10 ways BIM can reduce the costs of your construction projects

10 WAYS BIM CAN REDUCE THE COSTS OF YOUR CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS

Dave Peacock, Technical Director, TÜV SÜD

thursday, 17 MARCH 2022

Do you want to reduce construction costs? Improve efficiency and customer satisfaction? Dave Peacock highlights how you can achieve this through the use of BIM and 10 ways BIM can reduce construction project costs.

With modern construction projects being more complex than ever with the use of state-of-the-art technologies and materials, you need to ensure that you avoid poor financial and harmful decisions. BIM (Building Information Modelling or Better Information Modelling) is a digital process which can help you increase efficiency and reduce costs. It’s a useful tool for all 3D models, not just buildings, and is often referred to as IM (Information Management).

Modern construction projects need modern digital tools such as Building Information Modelling (BIM). BIM could potentially increase efficiency and reduce construction costs during the planning, design, and execution process.

It’s widely assumed that the operating costs account for a significant proportion of total building costs. The costs of operating can be greatly reduced when initial investments are made, such as more energy-efficient technical building or construction concepts, meaning that costs are higher at the start of a project. A project’s costs can shift even more to the construction phase, due to further savings in the operating phase generated by BIM. Our experience with BIM shows that it gives a Return on Investment (ROI) in the short to medium term, if fully adopted.

Even though the savings in the planning stage are relatively small, an investment in BIM will pay for itself in the short-term due to the high savings made in construction costs. By using BIM, you could see cost reduction through:

1. Space optimisation

2. Reduction of maintenance work preparation

3. Reduction of operational running costs

4. BIM-based thermal building simulation

5. Avoidance of profit loss due to timely completion

6. BIM-based system simulation

7. Volume of additional work through clash detection and control

8. Optimal construction process planning and budget monitoring with real-time control

9. Optimisation of construction site logistics

10. BIM-based cost management and reduction of material waste through need-based purchasing

As well as financial savings, BIM can help you support sustainability aims by taking these into account from the very start of planning. It also enables you to interact better with your customers leading to greater customer satisfaction which could result in additional sales.

To achieve these benefits, BIM methodology needs to be implemented correctly. In projects with poor implementation, we’ve seen costs increase. But there’s no need to worry as our experts can help you start using BIM properly from the outset.

For more information about our BIM/digital assessment, advisory, upskilling and verification services, please contact Dave Peacock, Technical Director (+44 (0)7761 521864 / [email protected]) or visit our BIM webpage.