Builder's works

Penetration Works

Every pipe, duct, conduit, and cable tray that crosses a wall or slab needs a hole — and finding, sizing, and placing those builderswork openings by hand is slow, error-prone work that usually surfaces late, when the structure is already being coordinated. Penetration Works does that work for you: it scans your model (and your loaded Revit links), finds every MEP element passing through walls, floors, ceilings, roofs, framing, or columns, works out the exact opening each one needs, and places correctly sized openings only where you approve them.

What it does

• Finds penetrations from pipes, ducts, conduits, cable trays, flexible runs, and fittings — in the active model and in loaded Revit links.
• Checks walls, slabs and floors, ceilings, roofs, and (optionally) structural framing and columns.
• Sizes every opening from the true geometry of the crossing, not a rough box — angled runs get a properly rotated, minimum-size rectangular opening on the host face.
• Centers each opening through the full thickness of the host, so it cuts cleanly all the way through.
• Applies the clearances you set per discipline (plumbing, HVAC, conduit, cable tray, fittings) plus a minimum opening size.
• Combines nearby openings into one coordinated builderswork opening when they fall within the distances you allow.
• Flags openings that sit too close to a host edge or an existing opening for manual review instead of placing them silently.
• Remembers what it has already created: re-scanning shows existing openings and never places duplicates — including native openings and other cutting families already in the model.
• Places each opening independently, so one problem host never discards the rest of the batch, and the whole run is a single Undo step.

How to use it

1. Launch Penetration Works from BimCode.
2. In the left panel, choose your MEP sources, host categories, working unit, and clearances.
3. Click Scan exact intersections.
4. Review the results: filter by status, search, and use the locate button to zoom to any penetration in Revit.
5. Pick a cutting family: click Generate engineered family for a ready-made opening family with everything pre-mapped, or Load my own family to use your office standard.
6. If you loaded your own family, map its opening width, opening height, and host depth parameters in the right panel.
7. Tick the openings you want (or Select ready) and click Create openings.

Openings marked for manual review can be inspected — the row explains exactly why — and created one at a time once you are satisfied.

Good to know

• Round penetrations get a rectangular builderswork opening sized to the required envelope, the way openings are normally set out on site.
• Your settings, clearances, and family mapping are remembered between sessions.
• Everything the tool creates is grouped under Penetration Works - Create MEP openings in Revit's Undo list, so one Undo removes the whole batch.
• Try the first run on a detached copy of your coordination model to confirm the clearance rules match your project standards.
• Using your own opening family? See the requirements in the user guide (docs/user-guide.md).