You Hate Revit? Geesh - Enough, Already

You Hate Revit?  Geesh - Enough, Already

 

I read a lot of these "I hate Revit" and "I hate 3D" posts, and coming from the end of the business I do (construction), it's a little frustrating.

Many people were thrown from AutoCAD into Revit with no training (I was luckier than that), and the nostalgia for working in a tool for which they were trained never seems to fade, and seems to be the source of much, often vitriolic, dislike of Revit.

I certainly understand the frustration of transitioning from AutoCAD to Revit without training, but that's not really an issue with Revit or with the BIM process. That's just bad management within an individual firm.

Designers are not paid anymore just to deliver 2D PDF construction documents. Let's just get that straight up front. Owners generally expect contractors to function in a CM role, and they are often involved prior to the design being done. The deliverables now include a 3d model, which will be used by the CM and trade contractors, and probably by the owner as well.

On almost all projects, there are delegated design elements, such as fire protection. And yes, you acknowledge that above ceiling and chase spaces are getting tighter and tighter, and guess what? We have to figure out how to get a sprinkler system into that space, probably along with equipment that doesn't match the generic or BOD stuff in the contract documents - after the design team has torn their hair out trying to get their stuff in.

Those models are essential for contractors now to be able to do their jobs. They're being asked to take a heavier share of the burden of coordinating what goes in the building, including those delegated design aspects.

I am truly sympathetic to the arguments that Revit is probably more difficult for some disciplines to use than AutoCAD was. But that's just something people are going to have to deal with. It's a flat requirement to have intelligent, 3d models at the other end of the process - when those buildings get built. We wouldn't all be using Revit if the end goal was simply to draft stuff as quickly and efficiently as possible. But the end goal is to reduce waste in constructing the buildings, because that's the hole where most of the owner's money goes, and to provide them with value in their buildings that we can only get by essentially building them virtually first.

Whether anyone likes it or not, 3D is here to stay, and Revit is a central and constructive player in 3D design and modeling.