BIM has been the buzzword and a promising development in the AEC industry. It has brought a paradigm shift providing an efficient collaborative environment for complete workflow process and integrating all the stakeholders on one platform enabling them to deliver on their role and responsibility. Its productivity is leading to increased BIM adoption for the projects and mandates by the government across the globe. However, despite BIM being in AEC industry for several years, a lot of people still understand it on surface level having used it for limited purpose or none at all.

Many misconceptions have been circulating about BIM, so let’s bust these myths one by one:

1. Revit is BIM

BIM stands for Building Information Modelling so a lot of people associate BIM as equivalent to using Revit software for building modelling. Revit is indeed a significant part of BIM as it provides BIM collaborative design environment as a consistent, computable and coordinated model can be authored on Revit.

Nonetheless, we need to be aware that BIM is not any single software but a process using multiple software at various stages of the AEC workflow. Revit, Rhino, ArchiCAD, Microstation, Naviswork etc all are fundamentally BIM software but do not single handed function as complete BIM software.

To elucidate this, let’s look at a few Autodesk software which when used in conjunction facilitate the BIM process. FormIt can be used for fast conceptual modelling which can then be easily transferred to Revit for detail designing and information modelling. BIM 360 Design further helps in real time collaboration within team and coordination between various disciplines and stakeholders minimizing errors and rework significantly.

2. BIM is expensive 

Most people assume BIM to be very expensive and thus hesitate to think about adopting it. This is a big myth which needs to be addressed. The initial cost of its instalment may seem to be costly but compared to the productivity it reaps in any project cycle starting from the money and time it saves on account of minimizing error, reworks and early clash detections to the clients satisfied with their deliverables generates greater return on the investment maximizing profit margins in the long run. It helps to win more work for the business as well.

3. BIM is for big projects

Another common wrong idea people get is that BIM is suited for big complex projects. We need to comprehend that the generic problems faced in the workflow is common to all projects. BIM simplifies the end-to-end workflow providing tools, software and common data environment. This proves beneficial for all types and scale of projects. It is also well aligned to deliver projects as per the required level of development.

Apart from ease of quantification and estimate along with other graphical and non- graphical data access, the virtual digital model can be used for energy analysis and optimization, generative design options, 3D visualization, clash detections, mark up and reviews as well as keeping track of project timeline.

It also enables smooth operation & maintenance after hand over of the project. It caters to the needs of clients, designers, engineers and contractors. Thus, these all deliverables are essential in the current scenario for all range of projects irrespective of their size.

4. BIM is complex to learn

People are reluctant to adopt BIM having heard that it’s a hard to learn interface. This is not true, yes it does require some basic introduction and training to get familiar to the interface but ample tutorials, training programs and other support system with resources are available to ease this transition into BIM.

Also most students and professionals are already working with one or the other software so it’s more convenient for them to shift. Many companies have trained their existing employees and then implemented BIM in their projects. The primary hurdle of resisting change and learn new things need to be countered by developing a mind-set ready to adopt and evolve with the times.

BIM is so integrated with the workflow process that the person using it can easily logically comprehend its working tools and interface.

5. BIM is taking time

BIM streamlines the whole project workflow and thus end up saving great deal of time as opposed to the misconception of taking more time. Developing an information based model would surely take time in the beginning but it reduces the errors, efforts and time spent in reworks prominently as BIM provides a single source of truth with the central repository of information about the project enabling efficient collaboration and coordination among various discipline and stakeholders.

It even saves time which is wasted during construction delays on site by early clash detections done virtually and resolving those issues beforehand minimizing contingencies. It provides software like FormIt and features like conceptual massing in Revit for fast delivery of conceptual design. Moreover, using BIM 360 platform project can be reviewed; issues can be generated and resolved in real time eliminating the need to open the model in software for creating markups on sheets. Its good interoperability features among various software also saves a lot of precious time and expedite working in proper sequence.

Thus, now that the misconceptions surrounding BIM have been addressed it’s safe to say that BIM needs to be utilized to its full potential to accelerate our quality workflow.