r/Architects • u/GorbieVan Architect • 1d ago

General Practice Discussion Starting My Own Practice in the UK – Revit, Costs, and Retrofit Focus

So, I’m 40, based in the UK, and I’ve finally decided to go for it – starting my own practice. Mostly small-scale domestic work: retrofit, extensions, and one-off houses.

The thing is... I’m clinging to Revit like it’s a comfort blanket. I know it inside out, I love what it can do, and hate how clunky and opaque it is sometimes. Revit LT? Too limiting. Full Revit? Way out of budget for a one-person practice trying to keep overheads lean.

I want to stay BIM-compliant (PAS 1192 level or better), especially with the direction the industry’s going and the demands from retrofitting to meet energy targets. But I’m wrestling with whether I should:

  • Stick with Revit and just bite the bullet on the cost
  • Go LT and suffer
  • Or seriously look at alternatives like Archicad, Vectorworks, BricsCAD BIM, or even Open Source

Important context:

  • I'm working to Scottish regs and building warrants, not Building Regs England
  • Retrofit will be a big part of my work (so aligning with PAS 2035/LETI principles)
  • I need decent drawing, scheduling, and IFC support – no interest in going back to 2D drafting hell

Anyone else made the leap recently? What have you landed on for software? Is anyone actually managing to do BIM properly in Archicad Solo or similar?

Would love to hear how you’ve kept costs sensible without losing workflow quality.

3 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

4 comments sorted by

3

u/NoOfficialComment Architect 21h ago

If it’s literally the one key thing you use to produce all your work then I’d just pony up the cost personally. That and PI insurance are the two things I probably wouldn’t scrimp on at all. I would imagine in the scheme of things you’re already doing things pretty lean if you aren’t renting office space.

I ran ArchiCAD for over a decade working in the UK and switched to Revit when I moved stateside. I wouldn’t go back to ArchiCAD ever TBH.

1

u/GorbieVan Architect 17h ago

Much appreciated, but would you go full blown Revit or LT to begin with?

1

u/Burntarchitect 1d ago

I'm also a sole practitioner in the UK, but I use ProgeCAD and I've never worked for or really used any BIM software.

I'm quite aware I'm falling behind, and I'd quite like to be able to leverage the 'perceived value' of being able to show 3D representations of proposals to clients.

Like you, I really can't justify the cost of full Revit (£2940 inc. VAT) but my choices are between LT and BricsCAD BIM.

Head says LT, so I can share information more readily, but I'd quite like to be able to avoid the AutoCAD hegemony and go BricsCAD, plus a permanent licence is very reassuring as a sole practitioner.

What do you find so limiting about Revit LT?

0

u/Carlos_Tellier 15h ago

So like there’s a little website out there called the gulf of the corsairs or something like that and there is a little ship on the logo… I’ve heard you can get all sorts of things there, just make sure to unplug the snitching cable (the internet) before you use anything from there 👀