Remodels in Revit... the untold story

To my surprise, there's not a whole lot of discussion on this very important topic. Anyone who has developed a custom remodel residential project can tell you it's not as simple, clean, or intuitive as a custom new construction residential project.

The first step is pretty staight forward... build your as-built model in the existing phase. Once an as-built model is done you might want to archive a copy of the model just incase the design scope changes and you have to start all over again with a clean as-built. Now I'm sure you are all aware that as the design develops the project architect and the client are both going to want to explore varying design iterations. The model builder is going to have to do partial demolition of walls, floors, roofs, ceilings, etc. The way most Revit Beginners go about doing this is to split the wall, floor, roof, etc into two parts and demo the half they want to remove. The problem with this method starts to reveal itself after 2-3 design iterations when the as-built model, now split into many parts, degenerates into useless plans and elevations. Constantly reshaping the proposed design on the fly without time consuming cleanups also becomes less possible.

So what do you do with partial demos? You could create a new phase between Existing and New Construction called "Existing To Remain." Then copy the element to be demo'd to the clipboard... then demo the whole element in the "Existing to Remain" phase... paste the element (into the same place) back into the "Existing to Remain" phase and then reshape the existing to remain version of our element (Some users think that a demo phase is not necessary, but it has it's benefits). Now anytime the design goes through iterations all you have to do is reshape the existing to remain element while leaving the as-built model preserved and intact.

Plans require additional cleanup, but this approach reduces the frequency and types of cleanups required, particularly obvious when you move on to elevations and sections.

EDIT: Partial additions can be done the same way you would do partial demos... copy, demo, paste, reshape. If you just add on to the length of a wall you're going to end up with a proposed design that's in pieces too. This can be important later on down the line when you want to combine phases into a new asbuilt. However, getting accurate Material Takeoffs on a remodel can add a dimension to this procedure (you might want a model that's divided into accurate pieces afterall).

EDIT: This process works with or without a demo phase.  The critical point is to group and pin previous phase work before proceeding with the next phase and then copy, demo, paste, reshape in the next phase... with plan cleanup in demo and proposed plans by regions and element overrides. Most beginners only think in terms of existing and proposed. This process considers multi-phase projects.

Phases & Worksets

This blog started out as a blog for beginners. These days I mostly tend to cover advanced topics so here's a little tip for the beginners out there.

Always Be Phase Aware
In every project file your modeled components have a phase created and a phase demolished parameter whether you like it or not. And most views have phase and phase filter parameters. If you place a model component in a view that is set to the New Construction phase (under View Properties), that component automatically gets placed in the New Construction phase. So if you are doing as-builts, make sure you set all of your views phases to Existing. That way when you start placing your components they end up on the correct phase. This can easily be corrected in a 3D view if you skipped this step. As you start to model your proposed design distinguishing between existing and proposed content becomes ever more critical.

Always Be Workset Aware
On workset enabled projects every model component is place on a user defined workset (usually Workset 1). Make sure you check the workset toolbar and select the correct active workset. You don't want to place a whole lot of content on the Shared Levels & Grids workset. This can easily be corrected in a 3D view if you skipped this step.

Open, Sesame

When you place an existing door or window in an existing wall and then demo the door or window in the new construction phase Revit automatically places an infill wall to replace the door or window. You can then change this infill wall type to any wall type you like, but without a workaround you really can't get rid of the infill wall. We frequently run into situations where we want to demo a door but leave the opening intact. I have seen this discussed at length on AUGI and there are many workarounds but I think the workaround I found today (One Thousand and One Nights later) is an easier option.

Revit has had a Filter function since release 9. By adding a Comment to any instances of infilling walls and filtering out the visibility of the walls based on the Comment added you can hide infilling walls from any of your views.

• Place an existing wall and door in any existing plan view.
• Demo your door in the new construction phase.
• Select the infill wall and add a value to the Comments instance parameter under element properties.
• Go to the Filters tab in the Visibility/Graphic Overides of your new construction view.
• Define a new filter for Walls and select Filter by: Comments... equals. Type in the value you used in the Comments field earlier.
• Insert your new Filter into this view's Visibility/Graphics and turn off its visibility. Do the same for all views where you would like to hide infill walls.
• Unjoin the geometry of the infill wall and its host wall if you can't see where they meet in 3D or elevation views.

Phases & Phase Filters

Are you doing a remodel project? You’ll need to learn about phases. There are 3 dialog boxes you’ll have to become more familiar with.

1. Phase Settings: Under Settings... Phases... you will find Project Phases, Phase Filters, and Graphic Overrides.

Project Phases: Here you can add new phases to the project. The best practice is to set these up before you begin work on your project. Later Phases are ok to add at a later date but you cannot rearrange the order of phases after entering them. Revit is setup by default with Existing and New Construction phases.

Phase Filters: Here you can control the graphics used for objects who’s relative phases are set to New, Existing, Demolished, or Temporary. Phase Filters will determine whether the Category’s Object Styles are used or whether Revit will use the Graphic Overrides established under the Graphic Overrides tab. You should leave these alone until you grasp an understanding of them.


2. View Properties: Every View has View Properties (VP). In the view properties you will find the Phase and Phase Filter used for that particular view. It is very important that you setup duplicate views for each phase (Existing and New Construction).

Phase: Revit’s views are setup by default with the New Construction Phase. This simply means that all objects placed in this view will automatically be set to New Construction and will show. If you plan on using a remodel project to learn Revit (or teach someone Revit) make sure you setup all the view's phases to Existing before you start. This way you don’t have to think about what phase you’re placing an object in and you won’t have to switch all of the objects from New Construction to Existing after the model has progressed. Once you’re ready to move on to the addition then you can add new views and set their phases to New Construction.

Phase Filter: Revit’s views are setup by default with Show All phase filter. We typically change this to Show Complete. The chosen phase filter will determine how objects that are New, Existing, Demolished, or Temporary (relative to the active phase) will display. Goto Settings... Phases... Phase Filters to view and modify how phase filters affect the display of objects.


3. Object Properties: Under the properties of most objects you will find Phase Created and Phase Demolished.

Phase Created: In what phase was the object created? For example, when you place an object into a view that is set to the Existing Phase the object's properties will automatically reflect that the object was created in the Existing Phase. If the view’s phase is set to Existing and you change the object’s Phase Created to New Construction the object is still there but will disappear from view because the view is setup to only show objects placed in the Existing Phase.

Phase Demolished: In what phase was the object demolished? Very simply if you demolish an Existing object in the New Construction phase the object will display as dashed lines in views who’s phases are set to New Construction. However, the object will still display as whole in views who’s phases are set to Existing.