If there’s one uphill battle for AEC industry professionals, it’s keeping the team on the same page through effective coordination and communication. Fortunately, thanks to technology and innovative minds, we have a game-changer called BIM on our side to make this process a cakewalk.

In the days when BIM was just a dream

Once upon a time, Rachel, an ambitious architect, was working on a project. After never-ending nights of brainstorming, she finally came up with a design plan. She confidently presented her idea to the client, only to receive a ton of changes to make the room bigger, change the elevation, shift the door slightly to the right, and a few more. She sat down to make the changes to the drawings and sent them to the structural engineer for calculating the dimensions. She got back to implementing the configurations, sending the drawings for approvals, and a few more days of back-and-forth. She hated her job. Even the slightest change meant an adjustment to every drawing there is, one by one.

Exhausted and running on fumes, Rachel started whining, “Isn’t there anything that could link these drawings such that a change in one would reflect on others? Is there no way for everyone to work on a project simultaneously? A way to manage all the building information in one place?”

Thankfully, this is now just a chapter in history, as Rachel’s prayers have been answered with the arrival of BIM!

Wait, what is this BIM that’s making AEC professionals’ lives easier?

After BIM became a reality

BIM, short for Building Information Modeling, is a way to create a digital model of a building before it’s built on-site. It goes beyond 3D drawings and includes time (4D), cost (5D), sustainability (6D), operation (7D), and safety (8D). BIM just doesn’t help architects, but also those involved in engineering, construction, structure, and other stakeholders to work on the same model simultaneously and make collective decisions throughout. In addition to the design phase, BIM also takes care of collaboration, planning, construction, and maintenance of the building.

BIM brings a lot of exciting perks to the  AEC industry! I’ve listed the top 6 below.

Benefits of BIM in the AEC industry

1. Reduces cost and waste management

BIM helps you reduce unnecessary expenses and material wastage in your projects. Its cost estimate feature provides reliable estimates for materials, labour, and others that update automatically with revisions. This lets you visualise every aspect of the project in advance. Through this, you can get the right amount of materials and minimize wastage. Also, detecting design faults and errors before implementation prevents costly errors and rework.

2. Building in a more sustainable way

When you use BIM modeling, it becomes easier to design buildings while thinking about the environment. You can see how much energy the building might use and how the materials or construction choices could affect nature. With that kind of insight, it’s simpler to make better choices that are sustainable. It also helps you figure out if you can reuse materials instead of always going for new ones.

3. Enhances productivity and efficiency

Using BIM improves efficiency by automating repetitive tasks. It substantially reduces the time spent on manual drawing and revisions, thus promoting a productive designing and construction process. Teams can focus on more important aspects of the project by offloading the rest to BIM. With all the information in hand, you can effectively execute your projects.

4. Promotes smooth cross-functional collaboration & communication

One of the major concern of AEC teams are collaboration and communication. BIM solves that by streamlining communication among everyone involved in the project, including architects, engineers, stakeholders, and you name it. It does so by creating a shared digital space where it feeds all the information related to the project. The details can be accessed by everyone in real-time.

5. Yields higher quality results

BIM not only optimizes the entire design and construction process, it also enhances the overall quality of the end product. Since it provides detailed calculations, implementing these details in turn makes sure that the finished product is also of high quality.

6. Streamlines planning and shorter construction duration

The digital model created on the BIM enables you to plan more precisely. The diverse advanced tools in BIM help in bringing down the overall design time. The detailed analysis of the project prepares the team to foresee and reduce any potential errors. The fourth dimension (4D) of BIM, time, ensures that the overall construction time is reduced through streamlined planning.

Leverage the advantages of BIM with Snaptrude

Imagine a project where collaboration is streamlined, with no surprise costs or communication issues. Using BIM will simplify your workflows and make your design dreams come true.

Inspired to try BIM for your next design? [Get started](https://app.snaptrude.com/ccfea973b9aa1baa?Referer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.snaptrude.com%2F&_gl=1*n8h9jg*_gcl_au*NDkyOTQzOTg0LjE3NTEzNTQ0NDcuMTA1NTU4ODQ0Mi4xNzUxMzU0NTIyLjE3NTEzNTQ1MjI.) with Snaptrude and get access to a powerful suite of tools that will help you kickstart your BIM journey.

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