Check out the survey results from Design Master Software – interesting that 2/3 using Revit over AutoCAD:

And how does MEP industry take-up of BIM compare with what was expected in 2011?

As with any such survey, its value must be regulated by the question:  
“Do the survey respondents represent an accurate cross-section of the industry itself?”

Read more:
MEP 3D-BIM 2014 Survey Results – Design Master Blog

A very interesting Case Study written by Doug Andresen (principal architect at Andresen Architecture, Inc) was posted to AUGI last week.  He describes how his firm transitioned from AutoCAD to Revit.

Here are a few quotes I liked:
we purchased the product and only used Revit for renderings for the first 3 to 4 years. We were so pleased with just that portion of the program that it was fine with us to sell a project with colored renderings and continue to deliver the project in AutoCad. However, the beauty of Revit is its seamless integration from preliminaries to construction documents and the time savings are phenomenal.

the more experienced people in AutoCad seemed to have the hardest time learning Revit because it was such a different paradigm and it took a great deal of effort to re-learn everything.  
[Different paradigm?  Its called What Revit Wants]

the set-up time is significant and not for the faint-of-heart. What we finally ended up doing is simply taking the plunge into construction documents after completing the Revit tutorial.

We had to install an in-house “virtual cloud” that would run up to 5 seats simultaneously

all of the good things you have heard are all true! Don’t be afraid of the challenges that the program presents. Revit is the future and the sooner you get on-board, the better.

Read the whole article:
Industry Spotlight: The Revit Revolution | AUGI

From the About page:
We don’t want to re-invent the wheel. We’re fully aware that many groups / professional bodies / organisations are already out there doing their bit to assist the general direction and goals of the industry.  We differ from these groups in that we wish to present an holistic and unified representation of the AEC industry without attachment to any particular discipline or professional body by using practicing industry professionals to produce meaningful, unbiased recommendations.  We will provide advice to those producing documents and guidelines for BIM / IPD as well as clients that wish to know more about BIM; both what it can do for them and what they can realistically expect from the industry.

To find out more, check out http://collaborate-anz.com, and request to join by filling out the form at:
collaborate (ANZ)

Sometimes, its good to take a breath and think about where Revit and BIM have led us.  One case study, recently presented at SARUG by Andrew Abernathy (in slideshow form) included the following interesting points:

  • Mindset change needed to succeed
  • Work became standardized and reuse from project-to-project greatly increased
  • Marketing was transformed from “Let me show you my great design.” to “Let me show you how I deliver more value.”
  • studied old document sets from over 50 years ago. We found multiple views of the same assembly all together
  • Revit is transformative software tool for both designers and builders

via
How Revit Changed an Architectural Firm
(slideshow by Andrew Abernathy,
Principal, NoSilos.com)

The task of adopting BIM can be very daunting for a small firm.

there will likely be negative consequences for not doing it.

the technology is evolving to have a democratizing effect on the design industry

There is no set guide on how to implement BIM.

There is no single tool that can handle all aspects of BIM

New team members who know current tools but don’t know much about design and construction can be a good compliment to a staff that knows how to design and build but doesn’t know the latest BIM tools.

If you are looking for a clear road map of how to deliver a BIM project, you won’t find it.

Read the full article by Kris Weeks at:
Braving the New World of BIM