I also do that cleanup and renaming. It is key to know what is happening. My outliner structure is as clean and tidy as can be. I try hard so there is not a flaw when I get to construction documents stage, on my projects.
However as you might now, an architectural project takes a long time to deliver and I often work on more than once at a time with very short delivery times as can be. There is simply no time to check on all components and all groups names. This is where messy stuff starts to happen and so, at least, I know my outliner structure is coherent even if everything is named Group and Component#1. I often create groups for organizing stuff, for drawing stuff in 5minutes... I simply press a key and keep on modeling inside the group. Fast as hell and not dangerous.
However I use components for 2 typical situations:
Elements that repeat through the project
Doors and Windows; Hardware; Sanitaryware and taps or sinks; Render proxies for furniture and vegetation.
Special spaces that I save as Xrefs
Outer building shell (for masterplans); Kitchens; Bathrooms; Staircases; Elevators; Halls; any other interior or exterior space that needs a lot of detail and I can isolate on a separate model binded to one or several other models.
Note to Dave
I do see the point of only using components. It's just that with so many of them and with such jumping through projects something will be messed up.
Note to Trimble
Most of my component problems would be solved with a simple thing - when making a component wich name already exists, why not ask if user wants to make it unique based on the name. It would look like this:
"A component with that name already exists. Do you want to replace that definition with your new component?"
Existing Answers:
"Yes" and "No"
Possible Answer:
"Make Unique"
The result would be a component with the name that exists and the next available "#n"
Thank you again for your wonderful tips Dave and Pbacot and I'll be seeing you around.
JoΓ£o