What are the benefits of BIM?
Building information models can reduces or even remove a lot of manual work required in construction projects especially related to data management. For example, with the help of BIM most of the labor-intensive traditional quantity take-off can be done automatically. Instead of a week, the calculation is done by lunch time.
In a bigger picture, BIM reduces risk. Risk always has a cost. It can be just money, if for example an offer or procurement is done based on inaccurate information. But it can also be missed opportunities, if a shopping mall is not ready by Christmas season, or a microprocessor factory is unable to start its production on time.
The more inaccurately we predict the future, the more risk there is in our decision making. So, making better predictions reduces risk. Better predictions require more and more accurate data and information. This is where BIM can shine. On a larger scale the biggest benefit of BIM is certainty. More information, more reliable, earlier in the process and on-time allows us to make better, more accurate and reliable predictions about the future, when making big or small decisions. Of which there are plenty in a construction project.
The real value of BIM is not in the 3D, it is in the data. You don’t always have to even open the model to get access and find value in this vast amount of information. In fact, for many users, it is not even necessary to know, that the data they are using originates from models.
In order manage, analyze and use BIM efficiently on a large scale, to harvest the actual benefits of BIM, the model data must be consistent, not just in one model, not just from one design discipline, not just in one project, but in all of them. This is what Simplebim enables.