BIM family management
in an architecture or engineering practice
If a BIM model is like a dish, the families are the ingredients. The better those ingredients, the better the result. That is why, in addition to coordinating projects and teams, a practice’s BIM Manager has to manage both the families and the internal templates with judgement.
Keep reading: the guidelines for managing those families well ↓
Do not trust all the content you find on the internet
Downloading a free family saves time today, but it can cost three times as much tomorrow.
Take great care when downloading content from the internet, especially from unaccredited websites. Mainly because those objects can fill the project with unnecessary information and data that nobody asked for and nobody controls.
Sometimes, even so, it is useful to download an object from a specific manufacturer. In that case, check that the content was developed by a specialist consultancy and, once downloaded, verify its actual use in the project to make sure it does not include parameters that overload the model unnecessarily.
Use objects generated by the practice itself
Years of accumulated experience teach an uncomfortable but clear lesson.
Following the previous guideline, it is advisable to always work with families and templates created by the architecture or engineering practice itself. Over years of experience, the same cases keep recurring: projects that have collapsed because of the use of external objects, precisely because their information was not controlled and they carried an unnecessary level of detail or unnecessary parameters.
This does not mean prohibiting all external content, but treating it with the same rigour as your own: an object that enters the practice’s library should go through the same filter as one created in-house, not slip in for convenience.
Use a template with the most common BIM families, not all of them
The most frequent mistake with this guideline is exactly the opposite of what seems sensible.
It is very useful to have your own project template with the families most used in the office: a base file from which to start each new project, which can be updated over time but must not be loaded with too much information.
A very common mistake is to have a template with all the BIM families already loaded in advance. That methodology only leads to working with files that are too heavy and become harder to use as the project grows. In an architecture office, for example, the starting template can incorporate the five most common types of walls, windows or doors of the practice. No more.
The project template is not the place for all of the practice’s families, but for the few that genuinely recur in most projects.
Keep a BIM family repository, separate from the template
The template is the starting file; the repository is the complete library.
Most of the families used in a practice’s projects should be stored there, and not in the base file discussed in the previous guideline. Here it is usual to have a file dedicated to each type of element — for example, one called “Doors” — with all the doors used in the office over time.
That base is very useful for consulting and copying/pasting each door needed in a new project, instead of rebuilding it from scratch. And the same approach is applied to the other elements, producing files for doors, walls, windows, furniture and any other category the practice uses frequently.
A family library in constant evolution
These four guidelines are not loose theory: they are the approach we apply to every project that comes our way.
At A3D we have one of the largest generic libraries that currently exist, always available to the projects we collaborate on: whoever works with us has access to practically all the families they may need (A3D’s own figure). In addition, a content department is dedicated exclusively to adapting and generating new requirements and families, so the library is in constant evolution.
That discipline is the same one we apply when we help a practice set up its own repository: it is not about accumulating objects, but about maintaining a curated, verified and organised library that grows with the practice instead of becoming a burden.
Go back to the beginning or go deeper into the other pages
This is the fourth and last of the pages on how BIM families are designed, managed and applied in a real project.
- Design How to design a BIM family in Revit: 6 key points →
- Building services Characteristics of MEP families in Revit →
- Complexity Complex or assembled families: which to choose →
Frequently asked questions
Complete answers to the most common searches about BIM family management in a practice.
What is BIM family management in a practice?
It is the set of criteria by which an architecture or engineering practice organises, controls and reuses the BIM families it uses in its projects: what content it incorporates, how it verifies it, in which template it integrates it and where it stores it for the rest of the team. Without that management, each project tends to resolve its families from scratch, with inconsistent information from one to the next.
Why should BIM families not be downloaded from just any website?
Because content downloaded from unaccredited websites can fill the project with unnecessary information and parameters, which overload the model without adding real value. If an object is downloaded from a manufacturer, check that it was developed by a specialist consultancy and verify its use in the project before accepting it.
What should a practice’s project template contain?
It should incorporate only the BIM families the practice uses most — for example, the five most common types of walls, windows or doors in an architecture office — not every possible family. Loading the template with too much information only produces heavy files that are difficult to maintain in the long term.
What is a BIM family repository?
It is a file, separate from the project template, where most of the families a practice uses are stored, organised by type — for example, a doors file with all the doors used in the office. It serves as a reference base for copying and reusing each element in projects, instead of creating it again each time.
What role does the BIM Manager have in family management?
In addition to coordinating projects and teams, the BIM Manager of an architecture or engineering practice is the person who efficiently manages both the families and the internal BIM templates: decides what content enters the practice’s library, verifies its quality and keeps the repository up to date as the practice grows.
We do this work every day
Setting up and maintaining a family library with this level of judgement — filtering of external content, a lightweight template, a repository organised by type — is exactly what we do at A3D every day, for our own projects and for the practices we work with. If your team needs a family library of its own, Revit training or the support of an external BIM Manager, we go through it together on your project.
And your family library: who manages it?
Tell us about your plant: an A3D specialist tells you in 15 minutes where to start, which area to survey first and with what scope.
Prefer to go back to the start of the series? Read about how to design a BIM family or go back to the repository on this page.