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Revit Templates in 2026: What Changed Since 2021? w/ Aaron Maller - Replay

2026-04-15T15:14:00.003-04:00

Five years is a long time in Revit. Five new versions, the arrival of ACC, and a whole wave of features that may or may not belong in your template... it's time to take stock. In Episode 134 of BIM After Dark Live, I brought back Aaron Maller of Parallax Team for a deep-dive on how template strategy has evolved and where most firms are still leaving efficiency on the table.

What We Covered

The new feature split. Aaron framed it well: every release has features that are fun to model with, and then a separate set that are actually template-relevant. Most people only think about the first bucket. The second one is where template work compounds over time.

ACC and cloud deployment changed the game. When Aaron was last on the show talking templates, ACC didn't exist. Now it's central to how templates get versioned, shared, and enforced across project teams. That has real implications for how you structure your starting files.

Phase filters and view templates still trip people up. These are some of the oldest pain points in Revit and they're still not resolved. Aaron walked through how a well-built template handles phasing setup so you're not redoing it on every project.

The Revit AI assistant conversation. This was one of the more honest moments in the stream. Aaron and his team are turning off Revit's built-in AI assistant on client deployments... not because it's a bad idea, but because nobody's taking accountability for the outputs yet. They tested it live and it miscounted nested shared families. That's the kind of thing that becomes a real problem in professional practice.

Template philosophy hasn't changed, even if the tools have. Aaron's been building templates since 2006. His core idea is still the same: if you find yourself doing the same thing on every job, it belongs in the template. That discipline compounds.

Click here to view the replay now...

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Special thanks to our sponsor this season: Guardian

Revit MEP Families: Plumbing, Mechanical & Electrical Tips - Replay

2026-04-02T08:50:00.001-04:00

One of the topics I get asked about all the time is MEP in Revit.

So instead of bringing on one guest, I brought on three.

In last night's episode of BIM After Dark Live, I sat down with the team from RevX MEP to talk plumbing, mechanical, and electrical families in a way that was actually practical. Not theory. Not perfect-world BIM talk. Real workflows.

A few things that stood out for me:

- Connectors matter, but only if you understand what they are actually doing.

- Families do not need to be overbuilt to be useful.

- Nested content can make mechanical and electrical families way more flexible.

- Revit can do more with electrical loads and panel schedules than a lot of people realize.

- And maybe most importantly, good MEP content is still way too hard to find, which is exactly why conversations like this matter.

I also appreciated how honest the discussion was around LOD, conduit modeling, coordination, and the difference between what sounds impressive and what is actually helpful on a project.

If you work in Revit MEP, or even if you are on the architecture side and have ever wondered why MEP content feels like a different world, this is a good one to watch.

Click here to watch the replay now...

Guardian for Revit:

This season of BIM After Dark Live is being supported by Guardian for Revit. Head on over to their website now to see how their tools can help BIM Managers and Revit users control standards, analyze their habits, and verify the health of their models...

Cutting Walls into Foundation Walls in Revit (Office Hour Sessions)

2026-02-10T20:09:00.000-05:00

In this week's office hour session we explore a few different options for dealing with integrating exterior walls and foundation walls (for things like window wells) in Revit...

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Every other week I hold a private call with members of the BIM After Dark Community. I thought it would be valuable to highlight some of the conversations here on the channel.

If you think you could benefit from an Office Hour like this one, Join the BIM After Dark Community for full courses, support, and sample files today !