topic Structural Framing/Beam Systems - Change Top/Default Justification? in Revit Structure Forum

Structural Framing/Beam Systems - Change Top/Default Justification?

ianpM59BG — Wed, 17 Jun 2026 18:05:59 GMT

Hey all, I think the answer will be no here, but figured I'd ask.

I've made a basic roof truss as a structural framing member instead of a Truss - because of everyone's ongoing issues with trusses not being as fleshed out as they'd like (default bearing condition in the middle of the bottom chord, can't make beam systems, can't do eaves, etc).

The truss works well by itself! BUT - Here's the problem. when I use it in a beam system, Revit defaults the Z Justification of the members to Top instead of Origin or Bottom, meaning my trusses are "hung" from my Work Plane instead of sitting on it.

I can select all the joists in that beam system and change Justification to Origin, but then if I need to change the elevation of the beam system or make changes where new trusses are added, the trusses will reset to be justified to Top.

So, is there a way to make any of these solutions work?

A - Set up a beam system to default to "Origin" or "Bottom" Z Justification on the system?

B - Make Revit believe that "Top" is actually the Bottom or Origin of a Framing Family?

C - Make a Hybrid Generic Model/Structural Framing Family that can still be used as a beam system?

Family works well as a single joist/element with Origin Justification:

Families keep defaulting to Top Justification in Beam System after any changes to the system.

Re: Structural Framing/Beam Systems - Change Top/Default Justification?

Radwan-Almsora — Wed, 17 Jun 2026 22:30:27 GMT

In Revit, structural framing families are hardcoded to justify from the Top by default in beam systems. Because beam systems reset when edited, manually unpinning or justifying isn't a permanent fix. The most reliable workflow is to adjust the family geometry and utilize a global Z-offset.

Re: Structural Framing/Beam Systems - Change Top/Default Justification?

ianpM59BG — Thu, 18 Jun 2026 13:02:08 GMT

"Adjust the family Geometry and utilize a global Z-Offset" - Can you expand on that? is that a Z-offset in the family itself or in the model? How can you do a z-offset that would actually re-assign where "Top" is on a Structural Framing family, because I haven't figured that out?

Re: Structural Framing/Beam Systems - Change Top/Default Justification?

ianpM59BG — Thu, 18 Jun 2026 13:08:06 GMT

My Framing Family Origin is at the bottom of the bottom chord of the truss, so that's placed where I need it. Is there a different way to adjust the Origin or Top? I Currently have the reference plane level set to Origin, and labelled as Top to see if that did anything either. Still no luck.

As far as an API workaround, I COULD make a triggered command with my plug-in to always align certain Framing Types to Origin, but not everyone in the company is using the plugin at this point so it wouldn't work universally. If at all possible I like to make sure any solutions/families I bake into our models don't NEED a plug in to work, but a plug in could make them work better.