Material Optimization & Quantity Calculation

[Anonymous]

As a building envelope contractor we need to be able to order materials from the model, or our version of the model. The problem is, most materials are not ordered by area, for example, insulation layers on a inverted hotmelt roof, these are typically ordered by 600mm X 1200mm X thickness. We need to calculate how many boards would be required, keeping wastage and site cutting to a minimum. These boards are typically laid with staggered joints, typically, 300mm from the 600mm edge between adjacent rows. this is relatively simple on rectangular roofs but quite complex on irregular shaped roofs. Often, the simplest soloution is to draw the board layout and manually optimize this, which means doing this work in Revit has no advantage over doing it in CAD, but as we are required to deliver a model as well as drawings it actually adds to our workload.

A similar situation is true when it comes to scheduling the elements that make up the hotmelt system itself, The bitument component is very easy as this is just area / coverage per layer required. However there are reinforcement fleeces and capping sheets that form part of the system, these materials typically come on rolls of a set size typically 2m X 20m long, these need laying with a 150mm side lap to the adjacent run and end laps of 150mm between rolls in the same run. Again this is a very manual process.

There must be some way that we could automate the creation of parts based on rules, that could at least get us pary of the way there.

[sasha.crotty]

Thanks for taking the time to submit your idea. Unfortunately, this idea did not get the support of the community over the last 6 months and as such we will not be pursuing it at this time. Please feel free to rework (titles and clear descriptions are really important) and resubmit this one down the road.