Implementing Revit - General Advice / Do we need a consultant?

[Anonymous]

Hi,

I work for a small (c.45) person architecture firm that will shortly be implementing Revit for an initial pilot project. Some of the team (maybe five of them) have used Revit before, but only one or two are very confident with it. 

I know that we'll need some intensive training and I expect we'll hire a BIM manager in the medium-term, but for now, how important is it that we get a consultant in to advise on how we set up our standards, workflows etc.? 

Any other advice on what we need to consider would be very helpful.

Thank you!

[DarrenP]

out of those 5 people that used Revit before have any of them setup a Template for Revit before?

it is always a good idea to bring in someone that knows Revit but it may not be cheap

So that really depends on how much your co-workers know about Revit then i would go from there

[loboarch]

I would consider getting a consultant to get you going. It will be expensive, but I would like to think you will get that $ back in the time savings you have not falling into traps and getting productivity bogged down trying to learn something new. They can help you avoid future pitfalls as well. It will make for more happy employees just able to do their job rather than having overhead of learning EVERYTHING all at once.

[dgorsman]

Regardless of whether there is a consultant or not, mistakes *will* happen and you'll probably lose quite a few hours fixing them and/or filling in parts where the OOTB content doesn't meet your needs.  Management should be prepared for the possibility of taking a (small) loss on that initial project.  As long as the client is happy with the deliverables, consider it a success.

As long as you're prepared for using a "lessons learned" approach from one project to the next you'll see gradual improvement.

[Anonymous]

Thank you everyone for the very helpful responses!

@DarrenP - I'll find out how extensive their knowledge is. 

[Anonymous]

I would recommend a consultant if you don't have anyone who is experienced with implementation. Users who know Revit helps, but knowing implementation in my opinion is another beast and requires good planning & communication skills.  

Implementation is more about people and managing a good pathway. You need someone with good communication and training skills (with a lot of patience).

Short term I would recommend:

• Setting clear goals & objectives with your team and implement things in small chunks.
• Set clear expectations with the team & management including expected, overheads, overtime, loss expectations as this project will be different to others and things will move slower.
• As much prep as you can manage before the project (so this will impact overheads). Determining & setting up the basic "must have" items for the project. Grab a previous job and go through it with your team and list everything you need (vs what you want) to organise before the project even starts. Things like company title blocks, basic content, coordination methods with consultants, scheduling, etc.
• Do the same for the opposite, work out what won’t be included in the first project and make that clear from the outset to the team & management. Ie: How far will you go with scheduling/modelling, etc.
• Ensure training is included in any planning. Training doesn't always have to be 1 day sessions. Sometimes just an hour going over one particular workflow or function is all you need to help things go smoothly. 

Hopefully you have a strong team that works well together, communicate weekly about what is working and what isn’t, make quick decisions & document your meeting notes, they act as a running checklist for the next project planning.

Remember, it’s just a pilot project, things are expected to go wrong, so don’t try and resolve everything because it will suck up your time. Everyone experienced in implementation will always tell you, it’s just about getting that first project over the line.

Good luck!!

[Anonymous]

Hello everyone,

Thanks for sharing all this valuable information. I worked with AutoCAD architecture before and did QA for Autodesk. Now I am working as REVIT manager and implementer. My Architecture background helps me understand the pressure of time management with any project, though it is hard to implement REVIT even with a small team (4 people) when everyone is using Sketch UP and AutoCAD 2013. I agree that communication skills are vital, and I would like to hear any advice on how to get on board people who are feeling like their methodology is been judge and are reluctant to migrate.

Thanks

Charles

[Anonymous]

@Anonymous, 

Good question...

Some things to consider...

Why are you migrating? Are you suggesting they ditch SketchUp for Revit? Or are you proposing substituting AutoCAD for Revit?

How will Revit help your office? What's your plan for implementing Revit? Am I as a staff member expected to learn on or off the job? Will I get time to learn on the job? How will I be trained? One on one or online? What projects will this initially effect? How am I expected to meet those deadlines if I am slower at documenting? (which they likely will be for the short term and the stress and frustration this can cause some users should not be underestimated). 

If we are using SketchUp how will this work with Revit? If not, how do I design in the short term? 

These are the types of questions I tend to hear and see in my work. No one tends to knock back faster and better ways of doing things if it benefits them and they see actual productivity gains for the team. So then you have to ask yourself, is it Revit that is the problem or the unknowns that come with the prospect of learning new software and implementing change? A busy office, tight deadlines now compounded with on the job learning. 

I find if you are prepared and run a session answering these types of questions & discussion with staff, you will get more buy in. 

As for SketchUp, it's just another tool in the toolbox and I don't think trying to get users to stop using it is the right way to go. It is like telling an artist they can only paint with a paint brush. There is a reason why I think many people often fail at convincing sketchUp users that they should use Revit. It's because they serve two different purposes. 

Personally, I find the problem with SketchUp is rarely the tool itself, but how it is integrated into workflows, often as a conceptual tool, it is being used for far too long into the project, resulting in duplication of work, compounding the belief it is the tools fault.

Talking about FormIt 360 vs SketchUp is a better discussion in my opinion.

[Anonymous]

ive been using revit in uk for 10 yrs and have seen many organisations in the throes of introducing revit. in my experience there are two essentials for success

1. top down committment

2. a revit champion - not necessarily an expert or a consultant - just someone who is totally committed to its implementation and success who will listen to your teams issues and problems and push for resolution by whatever revit means possible.

the problem with getting in a consultant will be that they will be spending their time learning what are your standards and workflows - rather than anything to do with revit. also you might discover that both your standards and your workflows might want / need to change in order to best exploit the productivity gains revit can bring.

what you will discover is that there are people who for reasons only clear to themselves who will be more interested in proving its failure......... if you cant change the people - change the people!!

[FGPerraudin]

Agreed with @Anonymous,

What you need is a "champion".

Training your employees is the most important step forward, but Revit is such a complex and complete software that you need a "specialist" on board.

He will:

1. Set the proper workflow, develop families and templates
2. Encourage and drive the other users, motivate them when it seems to be too complicated
3. Keep your employees knowledge fresh and up-to-date
4. Resolve the issues you WILL run into on the way.

So, three steps:

1. training your staff
2. hiring an experienced champion
3. getting your champion to train another champion (you DON'T want to have to rely on ONE person... trust me... it is not a questioon of trust but accidents can sadly happen)

François-Gabriel

[Alfredo_Medina]

In the world of soccer, (I can't speak of American 'football', because I don't follow it), but at least in the world of soccer, teams compete in the market for hiring the best players they can. Some players are more expensive than others, and some teams have more budget than others. But each team tries to enhance their strengths by hiring the best people they can. It is almost the same in this case. A player with a proven record of good performance, good experience and knowledge, should give your company more benefits in return. Maybe that "player" will be more expensive, but also, he/she will help you score more "goals" and help to move your team up in the standings. 

[Anonymous]

@ t.davies, @ damo3,

Hi guys, thank you very much for taking the time to write so many good ideas and advice. I really appreciate it. This gives me a lot of confidence. Just to provide some more details. In my office ( a small organization with less than 10 people) I am the only one with REVIT and BIM experience. I was hired to do the implementation and introduce BIM and REVIT to a group of designers working on interior design (about 80% of their work is ID, the other 20% is architecture). I do design but at this moment I am working alone, with nobody else using the same tools as me. I think I try to bite more than I am able to chew. Implementing, training, designing and managing people, together with a couple of projects that I am designing. Ironically the biggest challenge has been convincing people about the payback of BIM, to stop using tools from 2013 and to invest time and effort learning the new tools. I was hired to do this, and my strategy is pretty rational (at least I think so). Being the BIM Champion is a great role for me, and coming from 2 years working for Autodesk gives me credibility, I think I might need to fine tune my Implementation procedures. Taking one of the small projects seemed to be a good idea, though it is a huge investment of time.

Any advice from you (all of you who generously commented on my post) will be very welcome!

Thanks!

Charles 

[Anonymous]

test them (some agencies use a revit testing mechanism that can tell just by your click rate and pattern which version of revit you know and how well you know it) - might cost a few bucks and worth it 100x over. the number of people ive met in my travels who make claims to know and use revit - and then turn out to know little above basic skills....... 😉

[Anonymous]

and another thing...... 😉

when i was asked to take up and train in revit (some 10+ yrs ago) i was very reluctant and most sceptical. from my point of view autocad wasnt being used to its full potential and could do everything revit was offering at the time. nonetheless i was carried kicking and screaming to the classroom.

and you know what i realised - my biggest fear was that in learning revit (any new software) i was going to be DE-skilled at my chosen application (autoCAD - which i had paid for training for myself!!) and its true...... luckily revit has become an industry leader and my 10 yrs experience provokes incredulity..... here you are 10yrs later just now taking it up.......

when i understood that the organisation i was working for at the time realised there was going to be a massive overhead - FOR THEMSELVES - then i was prepared to go along and be trained.

from my point of view it was a bit like folding paper drawings. i hate doing it - however if someone is going to be generous enough to pay my rate for me to fold drawings - I'LL DO IT ALL DAY LONG....

[Anonymous]

I like your analogy Alfredo.

[Anonymous]

@Anonymous

Yes, this goes to my earlier post about the difference between knowing Revit and implementation skills. It takes a lot of preparation and as you have discovered a lot of time.

I know of an office (only 6 people) that is approaching 12 months since they started implementing Revit. Unfortunately, due to lack of planning and goal setting as well as minimal training and low communication with staff, they have no users comfortable with the program yet, let alone capable of using Revit on their own to document a project. Puts an unsustainable workload on the Revit guy. The introduction of other new software & workflows, no Revit templates or coordinated library content has only compounded the situation. Just resulted in frustrated users and low productivity. Not good. 

When you get it right though, it's extremely rewarding, so keep at it.

Interiors you say? Lucky you! You get to explain to them how Revit

• Can't diliniate the difference between materials and finishes
• Can't schedule the material mark parameter value in any schedule other than a material take off.. 

I can write something up on the broad strokes (goals/objectives) I use for implementation and training, a little later if you like.