Welcome to your Personalized Guide to Achieving the Extraordinary with BIM

Increasingly, project owners are making use of building information modeling (BIM) a requirement for working on building projects – with some studies showing that more than four-in-five owners require or encourage BIM use. These requirements and preferences impact the entire building project.

Making the shift from 2D drafting to 3D modeling can help firms to stand out in the bidding process, meet project mandates, and qualify for more projects.

Using model-based workflows also supports design and detailing processes that improve collaboration, reduce design clashes and re-work, optimize structural models, and streamline fabrication. Half of engineering firms cite the ability to maintain repeat business as a top BIM benefit, while more than 40 percent say that BIM capabilities help them market new business and offer new services.

Learn more about how BIM workflows can take structural engineering firms to a new level.

Building project teams are often spread out across different offices, different countries, or even different continents.

With BIM tools, structural engineers, designers, and detailers can work together in a common data model, no matter their location. This helps ensure that all team members have the most up-to-date information – preventing clashes and rework, and even helping firms to meet accelerated deadlines.

Model-based collaboration tools can also improve communication between structural engineers and the extended project team. Sixty percent of contractors cite multi-trade coordination as a top benefit of BIM. Structural trades are ready to improve collaboration with the design team, and are benefiting by better managing design changes that impact their deliverables for the project. It’s clear that BIM collaboration tools help to reduce the impact of design changes on the trades.

Discover how BIM tools enhance collaboration.

By connecting structural design to detailing design for structural steel, rebar, or precast concrete fabrication, firms can significantly shorten project timelines.

BIM tools not only help to speed up the design and detailing processes, they also provide the ability to store and process data in a centralized structural model – data that can easily be converted into machine files for fabrication.

This streamlined approach can reduce waste and inefficiencies in the shop and on site, helping teams design and detail structural components in less time, with less rework. In fact, around half of architecture, engineering, and contracting companies using BIM processes say they’ve seen noticeable reductions in both project schedules and final construction costs.

Learn more about how BIM tools can keep projects on track – from design and detailing, all the way through fabrication and construction.

When designing in 2D, structural engineers can be limited by time constraints, and can only explore a handful of different approaches. But 3D BIM tools make it easy to quickly analyze multiple options and arrive at an optimal design in less time.

A rich data model allows engineers to address competing design parameters, quickly test the viability and structural integrity of different options early in the design phase, and easily adjust structural models based on design changes.

With traditional design and detailing workflows, it’s almost impossible for engineers to catch and correct every mistake in real time. And when glitches go unnoticed, they can result in extensive rework or additional expenses. BIM processes can prevent costly and time-consuming errors.

Learn more about how BIM tools are helping structural engineering firms to optimize their designs.

2D drawings can seem indecipherable, and often prevent project owners from fully understanding structural engineers’ work. This can cause confusion that can lead to delays and change orders late in the design process.

BIM tools bring project designs to life in 3D, giving all stakeholders the ability to visualize the intent of designers’ and engineers’ work. This clarity is also important in the field when construction teams are working from structural plans to erect steel, precast concrete, or place rebar on site.

More than 90 percent of project owners say that BIM models increase their ability to understand designs, and 70 percent say BIM tools improve their ability to plan construction.

Discover how BIM capabilities help structural engineers clearly communicate their design intent.

For teams creating a structural model for retrofit and renovation projects, accurate data on current site conditions is essential. But manual documentation and traditional survey methods are tedious, time-consuming, and prone to error.

By incorporating reality capture tools such as light detection and ranging (LiDAR), teams can capture point clouds that provide comprehensive information about existing built and environmental features. By incorporating this data into BIM tools, structural engineers can create models to perfectly fit the project site.

Discover how reality capture and BIM tools can help structural engineers incorporate accurate as-built data into their models.