Part 1 - Revit Design and Coordination: Streamlining Building Design through Technological Innovation

TL;DR: In my experience, three significant challenges often arise in projects involving architects and MEP firms: Revit design in respect to Coordination, Communication, and Cost. Leveraging technological advancements and our proactive approach, CM Associates Engineers aims to mitigate these challenges. We are eager to collaborate with architects and contractors, offering our expertise regardless of project size. Contact me to explore how we can enhance your projects with our fresh MEP perspective!

I would like to preface this with a recurring observation over the eight years I have been in the field. During this time, I've consistently encountered three major challenges in the design effort between architects and MEP firms. This is in reference to both "full" in house design firms and individual firms that team up for a project. While I acknowledge that eight years of experience may not be extensive, the persistence of these issues is noteworthy. In my experience, identifying the root cause of a problem often leads to a solution. However, despite efforts to analyze and address these challenges, they continue to persist.

My background

When I embarked on my career in this field eight years ago, I was fortunate to already have gained programming experience during my internships at Union Pacific in high school and college. Despite the lack of in-person resources, my determination to resolve Python code issues persisted, and was eventually resolved due to the helpful community online (Shout out to Stack Overflow). This mindset seamlessly transitioned into my work at the first design firm after college, which embraced Revit extensively.

However, I encountered similar challenges with Revit as I did with Python, leading me frequently to Autodesk's "Help forums" and eventually Autodesk's "Wishlist" as I neared its limitations. Despite exploring other design software options, it became evident that Revit was the primary choice, with the only alternative being to revert to AutoCAD, that ironically is also owned by Autodesk.

Once I became convinced of its future potential, I dedicated my initial years to mastering Revit inside and out. I delved into setting up schedules, creating my own shared parameters, mastering the family editor, project management, and pushing the boundaries of Revit's capabilities. To illustrate the extent of my learning efforts, you can still find traces of the Dynamo code I developed in the background picture of my LinkedIn profile (Dynamo was built on Iron Python!). I was attempting to develop my own node to create a unique automation solution because there were no existing options available. However, as Revit continued to evolve and my focus shifted more towards engineering, I realized that juggling Dynamo coding, electrical design, and electrical engineering was not a sustainable approach in terms of effort versus reward. Additionally, Dynamo Player had not been released at that point, making it difficult to scale up my solutions for others to use easily.

Eventually, I focused on streamlining and automating electrical engineering design, while aiming to become a licensed professional. This involved analyzing various Revit families, understanding their embedded electrical connector characteristics, and comprehensively grasping power distribution calculations in Revit. In my attempt to understanding power distribution, I also streamlined the creation of one-line diagrams using smart families, departing from the industry standard of detail lines and text boxes. The one-line family I created from scratch, utilizing custom shared parameters, was developed using multiple "Detail Items" sub-components, directly corresponding to its "Electrical Equipment" element equivalent. Using this family, different hypothetical one-line examples based on variable conditions can easily be made in design options. Further details on this will be discussed in "Part 3 - Revit Design and Cost".

Setting the hypothetical stage

The basic analysis of a project involves understanding the owner's requirements, assessing their feasibility within given constraints, and determining the optimal approach. Once these factors are established, a project manager is assigned, the team is assembled, and the planning phase begins.

Hypothetical Project Background

With the starting gun fired, the project manager initiates the kick-off meeting, bringing the team together to define the project scope. Sub-consultants are mobilized(depending), and progress set deadlines ensure the project is in motion. In the background, every firm takes a different approach to managing all of the project data with the same overall goal of staying organized. Below is a foreshadowing visual, explained thoroughly in "Part-2 Communication", of one aspect to our ever-evolving solution to stay organized throughout a project for effective collaboration. This template directly correlates to the same information that goes on our Revit sheets and provides a central location to store our project information prior to the Revit model being established.

During the project lifecycle, numerous meetings are held to provide progress updates, preventing potential confusion. These include project meetings, internal meetings within each discipline, meetings between sub-consultants, and meetings between the design team and the owner. The team diligently refines their drawings, ensuring all aspects progress smoothly to meet the project deadline. However, it's often in these details that issues arise, initially seeming minor but leading to significant ripple effects felt too late.

Individually, these problems may seem inconsequential, but when considering the collective time spent documenting (RFI/ASI/CPR), attending meetings, duplicating work, and undertaking additional tasks, the cumulative impact across projects becomes substantial.

Following a typical meeting format I've observed, the design review begins with the Civil engineer, unless scheduling conflicts require a different discipline to present first so they can leave. Once the Civil engineer confirms their design, they typically exit the call. The architectural presentation follows, then structural, MEP, and finally interiors.

Hypothetical Example

During the architectural presentation, the team coordinates the ceilings for the project, ensuring the owner approves of heights and selections. The MEP team takes note, with the electrical designer coordinating the light fixtures accordingly. For example, if the architect specifies a hard lid in rooms like locker rooms or data closets, the electrical designer may specify can lights. Each engineer/designer has their own documentation process, but when I finalize an item, I keep a master Bluebeam document with notes and markups about coordinated elements before moving on to other tasks. After the MEP presentation, to streamline the meeting and respect everyone's time, the architect may allow everyone to leave, as interiors discussions can be lengthy and don't require the entire team for extended paint color discussions. However, the architect may not always make this announcement, and some team members may leave after their discipline's presentation due to scheduling conflicts.

During the interior portion of the meeting, discussions about paint colors for the walls in the electrical closet/locker rooms reveal potential cost savings by removing the hard lid and exposing the structure. The architect, busy reorganizing elements in the model and presenting from their screen, mentally makes a note to follow up with MEP, although this note does not make it in the meeting minutes. Since the MEP team has already left the meeting, this change isn't processed by them, and because it was previously coordinated, it doesn't make the agenda to be re-coordinated. As a result, the project progresses without this change being formally documented. While it's hoped that such issues are caught later in the design process or during submittals, the complexity of project teams, including members joining and leaving, varying experience levels in design and Revit, and multiple forms of communication, increases the likelihood of such oversights. These issues may remain unnoticed until they become major problems during construction.

Part 1 - Revit Design and Coordination

Clearly, several significant factors had to happen for this scenario to unfold. While I'm sure there are more issues we could discuss, I want to highlight the breakdown on coordination below, including the concerns of Individual design, along with Overall Coordination and how being proactive helps. At the end, I will briefly mention Communication and Cost that will be broken out in future articles.

Individual Design - Problem Breakdown

From my experience, common industry practice continues to have the "electrical designers" doing the draft work in AutoCAD/Revit, while the senior electrical engineer reviews a hard copy or PDF. This was fine when AutoCAD was purely a drafting tool, but with Revit's ability to take over more of the overall scope, including the ability to do the engineering calculations, the roles are no longer as clear and need to continue to adapt.

With the above example in mind, I believe the issue boils down to a lack of coordination within their specific discipline that has a ripple effect on the overall coordination. The senior electrical engineer could have conducted a more thorough review of their electrical drawings, specifically within Revit to see it was established correctly, although this approach can introduce complexities that are often overlooked in our evolving industry.

We are currently at a critical juncture where many senior licensed engineers, who were active before the advent/infancy of Revit, are more accustomed to reviewing rather than using Revit or learning it at this stage in their careers. This situation presents several challenges, with one of the most prevalent being their inability to provide appropriate oversight and support to young engineers due to the taboo surrounding Revit. As a result, these senior engineers either revert back to what they have used for years, such as Excel (which increases the risk of errors and is highly inefficient) or rely on designers who may not be well-versed in the National Electrical Code (NEC) to handle the calculations in Revit.

Furthermore, because the native Revit panelboard templates do not display each individual load's Load Classification, the only information produced is the aggregate total at the bottom of the panel board. This makes template modifications necessary (our solution), or it is even more difficult to track down and confirm demand factors when an engineer is only reviewing a hard copy or PDF.

While this issue is specific to electrical design, it is one of the most important aspects. If engineers cannot fully utilize Revit for this purpose, it raises concerns about oversight in other areas. Could there be additional oversights due to a lack of understanding of Revit by the signing engineer? Are these issues leading to "small" RFIs that could escalate if not addressed promptly? Do their fees reflect the extra time spent on design, coordination, review, or rework caused by these issues? How do they manage scope creep or the need for rapid, significant changes? These are important questions briefly mentioned at the end and expanded upon in "Part-3 Cost."

Overall Coordination - Problem Breakdown

1) Besides the concerning oversight issue in Revit, there are additional challenges related to advocating for best design practices. For example, if their Revit template for mechanical/electrical uses floor plans instead of Reflected Ceiling Plans (RCPs) for their lighting sheets, they will struggle to identify ceiling changes unless informed by the architect. This is because ceiling changes are not represented on floor plans. Specifically, if they had changed the locker room ceilings from hard lid to structure, they would lack a second "redundant" method of verifying that their light fixtures align with the space.

This issue is significant because many MEP firms opt for the shortcut of using floor plans on their lighting sheets. This is often due to Revit families not being set up appropriately, inaccurate view range cuts, and improper configuration of Revit views. As a temporary solution, they might piece together a large coordination RCP view by printing it off. Arguably, this approach creates additional work on every project to review the layout and runs the risk of finalizing the design when it's not yet set. Instead, firms should take the time to configure Revit correctly and utilize RCPs, which allow for constant updates to be seen on their lighting sheets. This is just one of many common overlooked issues that a licensed senior engineer must consider when managing a Revit model and using it for engineering calculations.

2) "Floating" or inaccurate families/elements in Plan View relative to a 3D view.

3) Other common coordination issues include having an incorrect sheet list for the index, differences in scope boxes, inconsistencies between views and sheets, and improper or inefficient construction administration (CA) documentation.

4) Outdated coordination methods or the inability to rely on Revit modeling for architectural coordination can lead to issues with electrical door hardware requirements, access control, elevators, overhead doors, kitchen equipment, and other miscellaneous equipment when approaching project deadlines.

Attempting to solve the problem.

Technology, technology, technology. You might hear me mention technology a little too much, but it has been the solution to most of my design issues in life. As long as we don't become too dependent on technology, and it does not hinder collaboration with others, it can be a powerful tool to assist in design. We won't solve these problems in one article (or 3), although taking the time to define the problem and how we can implement new technology will help reduce the current gap.

Individual Design - Solution

While the issue indicates a significant concern, it also presents a unique opportunity for the now licensed professionals who grew up utilizing Revit with the hindsight to know it was and is the only Building Design software due to Autodesk's mono... never mind.

The primary challenge highlighted above necessitates a comprehensive individual understanding of electrical engineering design, including the software (Revit) responsible for generating electrical calculations. With both my technical background and my engineering background, it allows me to be able to develop solutions such as the one below. It's crucial to be able to apply engineering principles, particularly those outlined in article 220 of the NEC, easily and accurately within Revit as shown below.

While I could expand on more of the solutions I have developed over the years and put into practice on projects from an electrical perspective, I will refrain from doing so at this time. If you would like to learn more about these solutions from an overall coordination perspective, please don't hesitate to reach out.

Overall Coordination - Solution

Alongside understanding your own discipline's design, it is imperative to proactively design your Revit template with the overlapping coordination of other disciplines in mind.

1) While there is no replacement for good old-fashioned discipline coordination, if you utilize good design practices when setting up your Revit template, you can naturally introduce redundancies that help to identify issues and avoid questions during construction administration. For example, we took a holistic approach to Revit and determined that investing time to use Reflected Ceiling Plans was the best course of action. The picture below shows our implementation of RCPs for electrical, but we also have separate working/documentation views, along with different filters for coordination items, and a variety of schedules for "checks and balances".

2) My experience at a full-service firm emphasized the importance of being proactive and deliberate when developing solutions for our Revit template. For example, while working closely with in-house architects, I frequently encountered issues where elements were not displaying correctly or appeared to be floating in space. Although most clients did not require renderings, when they did, we spent countless hours adjusting individual elements and editing families in the family editor to make the 3D rendering presentable. If the Revit families in the template had been set up correctly from the start, we could have avoided the time-constrained additional coordination at the end of the project with the architectural team.

With that being said, our entire template has been developed and refined with these coordination items in mind. All of our Revit families are built and designed for 400 LOD, including the ability to be offset in Plan View while still showing up correctly in their 3D renderings. This will become even more desirable as future versions of Revit allow for seamless 3D modeling, such as Autodesk's collaboration with TwinMotion.

In discussing the importance of accurate Revit modeling, a significant coordination challenge arises when numerous receptacles are tightly packed in a Plan view or stacked on top of each other, as illustrated in the kitchen example below. The Plan View shows the receptacles floating, but the section view shows it is in the proper location. This saves a substantial amount of coordination time because the families are modeled correctly from the start. While the example shows "Above Counter" (AC), we also have a dynamic parameter that can show the exact height elements are hosted in 3D.

While this represents one application, this is applicable on hospital patient rooms, data closets, or essentially any type of installation that has a large electrical presence in a small space.

3) The ability to obtain, manage, and efficiently alter "documentation" or drafting data on the fly. What does that mean? Without opening the architect's model, we can grab the exact scope boxes and place them in our model with similar/identical naming with the click of a button. Although not always required, we can mimic your view placement, view naming nomenclature, and sheet naming nomenclature from your linked model without having to obtain an excel list from the architect. As we are sometimes the lead firm, we have our own custom Title block family, key plan, and a Revit schedule for creating a proper sheet index. While I'll save most of the CA side for "Part-2 Communication," we have a unique and efficient approach to CA documentation in Revit and Project Management.

4) Lastly, and I can't stress this enough, one of the main reasons Revit is so powerful is because of its collaborative ability, which we have doubled down on in our pursuit to incorporate. A majority of common items that are being coordinated in meetings can be inherently found within the respective discipline's model. While there should be a "final" coordination effort, if elements are documented correctly, a majority of it can be automated. If there are concerns with the reliability of specific aspects in your Revit model, that is fine because we can assist with improvements, along with having our own "checks and balances" schedules to keep an eye on it. If you're curious about how it can be automated, look at #3 in "Further Considerations" below.

Further Considerations

Part 2) I don't want to dive too deep into this in the "Part 1 - Revit design and Collaboration" article because "Part 2 - Revit design and Communication" will go into further detail, although all of these concepts overlap, and it should be mentioned. Anyways, if the team had remained present, they could have addressed the issue during the call. Alternatively, if the change had been documented in the meeting minutes and the engineer had reviewed them, they could have followed up for confirmation. However, these solutions are not that appealing because they're not a catch all, and when an engineer introduces additional work each project, the likelihood it doesn't get done, or doesn't get done every time goes up. To mitigate such issues, it's crucial to incorporate built-in redundancies ...like implementing proper design standards when establishing a Revit template, or proactively address potential conflicts in other software template designs. For example, the Microsoft OneNote Template I provided a photo at the beginning is a good start, but there is Microsoft To Do, Microsoft Power Automate, Bluebeam Studio templates/workflows, and the newly upgraded Microsoft Planner (Finally!).

Part 3) Lastly, and probably the most ambitious/zealous solution is to delay "final" coordination until architectural and interior designs are finalized. However, this approach often creates discomfort among team members due to looming project deadlines and prevailing industry practices. It also runs opposite to designing the "right" way and gives the appearance of procrastination. To maintain appearances, progress sets may be submitted without lighting sheets, which is suboptimal. Consequentially, it can also lead to plans being produced to create the illusion of content on the sheets, sacrificing coordination thoroughness for visual appeal, and requiring rework after the set is issued. At the core of this issue is electricals dependency on other disciplines to finalize their work. Waiting for other disciplines to complete their work poses challenges due to the project deadline and the amount of remaining drafting work. Additionally, there is a risk of not identifying major, potentially avoidable time-consuming issues that would have been more likely to be spotted earlier in the design process had standard industry practices been followed. That being said, what if those issues could be rectified or mitigated using the very dependency that has electrical stuck and rushing at the final hour? To use that dependency as an exact XYZ reference point in the Revit model for automating 70-80% of electrical drafting design? I will go into more in-depth detail in the article "Part 3 - Revit design and Cost".

Conclusion

As an electrical engineer, my primary focus has been on electrical-related situations, but all of our mechanical and plumbing families are of the same quality. I have also spent years managing Revit models, including model health for usability and cross-discipline coordination for all trades. In my free time, I have extensively tested "what if" scenarios on most electrical processes or Revit model management work to further push its limits. Finally, my curiosity and creativity towards unique problems specific to Revit, along with my eagerness to solve them over the last 8 years, has led to the accumulation of many innovative workflows that can reduce pressure on the overall team.

Although our families can be used for 400 LOD, they are not exclusive to it. Referring back to my statement about not letting technology "hinder collaboration with others", we are able to easily overcome architectural plans done in AutoCAD and have the ability to do cloud hosted projects for real time collaboration.

This originally started as a simplistic post, but as I continued to think about the subject, it evolved into an article, and now it looks like a three-part series to complete when I have more free time. Obviously, there are endless subjects that could be covered across the industry, but effort versus reward needs to be considered. Without an overall picture, it is difficult to weigh these factors accordingly. Hopefully, my attempt to show the current and increasing importance of Revit Design in relation to Coordination, Communication, and Cost can help.

We are always trying to develop new and innovative workflows to continue strengthening our designs in pursuit of the ever elusive "perfectly designed" project. While someone once told me the only "perfectly designed" project is one that is never built, we are still trying, nonetheless. Please don't hesitate to reach out if you want to talk shop, or if there is anything we can assist or collaborate with you on!