add other analysis suppliers as their products come online for Revit Structure 2008.

Download Revit Architecture 2008-Revit Structure 2008-Revit MEP 2008

As we prepped our laptops today for next week's Tech Camp in Orlando, we used the new Autodesk download sites for Revit Architecture 2008, Revit Structure 2008 and Revit MEP 2008.

I downloaded Revit Architecture and Revit Structure that were about 250MB. Once you download and select the EXE file, it will take another 20-30 minutes to complete the installation. It downloads some pretty large CAB files from the Autodesk site to complete the software installation. So you'll need a broadband Internet connection for a couple hours.

As these are 30 trials, they'll give you the opportunity to create, edit and save Revit 2008 files until you replace the demo s/n with your own s/n.

Be sure to download their Feature Summary, What's New? and Installation Instructions PDF files at the bottom of the download page.

Feeddigest Links My Building Design Media Sources

I'm testing a web service called feeddigest to link the content I write for my company's
Architectural Solutions blog into this, my personal Revit JobCaptain blog.

My ASB blog content is posted on Revit JobCaptain main page, in the right margin of this screen; under Architectural Solutions Blog.

I posted a follow-up article to my original Our Home In Revit blog post; titled Designing A Greener Home With Revit on our company blog. I'll be taking this blog post's outline, photos, videos and Revit data I've created on the road soon as a "green educational" event.

A little about Feeddigest. If a web resource has syndication capabilities (xml/rss/rdf), take that link and enter it into Feeddigest. It creates javascript, vbscript or php source code that I can place into a webpage. As my syndication sources update, they update my html webpage.

I can blend several syndication sources into one feed. If I have two blogs, I enter both syndications URLs and Feeddigest creates a single feed from two blogs. I can also set key words/phrases and create a feed from multiple resources on a specific topic. So far, it's been pretty cool in my testing phase. It's free for 30 days and about $1 a month for an annual subscription.

I'm updating my Revit JobCaptain Lens and Home Planning and Design lens weekly with volumes of research and resources that eventually tie into my blogs. When I first started my 15 lenses, there were less than 5,000 lenses. At last count there are more than 100,000 Squidoo lenses.

A single page blog has limitations. Hopefully, my other web media sources will help you find content I've created or use that may be specific to your building design application.

Cheers!

Revit Architectural 2008 Announcement

I posted the upcoming product release announcements for the 2008 versions Revit Building, Structure, MEP and ADT on my company's Architectural Solutions blog this morning;

Cheers!