Working for an Electrical Contractor

[mnye480]

Questions for all of the Revit users who work for electrical contractors

Can you describe a typical day for an electrical Revit detailer?

Do you work full time in an office or do you work in a trailer on a jobsite?

Are you responsible for all of the layout on a project or do you take direction from the foreman?

Do you mainly focus on prefabrication?

Were you working as an electrician before you became a detailer? 

Do you lay out points for Trimble total stations?

[s.borello]

BIM kickoff meeting, discuss LOD, project schedule, scope of work.  

Set up RVT project, link in other trade models, create views, and sheets, verify scales so they fit on sheets.

Start modeling/set up families for the project if they are not part of my template.  I start with electrical MSB, panels & transformers.  Then lighting fixtures, OCC sensors, room controllers and switches.  I then attack my power plans by laying out all receptacles, wiremold, conduits etc.  I don't focus on circuiting until after the layouts have been approved in a design review meeting.  I do my circuiting, T24, and voltage drop/fault current calculations last.  

We don't layout points for total robotic stations.  I work full time in an office, with the occasional site visit.  I am constantly coordinating with our Forman in the field.  We don't pre-fab.  I started as a CAD drafter many moons ago. 

[davi-id]

For me it depends if you work for a construction (hence a electrican) or planning company.

For construction you'll have to fill out the last missing parameters. Usually drawers don't work at the construction site. I've never seen one of the electrician drawers in person. Usually they do the detailing and maybe calculation of costs, ordering of materials and similar helpful things. At minimum they just copy the planners plans, change the name and logo and give this out as their assembly plan.

@s.borello Do you change your existing families and their parameters for every project? If so, what kind of software do you use?

[s.borello]

I don't change much with regard to existing families / params.  If I do it's minimal and I just do it inside Revit. 

[djforemandesign]

I'm assuming you have/are applying for a job with an electrical contractor. I answered my questions based on that assumption.

Every contractor/company is going to have different requirements for their BIM/VDC Modelers.  Since everyone hasn't adopted Revit in the same way. I worked for an electrical contractor for almost 8 years. 

I can tell you that I personally never had a typical day.  It just depended on what project(s) I was working on and what needed to be done. I was either modeling/coordinating, reviewing drawings, talking to the field, working with prefab, answering questions, etc. 

For the most part I was in the office every day, but we did visit sites. Also some modelers did work on site, but it was rare. I do think it is becoming more desired by the operations team.

The layout was sometimes handled by me and sometimes worked with the foreman. Just depended on the job and the foreman. If the foreman was involved it was usually just a rough idea of what they wanted since coordination can change things. *This only works though it you know how to route/group/size things correctly. Plus having at least a general knowledge of the Electrical code. 

I had to focus on the construction as well as prefabrication. Although if you do it right they both tie together. It just takes some coordination on your part to make sure that the field knows what is being designed/built in prefab.

I started fresh out of college with basic electrical knowledge. I was luck and was put on a large hospital project when I first started and was able to work with long time electricians to learn the best way to route conduit/code/things not to do/etc. Then from there just built upon what I knew. I've worked with individuals straight out of college and guys who've worked 20+ years in the field. What it comes down to is realizing that in order to have a successful project you need the technology skills as well as the filed knowledge. Having just one will never work. 

We used Trimble and TopCon. I created the points from the Revit and sometimes AutoCAD plans and provided it to the individuals in the field laying out the points. There will always be some sort of problem with these files. Something doesn't line up/ show up/scale right/etc. Just have to troubleshot and figure it out.

[bdselectrical531]

Working for an electrical contractor can be a rewarding experience, offering hands-on learning, diverse projects, and opportunities to grow within the industry. At BDS Electrical, we work on a range of domestic, commercial, and industrial jobs — with a strong focus as a residential electrician for developers. Our team values quality, safety, and professionalism, and we're proud to be NICEIC-approved and highly rated by clients across the West Midlands.

[syangCMXZJ]

I don't work for an electrical contractor, but I do work for an HVAC company. As part of an apprenticeship program, I rotate between office work and fieldwork. This rotation helps me learn both sides of the trade, enhancing my skills as a detailer. My responsibilities as a detailer vary: some days I 3D scan job sites, other days I model in a BIM 360 project, and sometimes I lay out points for the total station. Your responsibilities will depend on your company's needs.