Revit Family Creation for Plumbing Fixtures

Plumbing is an extremely crucial part of any residential or commercial building. Though widely associated with water-related facilities plumbing systems in a building pertain to much more. They are essential in the installation and maintenance of heating systems, water boilers, furnaces, etc. A faulty or leaky pipe could also lead to excessive moisture causing mold or fungus and can consequently damage the whole building.

Plumbing systems are also complex to design, install, and maintain. The main reason why plumbing design is a complex process is due to repetitive modifications, incorrect time management, ineffective collaboration, design errors, and inefficient plumbing design. Revit BIM Services and more specifically its feature of the creation of Revit Families is a way by which engineers and designers can improve the speed and efficiency of plumbing designs. Below we look at the ways in which Revit Families can be leveraged to create robust plumbing designs and equipment.

1. Reduces repetitive work:

Plumbing projects require repetitive design components which if had to be modeled individually would be extremely time-consuming. However, by creating parametric 3D models of plumbing objects like fixtures, valves, fittings, closets, washbasins, etc. the designer can save a lot of time. These objects can be used in the same project multiple times according to requirements or can also be saved and used in different project environments. Manufacturer-specific models can be selected in the construction phase to check for interferences, coordination, and be used for prefabrication and onsite installation. These parametric objects can also be used for marketing and presentations. The fact that they can be used for different projects and multiple reasons makes it cost-effective and time-saving.

2. Quick Customization:

Once a loadable Revit family is created it can be saved as a separate Revit family file (.rfa file) and then loaded into any project. Thus, by identifying a family that is similar to the one needed for the current requirement, the designer can save time and effort by simply copying, renaming, and modifying the existing family. Moreover, several variations in a single-family can be made and stored as types.

3. Best-fit models:

With the dimension tools in Revit, the designer can assign specific dimensions to various components of the Revit Family. With accurate shape and size, it becomes possible to ensure that the fixtures that are prefabricated will actually fit on-site without any errors or crashes. Revit Family Creation Services can also be leveraged to test various design options in the designing phase and see how specific models will look and work.

4. Highly detailed product models:

Revit Families also allow adding information about the product like the materials used, the serial number, asset codes, manufacturer’s information, etc. The architects and engineers can add these information-rich Revit families into the BIM models and use them at any stage of the construction lifecycle like quantity takeoffs or facility management. These 3D models can also be used for the prefabrication or production of plumbing fixtures.

Conclusion:

In any building project irrespective of its size it is difficult for the designers and engineers to produce accurate plumbing fixtures. By utilizing Revit families for plumbing design architects, engineers and manufacturers can get more value out of the time and investment they spend on creating them.