Cost Estimating and Scheduling With BIM 5D: Challenges and Acceptance

5D BIM, is an evolving discipline of Building information modeling, where 3D BIM is loaded with project schedules and the cascading cost estimates. With the help of this methodology, contractors are in better position to visualize and keep track of the project time-lines and the concurring expenses, while instantaneously enabling the schedule to be enhanced by bearing in mind the quantities of materials resulting from the model and the productivity rate of construction staffs. 

It has been observed that 5D BIM approach offers an exceptional package, where the best design practices, cost and construction approaches combine. On the other hand, it should be noted that 5D BIM approaches call for a momentous transference in the way construction companies work.


It is impractical to promise widespread resources for a large construction company, towards repositioning of their intrinsic practices while enduring to be economical and lucrative.This write-up will give you a fair idea of application of BIM 5D Virtual Design and models in a construction company.

BIM 5D: Challenges

There are several challenges in executing 5D BIM in a large construction company. There are technological barriers that need to be inundated to execute 5D-BIM.

These projects require professionals who are experts in the relevant field and have exposure of technology. There are lot of costs associated with the execution of 5D-BIM procedures encompassing hardware, software and training. 

Disinclination to change is one of the biggest factors which make the task more intricate. The other thing is that since the personnel who already have experience in the field are very difficult to train as they have their mindset of doing a particular thing their way. This makes the adoption difficult. But the thing is that 5D-BIM is a new wave which has given a ray of hope to construction industry and it provides a trans formative experience to the construction company.

Changing Landscapes and Easy Adoption of BIM

"One easy way out is to employ a VDC team for BIM 5D, thus obtain a synchronized and coordinated project execution."

Further the team of architects, designers, construction project managers, MEP engineers etc can be educated and trained to use the software, thus track project changes and the resulting effects on schedules and cost estimates in real time. 

Now as all the teams are on the same page and updated about the latest changes in the project, it becomes easy to coordinate. Moreover, as these teams seldom go in the wrong direction due to erroneous information, there are very less chances of rework and hence unnecessary expenditures are curbed.

As mentioned earlier, the complexity of using such software, was a major hurdle in the path of BIM acceptance, however now technology has also evolved, and once the building information models are ready, it is very easy and user friendly to update and use them.

Now all the comprehensive BIM benefits, and the user friendly software updates, have led to the technology being accepted across the AEC industry by one and all.