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.

Answer a city correction with the code in hand

The need: the reviewer’s comment says “demonstrate compliance with the solid waste section in the plans.” Nobody has that section memorized.

• Read the current municipal code section from the city’s own site and applied it to the project: which units it covers, the storage space each needs, floor, screening, and what the plans must show
• Checked the drawn enclosure against the requirement, then wrote the site plan notes — container counts, sizes, collection point — in the only clear strip on the sheet
• Flagged that the enclosure sits where the code doesn’t allow it and wrote the note requesting the alternative arrangement the code provides for, instead of pretending it complied

Result: a correction answered in one session, with the code cited and the one real conflict put in front of the reviewer on purpose.

Verify the zoning references before the set goes out

The need: a cover sheet carries fourteen zoning citations, some carried over from a project in another city.

• Confirmed six sections against the current municipal code and found one cross-reference that doesn’t resolve on the city’s site, with a recommendation on what to cite instead
• Recalculated impervious coverage with the roof overhang included rather than the footprint, which changed which lot sizes pass, and corrected a side setback for the eave fire-separation rule
• Found notes from the previous city still in the model — stormwater, side sewer, a mechanical code reference — and listed them for removal without editing anything

Result: the citations a reviewer would actually check are confirmed, and the leftovers from the wrong jurisdiction are on a list instead of on the sheet.

Model existing conditions from a scanned plan

The need: the only record of the existing house is a scanned plan from 2001. The remodel needs the windows, code-minimum window wells, and the grade lowered around them.

• Read the window sizes off the scan, placed the five basement windows as Existing phase units hosted in the foundation walls, and said plainly which main-floor windows had no size on the sheet
• Built a window well at each one to the firm’s minimums from walls and a gravel floor when no well family existed, and lowered the walls that first landed above the cut plane
• Excavated the toposolid at every well with Revit’s own tool and reported the volume removed and the resulting grade inside and outside the wells

Result: existing conditions in the model in one session, with every assumed dimension listed for the architect to confirm.

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.”
Answering corrections	“Read the section the reviewer cited and tell me what the plans have to show.”
Before issue	“Verify every code citation on the cover sheet against the city’s current code.”