In this session, we are going to export schedules from Revit to Excel and use Excel to compile the exported data. Since schedules in Revit are not designed for complex data calculations, we may export necessary data and use external tools for further calculations. Here, let us use the five material takeoff schedules in the project as examples, including “Structural Column Material Takeoff Schedule,” “Structural Framing Material Takeoff Schedule,” “Wall Material Takeoff Schedule,” “Floor Material Takeoff Schedule,” and “Stair Material Takeoff Schedule.” Now, let us export the “Structural Column Material Takeoff Schedule.” First, in the “Project Browser,” open the “Structural Column Material Takeoff Schedule,” then click the “R” button on the upper left corner. On the “Export” menu, click “Reports,” and then select “Schedule.” Browse and select a folder to save the file. Here, we select the desktop. Click “OK.” Then in the pop-up window, let us keep the default settings. Click “OK.” Now the “Structural Column Material Takeoff Schedule” has been exported as a TXT file. Let us use Microsoft Excel to open the file. As you can see, the format of the schedule is the same as that in Revit. Now please practice the same procedure to export the rest schedules. There should be five TXT files when you are done exporting. Now, we are going to use Excel to calculate the total volume of concrete used on the third floor. First, we create a new sheet named “Concrete Volume of 3rd Floor.” Then, name the column titles as “Structural Columns,” “Structural Framings,” “Walls,” “Floors,” and “Stairs.” Back to the structural column schedule, in the bottom area, you can see the field of “Grand total.” It shows the total concrete volume of columns on the third floor. Let us copy this value and paste it into the sheet we just created. Input “Concrete Grand Volume” here, and use the “AutoSum” function to sum up the concrete volume. Here we get the total volume of concrete on the third floor. What I just demonstrated is how to export and compile schedules. In a construction cost estimation worksheet, there are other items to be fulfilled. We may follow similar steps to create the information needed. Next, let us take a look at a sample of construction cost estimation worksheet. We can see the column titles are “Item Number,” “Trade/Item,” “Unit,” “Quantity,” “Unit Cost,” “Total,” and “Division Total.” The total cost of each trade or item is calculated by multiplying its quantity and its unit cost. And the total costs in each division are summed up to get the “Division Total.” In practice, for cost estimation, we usually get the quantity information, such as concrete volume in this example, from the BIM model but get the information about the unit cost of concrete elsewhere. By multiplying the quantity and the unit cost, we then have the cost calculated.
