Resources
Use cases
Every example on this page comes from a real BIM Monkey session on a working residential project or firm template — not a staged demo. Each one is broken down the same way: the need an architect actually had, what BIM Monkey did about it, and the result at the end of the session.
Start a new project
The need: a new project opens as a template full of placeholders. Filling it in eats the first day.
- Populated the cover sheet from real project data — scope, address, parcel, zoning, SEPA note
- Read the surveyor's name and license number off a CAD title block image
- Caught the wrong building code (commercial IBC on a residential project) and fixed it
Result: permit-ready site plan package in about 30 minutes.
Bring standards over from another project
The need: the new file is missing the firm's filled regions, dimension types, and text styles.
- Copied 38 filled-region types and 2 dimension types from a sibling project open in the same session
- Renamed all 26 legacy-prefixed types to firm standard — zero failures
Result: full asset library in under a minute, instead of rebuilding piece by piece.
Clean up a messy file — safely
The need: years of CAD imports left 107 line styles and stray text types nobody dares delete.
- Checked every style for actual usage before touching anything
- Deleted only the 42 with zero references; built the missing text-size ladder
- Reported a prioritized gap list of what the template still needs
Result: 107 line styles down to 62 — all firm-standard — with nothing broken.
Turn a fix into a one-click script
The need: the same cleanup gets re-explained on every project.
- Saved the session's work as ribbon scripts the whole team can run — zero token cost
- Safe to re-run: already-done work just reports “already exists”
Result: firm standards become buttons, not tribal knowledge.
Make a surgical edit
The need: flip one floor's hatch direction — without changing the shared material used everywhere else.
- Flagged that a direct edit would flip every floor in the project
- Duplicated pattern, material, and floor type; swapped only the one element; verified visually
Result: one floor changed. Nothing else touched.
Get a straight answer about what Revit allows
The need: link project info text across sheets so it updates everywhere from one edit.
- Flagged up front that the required API doesn't exist in this Revit build — verified, not guessed
- Laid out two options with tradeoffs; did everything the API allows; gave click-by-click steps for the one manual piece
Result: no dead ends, no broken output — a clear path and an honest constraint.
Compare two versions of a model
The need: a staff member worked in an older copy of the file. What did they add, and what is only in the current version?
- Read both open models from one script and matched 9,420 elements by GUID — element IDs alone had collisions, so GUID became the key
- Isolated the staff member's editing sessions and listed what existed only in each file, noise filtered out
- Copied the missing area plans, tags, legend and view template into the current file without touching anything already there
Result: a saved, read-only compare script that writes a summary and a CSV — reusable on any two open models, at no token cost.
Check a site plan against the city's own checklist
The need: the site plan is going to permit intake. Does it meet the jurisdiction's 12-item basic site plan checklist?
- Read the sheet's views, notes, dimensions and line styles and scored each checklist item as met, partly met or missing
- Caught what a plan reviewer would: wrong scale for the checklist, overhangs without dimensions, an area figure with no explanation, a typo, an empty scope-of-work field
- Produced a short fix list ordered for the permit check-in
Result: a reviewer-style pass in a few minutes, before the reviewer sees it.
Build a family starter set from past projects
The need: a new remodel model has two door families and no windows, fixtures, casework or tags. Two finished projects have everything.
- Inventoried all three models read-only: which families each has, which overlap, which are empty or project-specific
- Proposed a vetted list of about 40 families — tags, windows, doors, bath, casework, electrical, railings — and flagged the legacy-prefixed and duplicate ones to exclude
- Laid out three ways to bring them in, with the one that also fixes the firm template for next time
Result: a controlled batch instead of hunting families one at a time, and a path to a template that starts complete.
What to ask
| When you're… | Try asking |
|---|---|
| Starting a project | “Populate the cover sheet from this survey PDF.” |
| Inheriting a messy file | “Audit line styles and text types — delete unused non-standards.” |
| Repeating yourself | “Save that as a script for the team.” |
| Editing carefully | “Change this one element — tell me first what else it touches.” |
| Sanity-checking | “Audit this template against our standards.” |
| On a deadline | “Check door swings and egress notes against code.” |