HOW CAN FULL REVIT SAVE YOU MONEY ?
Cost Differential
Full Revit is around $4,500 PA versus Revit LT $900. That equates to less than $100/week for Full Revit. If your staff cost is $100/hour that is 1 billable HOUR/week! If it saves your staff 2 hours the investment is cash positive – Right?
Primary value driver: API extensibility and automation
The most common objection is that the feature difference between Revit LT and full Revit is not worth the extra investment. In practice the primary differentiator is extendibility rather than native functionality. It is not the additional features of Full Revit that makes it worth the money.
It is the fact that Full Revit allows the Autodesk API’s to run enabling third-party and in-house add-ins to automate tasks and standardize model/documentation outputs.
Think of Full Revit as being the “windows environment for 3D BIM”.
Autodesk’s platform strategy allows software developers to extend Revit with purpose-built tools that reduce manual effort and variability across architectural, engineering and construction (AEC) workflows.
The commercial question is therefore whether the productivity gains from a targeted add-in exceeds its total cost of ownership (licensing, deployment and training).
Example solution: QARC4Revit (plug-in)
- Embedded QA/checking instructions and sheet-level governance across 150+ sheets (~1 hour/week)
- Reduced reliance on upgrading to newer Revit versions to maintain compatibility (~1 hour/week).
- Not having to find a file hidden in a maze of sub folders manually Revit family libraries (~1 hour/week).
- Not having to trawl a huge family farm of tiny families would (~1 hour/week).
- Not having to trawl the web for specific instructional videos (~1 hour/week).
- Streamlined sheet creation and management (~1 hour/week).
- Not having to set up graphic overrides on every view would (~1 hour/week).
- Automated/assisted material mapping for families to reduce manual coordination (~1 hour/week).
- Reduced onboarding effort via embedded documentation workflows and guidance (~1 hour/week).
- Keynote-driven notes to reduce repetitive manual text entry (~1 hour/week).
- Improved navigation and indexing across drawing sets to reduce time lost to inconsistent numbering (~1 hour/week).
- Faster identification and reuse of generic content (~1 hour/week).
- Easily sourced manufacturer content by streamlining library discovery and access (~1 hour/week).
- Access to climatic/environmental design inputs without separate manual research (~1 hour/week).
- More efficient configuration of non-standard view scales and related view settings (~1 hour/week).
- Not having to make a single drawing sheet would (~1 hour/week).
On this basis, 15 hours/week over 50 working weeks equate to 750 hours/year. At an internal cost rate of only $50/hour, this represents approximately $37,500 per annum in recovered capacity. Against an estimated combined annual software cost of approximately $5,000, the implied benefit-to-cost ratio is 7.5X.
Where else can you achieve that kind of return?
Commercial considerations (add-in licensing and bundling)
If QARC4Revit is procured separately, an additional annual licensing cost (e.g., ~$2,000) should be included in the business case in addition to the upgrade from Revit LT to full Revit.
However, bundled procurement may reduce total cost. For example, our preferred software provider can supply full Revit and QARC as a bundle for less than $5,000 per year (pricing subject to change), which remains below ~$100 per week.
Benefits realization requirements (implementation and adoption)
We would love to offer a 100% money back guarantee, but we can’t. Why? We can’t absolutely guarantee this return because if your staff do not leverage the turbo power of QARC4Revit you simply won’t see the return. Realization of these benefits is contingent on implementation: configuration, standards alignment, and consistent user adoption. Without operational governance and training, automation tools typically deliver materially lower returns.
On the other hand, if they are actually half as proficient at Revit as they claim to be you will compound this return by 5 times to over $187,500 PA. You can pay them more and you can earn more. If you need 6 licences you could potentially make $1.125m extra PA!
Licensing flexibility (retaining Revit LT for limited use)
Existing Revit LT licenses can be retained for limited tasks (e.g., viewing, minor edits) in flexible work arrangements. Revit LT cannot execute Revit API add-ins; however, standards, parameters and content applied via QARC4Revit are stored within the project file and remain available when the model is subsequently opened in full Revit.
Next steps
Still not convinced? Talk to an Architect who has experienced the benefits to validate the business case against your project pipeline. Already convinced? Talk to us about your current and future licenses for Revit and QARC.
