What are the primary goals of creating a building model? Who are the key stakeholders?
- What do they need?
- What do they care about most?
The goals of creating a model are usually to help the different stakeholders visualize the project and make sure everyone is on the same page. These stakeholders include the architects, builders, and clients. It helps the designers estimate the budget and timeline for building. It helsp the client know if they want to change anything.
How much detail should you include in your building model? How do you decide?
- As you develop your initial design?
- As you continue to iterate and develop on your design?
- What are the key stages?
- And how much detail should you include at each stage?
I think the preliminary models should have less details, and be more focused on capturing the essence of the structure. It doesn’t make sense for the designer to sink a lot of time into specific details just to bring it to the client who was envisioning something totally different. As the design process progresses, you should add more specifics that can be used by the builders.
Many door and window manufacturers provide Revit families for doors and windows that you can specify for your building design.
- What is the advantage to manufacturers for providing these families? (it's not free to create and provide them...)
- What is the benefit to you as the designer of using these manufacturer-provided families? Is there an advantage to using them versus the families provided in the Revit library?
The manufacturers provide their products in Revit because they want designers to use them in their plans and eventually buy them for the project. The easier it is to pop them in the model, the more convenient it is to use them through the rest of the project. If the clients like how they look, they might insist on having those specific products too.