When to model something in the project and when to create its own family

[stevensonJQWEF]

Hi all,

As I am still relitively a beginner with revit I have a general question for you all.

I am wondering when is it best practice to work on a component within the project you are in, and when is it best practice to create a family of the certain component?

For example with a specific staircase that occurs throughout the building.  I wonder whether I should model this as its own family, or just do it inside the current architectural model.

Just starting to work with families now.. but not fully understnading when to use them.

Thanks in advance, any learnings are helpful for me 🙂

[ToanDN]

You can look at the list of family folders in the content library to get an idea which should be loadable families.   For you specific example,  use Stairs tool in project.

[barthbradley]

It really depends on the stairs. It would be better to do stairs via the Stair Tool. You'll have a much "smarter" BIM Model that way.  If you have customizations that are built into the Stairs, there may be ways to incorporate them into a System Stair Type, but if not, I would save off customizations until the Model is finalized and use System Stairs in the mean time for maximum flexibility.  I mean, bottom line is that Stair planning really comes down to two things - Rise and Run.  The rest is just "garnish".  You could do all your planning using a "reference" stair type and replace it later.   

[barthbradley]

[Lachlan-JWP · Accepted solution]

 To expand on @ToanDN's point, I believe if you are making a unique item that will only appear once in the project then you can model-in-place. If it's going to be a repeated item then it's best to make it as it's own family.

[d.ahmed.LW · Accepted solution]

It is a simple choice tbh. Whenever an element needs to be used at multiple points in a project or across projects, creating a family or modifying an existing Autodesk Family is the best solution. Special objects that are rare and are required just once can be modelled directly in project as they have limited capabilities. 

[mhiserZFHXS]

I hardly ever model in project. The rare instances that I do are when something is so extremely specific to a project that I know for a fact I will never use it again. If there is even a tiny chance the object could be used again, I model it as a family.