Interview with Ericksen Roed & Associates

Company	Ericksen Roed & Associates
Address	2550 University Ave West  Ste 201-S
City, state, ZIP Code	Saint Paul, MN 55114
Phone number	651-251-7570
Web site address	www.EricksenRoed.com
User	David Pluke
Title	Principal, VP of Technology
E-mail address	dave@ericksenroed.com

The great state of Minnesota is where our Super User David Pluke resides.  Dave belongs to Ericksen Roed and has provided me with lot of great information on how they use and take advantage of Revit Structure.  I think you'll enjoy his feedback and super images he has provided.

• Culotta:  Please tell us about your business, the markets you serve and the services that you provide.
  • Pluke:  Ericksen Roed & Associates is a Structural Engineering firm, founded in 1984.  We provide Structural Design, Steel Connection Design plus Pre-cast Concrete Detailing Services.  Our clients run the gamut from Retail, Academic, Sports Facilities, Multi-unit Residential, Hospitality to Healthcare and our projects are located throughout the United States, with some International work.  Construction budgets run from less than $1 million to hundreds of millions of dollars.
• Culotta:  What is your role in the company?  How long have you been with the company?
  • Pluke:  I joined Ericksen Roed in 1988, as "the CAD guy".  At that time, we had two 80286 Personal Computers and one IBM Selectric Typewriter.  My initial job was to develop CAD standards, customization, libraries and training, along with production CAD work.  System configuration (this was in the days of DOS Extenders and RAMDisk Overlays) and troubleshooting soon followed.  As it became more obvious that our growing number of computers needed to talk to each other, I handed off CAD Management duties to Jamie Richardson and moved on to the challenges of Information Technology.  I'm now a Principal of the firm and Vice President of Technology.

• Culotta:  Please share with us a few projects you've created with Revit Structure?  What was the situation and how did you deliver the solution?
• Pluke:  Sure.  Let me elaborate on a few.

  Regional Hospital Building

  We just finished the Schematic Design (SD) phase for a Regional Hospital's Behavioral Health Building. For this project, we used Revit Structure as a tool to identify design issues early in the process. It helped us more effectively produce a working grid system which, in turn, kept the Architects on the same page as ourselves. During the beginning stages of laying out the Structural system, Revit Structure allowed us to shift columns and instantly view the effects of that shift on each level.  Observing how each design concept interacted with the existing structure helped the entire team make faster and better decisions.  Resolving conflicts and making well thought out decisions in this phase using Revit Structure has allowed us to roll into the Construction Documentation (CD) phase well ahead of the game.

  At this point, the Architects are able to use our model from SD to start their CD model. They will be linking in our Structural model to display elements such as footings, foundation walls, Structural columns and Structural framing. In return, we will be linking in their model to share non-Structural walls that interface with the Structure, openings for windows and doors and other Architectural elements that may need to be addressed in our Structural set. This method of collaboration allows us to have our models coordinated on a daily basis and reduces redundancy.

  

  

  

  

  Download the DWF of this Project:  http://revit.downloads.autodesk.com/download/Structure Blog/MSTR2009_REGIONS.dwfx

  ER-POST^TM System - U.S. Patent No. 7010890

  We utilize Revit Structure as a presentation tool to model buildings that are candidates for our patented ER-POST^TM System. We will model the same building constructed with alternate Structural systems. We'll then print drawings from Revit Structure that can be laid side by side so the Owner, Client, Contractor, etc., can make informed "Big Picture" decisions – well before any procurement or construction has taken place.

  3D DWF files are created so the model information can be relayed to other parties.  The DWFs allow a much more in-depth review of the Structure by providing the ability to freely spin the model, to toggle the display of elements on or off and to cut slices through the building to produce instant cross sections at any given area.  Revit Structure allows us to quickly create these 3D DWFs and put them directly into the hands of those who make the important decisions.

  

  

  

  Mechanical Support Frames

  Revit Structure works for all types and sizes of projects.  An example would be the case of support frames for new Mechanical Units to be installed on existing buildings. Revit Structure allows us to model the existing framing, which provides multiple viewpoints to determine how the new frame interacts with it.  It also allows us to create intuitive perspective views that help communicate the design intent to the Contractor as well as eliminate the need to cut additional orthographic sections.

  

  

  Modeling for Construction

  We were hired to model a Parking Structure for a Contractor and Pre-Cast Concrete Fabricator.  Apparently, the Engineer of Record (E-o-R) was either unwilling or unable to provide a model.  Using Revit Structure to model for Construction was a learning experience.  The typical E-o-R models we produce don't contain characteristics such as item number, sequencing, status, cost, etc..  Looking ahead as to how we can add more value to our Revit Structure models, we may wish to, at the very least, provide placeholders for this type information.

  

  

  

• Culotta:  When did you and the company begin using Revit Structure?
  • Pluke:  Jamie returned from Autodesk University 2004, extremely enthusiastic about what he had seen in the pre-release version of Revit Structure.  We ordered RS1 as soon as it was available (Summer of 2005) and began to find ways to utilize it in our environment.

• Culotta:  What were you using before?   For how long were you using it?
  • Pluke:  We started with AutoCAD Release 9, back in 1988.  Prior to Revit Structure, approximately 70% of our construction document production work was performed in AutoCAD, with the remainder done in Bentley Microstation.

• Culotta:  What made your company switch to Revit Structure and how did you do it?
  • Pluke:  The value of Building Information Modeling (BIM) was apparent to us, but we had yet to find a tool that worked in a Real World environment until Revit Structure came along.  We were frustrated with the loss of intelligence and potential for conflict that 2D CAD presented.  At the same time, several of our best Architectural clients were migrating to Revit.  The platform compatibility and promise of the upcoming MEP version gave Revit Structure a strategic advantage.
    
    Being a relatively small company (just under 70 people at the time of this writing), we have to be prudent with budgets.  As a result, we grew our Revit effort organically.  Our prime BIM Advocate (Jamie Richardson) exposed our office to the power of Revit and mentored small groups of users until they became Advocates and mentored others, and so on and so on…

• Culotta:  What is the biggest advantage or benefit to your company in using Revit Structure?
  • Pluke:  We deliver a better set of Construction Documents to the field, thanks to Revit Structure.  Revit virtually eliminates a scenario where a Section or Detail doesn't match the Plan.

• Culotta:  How does your company transfer the benefits gained in using Revit Structure onto your client?
  • Pluke:  We work very closely with several of our best clients, linking their Architectural models into ours and vice versa throughout the Design process.  As a result, we are all much less likely to be surprised by changes.

• Culotta:  What kind of return on investment have you seen since using Revit Structure?
  • Pluke:  I can't present any tangible numbers on that.  What I can report are intangible indicators such as fewer questions from the field, fewer change orders and claims for errors or omissions on our Revit projects.  One quick flip through a set of our Construction Documents will reveal the additional value that Revit Structure brings to the process.

• Culotta:  Anything else you'd like to share about your experience with Revit Structure?
  • Pluke:  Like any other evolving technology, deploying Revit Structure will not be without its little bumps in the road.  There will be days when things just don't seem to be going the way you'd like them to go. At those times, just ask yourself; "Would I rather be doing this in 2D CAD or gutting it out in Revit Structure?".  You'll say "Revit Structure".  If you don't believe me, you can ask every Revit Structure user here at Ericksen Roed.  The program has grown from a "terrible two year old" into a well behaved teenager and gets better with each release.  Each and every day you will learn something new and exciting about it!

• Culotta:  If you could give one piece of advice to someone in the field of structural engineering who is NOT using Revit Structure today, what would it be?
  • Pluke:  Do absolutely nothing – your clients will find us!  But, seriously, don't wait any longer!  Revit Structure is a mature tool capable of producing higher quality Construction Documents than 2D CAD and providing better information for downstream use.  Much of the content we had to develop internally in the early releases is now available right out of the box.  Ignore this industry trend at your own peril (I am serious about that!).

Comments

[Vu Duc]

Hi Wai Chu
This interview is very interested. I'm Duc, Business Development of Asce group located in HCM city, Vietnam. We have just used Revit structure for our work.( 10 project ). We want to share with revit structure community our experience, our project ( use revit structure ) and we want to learn experience form other consultant in the world. You can organize for us a interwiew like this ? Many thanks.
Regards

[Chris]

is the dwf for this project no longer available? i would be interested in seeing it. thanks.

[Bygningsentreprise]

Great mechanical diagram. This article contains a very useful content. Its really nice and interesting. Thank you for posting.