The advantages of integrating cost estimating to a 3D model

3D model and cost estimating: how to easily overcome challenges when using a BIM software

Cost control activities together with drawing up construction cost estimating represent the connection between the design and the construction phases of a building project. For this reason, the underlying challenge in controlling costs must be faced on an early stage so as to prevent cost overruns and possible disputes that discourage ongoing business relations between clients, designers and construction companies.

Controlling costs and determining the relating measures to adopt stem from:

risk of human errors,
inaccuracy when indicating surface and volume measurements,
propagation of error caused by inaccuracies in the original drawing,
difficulties in managing architectural project changes.

Integrating the cost estimating process into the design phase (architectural, structural, plant engineering) helps to overcome these difficulties.

This is one of the greatest advantages of using BIM: the possibility of integrating different disciplines into a single model, which saves time and costs, reduces errors and conflicts, and increases simplicity of design.

Integrating an architectural project and cost estimating: the main advantages

The advantages of using a BIM software are visible already when dealing with the cost estimating process.

In fact, BIM software solutions allow you to extract the information needed for estimating purposes directly from your 3D model, thereby considerably reducing errors due to the detection of volumes, areas and dimensions.

The benefits that you will obtain involve:

measurement accuracy and correctness for each cost estimate element (as it is acquired directly from your project)
automatic updating of the cost estimate whenever the project changes (a sort of ‘synchronisation’ of the cost estimate with the BIM model).

Furthermore, by setting calculation rules, it is possible to speed up cost estimating operations and optimise the entire design phase from a financial point of view and in terms of:

opportunity to monitor costs of a construction project throughout the design phase, in which several parties may be involved and a continuous exchange of information is therefore required
possibility of quickly assessing the costs of different design and construction solutions.

Using a design software such as Edificius, which integrates design and cost estimate, is particularly beneficial to designers and construction companies to minimize time waste and avoid costs overrun.

3D model and cost estimate integration in Edificius

Let’s find out how Edificius enables you to model in an unitary way already during the preliminary stages of the construction process by generating an automatic cost estimate that becomes an information model connected to your project entities.

Edificius uses BIM technology to extract the quantities necessary to generate a cost estimate from architectural, interior design, landscaping, technical installations, etc. project objects.

Thanks to BIM technology, the project entities contain all the specific geometric properties and information; the same properties contribute to the definition of the relative cost.

The quantitative information extracted from the model can be used in the specific environment present in Edificius for drafting cost estimate calculations, maintaining a direct and bidirectional connection to the model.

Thanks to a BIM software for integrated design like Edificius you can:

link each project element to the cost estimate items and relating work types
obtain an automatic project cost estimating
verify possible parts of the model that haven’t been estimated
update the cost estimate in real-time whenever the project is modified.

In practice, you will have a powerful and effective system for creating, managing and sharing project cost information in a single, fully integrated software without needing additional plug-ins.

Click here and find out how to obtain a cost estimate directly from your 3D model