Ever wondered what’s in a Autodesk Revit Multi-Category schedule? Here’s the skinny…while a regular Revit Schedule reports on a single category of data such as Doors, Plumbing Fixtures, or Structural Foundations, a Multi-category schedule can report on many of the Revit model categories at once, which can be useful for quantity takeoffs. Sounds straightforward, but the catch is that some of the model categories are being excluded. What’s missing are the system families such as Walls, Floors, etc.
The good news is that Ideate BIMLink not only includes all the model category data that you need to do a comprehensive takeoff, but it also lets you select, on a per category basis, which elements you want to include. Furthermore, you can include not just the Length and the Volume, but also the Area, which is slightly important.
Here are the steps required to use Ideate BIMLink to quickly extract your quantity data from a Revit Building Information Model
- Within Ideate BIMLink create a New Link that is based on <Multi-Category>
- On the Multi-Category tab review the items to decide which you need for your takeoff.
- Export to Excel.
Ideate BIMLink will create a row of data for each instance within your Revit project. If you want a summary, to include counts and totals, you can use Excel’s Pivot table. Watch this video for more information.
That’s it. You now have a comprehensive list of the model elements and proceed with your estimating with confidence.
For information on the software solutions, training and consulting Ideate provides, please visit the Ideate, Inc. homepage.
This post was originally published on the Ideate Software Blog.
Glynnis Patterson, NCARB
Director of Software Development
Glynnis is a Registered Architect and has worked within the BIM industry since 1998. A graduate of Carnegie Mellon University, she has worked as an architect, educator, and construction site manager. Glynnis is currently the Director of Software Development at Ideate Software, and she continues to work with AEC clients worldwide, developing and consulting on solutions to Building Information Modeling challenges. In her spare time Glynnis does volunteer work for ECLC of New Jersey and Grow it Green Morristown. Follow Glynnis on Twitter.