Through the integrated BIM process, architects, engineers, builders, and owners have the ability to explore a project’s key physical and functional characteristics digitally—before it’s built. This allows them to design, analyze, document and deliver designs from the conceptual phase through the construction phase, and beyond. By using coordinated, data-rich information models, all members of a project can contribute to its success through improved accuracy, less waste, and the ability to make informed decisions earlier in the process.  

Autodesk BIM solutions help make sustainable design practices easier, more efficient, and less costly by enabling project participants to create coordinated, digital design information and documentation. This information can then be used to more accurately visualize and simulate performance, appearance, and cost, thereby helping to deliver the project faster, more economically, and with the potential for reduced environmental impact. Much of the specific information required for sustainable design, analysis, code compliance, and certification becomes routinely available as a by-product of the design process, helping to save time and money.

Integrated project delivery (IPD) is an emerging business model in the building industry that allows for the entire extended team to collaborate early in the process to make the most effective decisions together. The IPD process is built on behavior and contractual relationships that are greatly enhanced by incorporating the technology-based process of BIM. BIM helps project teams use consistent, reliable information in a common collaborative environment, increasing understanding of design intent, improving efficiency, and enabling new ways of working that inspire more sustainable design and construction.

BIM helps architects stay competitive in an increasingly complex business climate by giving them the ability to better predict the outcome of a building before it’s built. It enables the creation of more sustainable, accurate designs with fewer errors and less waste, which can result in higher profits and more satisfied clients. And through the delivery of reliable, coordinated building information, BIM helps architects collaborate with team members more easily.

BIM gives mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) engineering professionals the ability to better predict the outcome of their systems before they are built. By creating and analyzing designs in a model, MEP professionals can deliver sophisticated, sustainable building systems more quickly and economically than ever before. Plus, increased visibility facilitates coordination and collaboration with architects and other engineers to significantly reduce errors and improve the accuracy and reliability of MEP engineering design and documentation.

BIM helps structural engineers stay flexible and competitive by giving them the ability to better predict the outcome of their structures before they are built. With BIM, structural design and documentation can be integrated earlier in the process, so design interferences can be addressed before construction begins. And bidirectional linking to analysis applications from leading industry and regional partners helps reduce coordination errors and improve accuracy. BIM also helps to more efficiently accommodate design changes as they occur, and improves coordination with extended teams.

BIM helps civil engineers predict the outcome of their land development, transportation, and environmental projects before they are built. By creating coordinated, reliable design information, civil engineers are able to respond to changes faster; optimize designs with analysis, simulation, and visualization; and deliver higher-quality designs and construction documentation. Plus, BIM enables the extended team to extract valuable civil data from an information model, which facilitates earlier decision making, more sustainable designs, and faster, more economic project delivery.

BIM helps construction professionals visualize, simulate, and analyze a project before construction even begins. BIM solutions can be used to perform quantity takeoffs, visualize construction processes through 4D simulation and clash detection, improve communication and collaboration among project stakeholders, and optimize execution in the field. Constructability is communicated and issues are flagged early on when changes are less expensive to make, thus minimizing material waste on-site, increasing productivity, and potentially lowering costs.　

BIM provides unprecedented value to owners by helping them coordinate information, processes, communication, cost, and schedules across the building lifecycle. Owners can visualize options, analyze environmental impact, and evaluate costs of their projects before the onset of construction to help accelerate project delivery, manage budgets, reduce waste and risk, optimize building performance, and improve ongoing operation.

BIM helps government agencies increase productivity and collaborate more effectively across design and construction teams. By using BIM, agencies can more quickly evaluate and better predict design alternatives so they can keep up with fast-changing policies—such as sustainability mandates. Because the best decisions can be made earlier in the process when changes are less expensive to make, agencies save time and money, minimize on-site waste, and improve the on-time delivery and utility of projects.