Ever since Revit came onto the scene in 2000, the AEC industry has been adopting it and the underlying Building Information Modeling (BIM) concepts across an ever-increasing range of projects and building types. The software itself has also undergone many changes over the past 24 years, from the early single-user only models to today’s cloud modeling environment where teams from across the planet can work together on the same model in near-real time.
Autodesk has made it a point to support the current version of Revit and the previous three versions (2022 through 2025 as of this writing). Each spring, when Autodesk releases the newest version of their software, they discontinue updates for the oldest previously supported version. The updates released by Autodesk address both bugs in their software and vulnerabilities that can expose companies to malevolent actors. Running unsupported versions of any software can lead to system instability, data loss, and security breaches, and should be avoided in general.
Selecting the right version of Revit at the start of a project is crucial. All firms involved must have access to that version. The version selected should still be supported at the anticipated final completion date of the project, including any model and data handover to the building owner. Upgrading a project to a new Revit year midway through design tends to have unintended consequences such as elements unexpectedly shifting, data loss, or model file corruptions, creating unnecessary additional work on design professionals, and setting teams back.
Occasionally firms work with models that contain multiple concurrent or consecutive projects within it. Frequently these are from larger institutional or healthcare facilities where multiple improvements and expansions can happen with overlapping construction timelines. In this situation, upgrading the model during design becomes unavoidable. Planning for the least disruptive time and having a procedure to closely examine the model and data before and after the upgrade can help avoid issues down the road.
Keeping up with the bug and vulnerability fixes that Autodesk releases for Revit is also essential. Developing a plan to keep all users’ versions of Revit updated will help avoid issues with known bugs or chances of someone exploiting a known vulnerability in the program. Autodesk also recommends that all users of a model are in the same Build version of Revit. Using different Builds of a Revit year increases the chances of errors being introduced into the data or outright model file corruptions. These avoidable problems can require significant time and effort to recover from.
Newer versions of the software also tend to include enhancements and improvements that can both increase efficiency for the user and expand the Information (I in BIM) that the model can handle. BIM has been used extensively and successfully in the creation of design models that can help convey design intent and identify and avoid unnecessary issues during construction. Future steps are already being taken to transfer the relevant information to Facility Managers to aid in maintaining the building during its life. While Digital Twins, which are virtual replicas of physical buildings, are still in the early stages, the use of them will only expand in the coming years, offering unprecedented insights and control over building operations.
Revit cloud modeling has also been increasingly adopted by design firms of all types. The Autodesk Construction Cloud allows for all firms on a project to increase collaboration and provides for a single source of truth in the building data. Autodesk provides options for how designs and data are shared across firms and decisions here can have lasting impacts on efficiency, coordination and final product delivery. We start each project with a BIM kickoff meeting to go through the BIM requirements of the project to leverage our decades of experience to determine the best option. This important step can decrease duplicated or wasted effort while increasing value to all stakeholders.
If you or your project team could benefit from an in-depth look at BIM project setup and optimization, please reach out to Barton’s Director of BIM/VDC, Ken McLain at km@ba-inc.com or 814-237-2180.