How a company has already saved about U$ 4,000,000 with efficient BIM management

Canteiro AEC is a company that offers integrated consulting of BIM dimensions, acting in the coordination, compatibilization and management of projects as an integrating agent since the initial stages of design until the delivery of the construction. Canteiro AEC works mostly with residential, commercial, institutional, and mixed residential and institutional developments, having already participated in the delivery of approximately 1,500,000 m².

In order to provide an effective BIM process to its clients, Canteiro AEC relies on both BIMcollab Cloud and BIMcollab ZOOM to keep communication and the analysis of projects and models at the highest level. Canteiro AEC considers the solutions offered by BIMcollab more than just a work tool, BIMcollab Cloud and BIMcollab ZOOM are considered as fundamental partners for the development of a structured and high-quality BIM workflow within the company.

“Using BIMcollab Cloud combined with BIMcollab ZOOM makes our analyses richer and more complete”

Canteiro AEC has been using BIMcollab Cloud since 2016, and since then it has contributed to the management process and to the traceability of the project history. BIMcollab ZOOM was incorporated into the company’s processes in 2020 and, according to Marlon Pscheidt, partner and BIM director of Canteiro AEC, this is the BIM tool that allows one to see what is complex in a simpler way, providing a quick and easy visualization of the elements, as well as the information that these elements contain.

Canteiro AEC has already worked on more than 60 BIM consulting projects and promoted global savings of about U$ 4,000,000.00 in the totality of projects. In each new project a different challenge was faced. Some of these challenges were related to construction complexity, the large number of disciplines and systems present in the models, and producing information to base design decision-making process. On this topic, Márcio Orofino, partner and CEO of Canteiro AEC, pointed out the importance of the versatility of BIMcollab’s ecosystem to help the company deliver multiple benefits to its clients, for multiple situations.

Collaborative Design Review

One real estate development with a high complexity of elements is “The Spot One”, by AJ Realty. In this project, the use of BIM models allowed a series of critical analyses to be performed collaboratively. BIMcollab ZOOM was used to drive multidisciplinary meetings where project issues were discussed together with the visualization of the models in real time by all team members. Marlon Pscheidt pointed out that when design discussions are brought to the large group, including the construction team, the reachness of insights is much greater than when issues are analyzed from separate silos, where only each expert’s individual view of the problem at hand is considered. This kind of approach contributes to developing the best solution, reducing costs, and improving the final product.

Preliminary QTOs to base decision making

A project in which the challenge was the production of information to base the design decision-making process is the Afonso Pena, of the real estate developer COTA. In this project, the use of BIMcollab’s ‘Lists’ feature by Canteiro AEC’s team allowed them to present preliminary quantities comparing different technical solutions to their customer. This was precious information to base the design decision-making, from the perspective of the construction technology to be adopted. With the preliminary extraction of quantities and critical analysis of the project, it was possible to make the building more compact, reducing and optimizing the ceiling height, resulting in significant savings in the cost of the structure, frames, and ceilings.

Marlon Pscheidt highlights that it is very interesting that the feature which enables the quantity extraction is in the same tool used for project coordination and management, because this is an item to be considered in design decision making. Since it is not necessary to look up quantities from other disciplines individually in different software, the process becomes more efficient. In BIMcollab ZOOM this analysis is done from a federated model, in which it is possible to have an overview of the impacts that the changes cause in the project.

“The interactivity of ‘Lists’ with the models displayed as a smart view combines numerical with visual analysis, which is a very powerful tool in project review.”

Construction-Oriented Design Review

One of the challenges encountered in the Tons de Brisa project, from the real estate developer ATMA, was related to the execution of the facade elements. In this project special elements were created for the façade, which required a quite complex compatibility between architecture and structure. Using the features present in BIMcollab ZOOM, the Canteiro AEC team, along with the designers involved in the process, managed to fit the needs of the architecture and structure, already considering the strategic logistics of execution, and temporary equipment to be used.

Another highlight was the study and repositioning of technical rooms such as the substation, lower tanks and stairwell pressurization rooms. The anticipated analysis with the visualization of scenarios provided the viability of the equipment installation, made difficult by the high water table in the region and the large dimensions of the ducts required for the equipment operation. Márcio Orofino highlights that the main result that the company sees is the economic gain generated by the virtual construction process.

Design Process Management

And to manage all this information exchange and design decisions, as well as keep everything properly recorded and traceable, Canteiro AEC structures its design flow in BIMcollab Cloud.

“It is very difficult for any information to get lost when using BIMcollab Cloud, and issues visualization as statistics brings a wealth of information to the process, because it allows the overview on how is the performance of each member of the project team, where there are possible bottlenecks, and from there we can take the necessary actions to continuously improve the process.

Canteiro AEC estimates that in their projects the process in place results in savings between U$ 100,000.00 and U$ 200,000.00, depending on the size and construction complexity of each venture. These savings are enough to recover the entire investment made in the projects, highlighting the fact that when issues are not reported and resolved in the design phase, it results in costly and time-consuming rework or delays at the construction site.