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Choosing the Right BIM Consultant: 5 Must-Find Priorities

July 19, 2024 | 7 min read

Building information modeling (BIM) offers digital representations of a capital project, helping contractors understand projects before they’re built. BIM offers several benefits — including better planning, efficiency, and cost estimation — but it also helps crews avoid a dreaded possibility across a worksite that happens all too often: rework.

An estimated 30% of all work done at a construction site is rework, which refers to any unplanned work that must be redone due to mistakes or oversights during the building process. This unplanned work costs the construction industry more than $177 billion each year, causing a massive financial impact that could be entirely avoided with the right forecasts.

Among other benefits, BIM consultants help construction companies avoid this sort of painful rework. They leverage decades of experience in the field, integrating BIM methodologies that improve collaboration and help all contributors accurately visualize a project’s steps.

Hiring a BIM consultant is all about finding an advocate for your capital project needs. It means finding a consultant, or consulting team, that understands how BIM can improve every stage of your project — from initial design through to final construction and building operations.

What priorities are most important when hiring BIM consultants?

The best BIM consultants understand how to integrate BIM strategies as the cornerstone of a successful VDC strategy. They lean on time-saving technology and experience from thousands of projects to preserve a stress-free construction environment where risks are minimized as much as possible.

Among other qualities, look for BIM consultants who have proven experience seamlessly integrating BIM and VDC methodologies, treating the client vision as paramount, guaranteeing a quality product, and unlocking full project integration.

Let’s take a closer look at each of these.

1. Seamless BIM & VDC Integration

Perhaps the most important quality in a BIM consultant is their operation of BIM and VDC tools. Look for a BIM consultant that understands how to use BIM technology in ways that guide clients through design and construction.

BIM consultants use a few technologies to provide this clarity of vision to project contributors. These BIM technologies should include capabilities in:

Cost estimation and budget management
3D modeling
Project scheduling
Clash detection
Project management
Risk management

Together, BIM and VDC technologies should provide detailed 3D visualizations that offer a comprehensive view of a project. These visualizations help stakeholders better understand project details. They should also give contributors like architects, engineers, and contractors the data they need to collaborate and build effectively. All team members should achieve a full picture of the project, making decision-making more efficient and design intent clear.

2. Consideration of Client Vision

We believe that no two projects are identical — and it’s important for your next BIM consultant to share that perspective. Even though projects might be remarkably similar, differences in materials, workforce, timelines, priorities, objectives, and sustainability can make each project a unique challenge.

Make sure to prioritize BIM consultants who are ready for that challenge. Your next BIM consultant should maintain your vision and objectives as their primary focus, without attempting to pattern your project after a previous one they’ve worked on.

For the best results, ensure the BIM consultant tailors their BIM and VDC strategies to your project’s unique scope. This means working closely with your decision-makers to understand your goals, your project details, your preferred outcomes, and the biggest obstacles toward achieving them.

3. Quality Evaluation

Make sure to confirm that a BIM consultant’s standards are as rigorous as they seem. For example, ask a potential BIM consultant how they measure their processes. Request more information on how they guarantee a quality product. Ask for specific examples in their portfolio that demonstrate how they’ve upheld quality — and how they’ve balanced project quality and delivery timelines — in the past.

Success in building information modeling lies in the details. Because as much as a BIM consultant can speak about their dedication and efficiency, they must prove their quality in the work they perform.

Here are few specialized fields your BIM consultant should understand:

Architectural BIM: 3D models used to create, analyze, and visualize the architectural elements of the project.
BIM as-built: Virtual BIMs of existing conditions that display its plumbing, electrical, and infrastructure elements, among key architectural and structural components.
4D BIM: 3D building information models that also incorporate a fourth element, time scheduling, to further improve project visualization and coordination.
5D BIM: 4D building information models that also incorporate resource-loaded schedules as a fifth element, to further improve cost estimation and project control.

Beyond these fields, BIM consultants should have a deep familiarity with BIM applications for the specific fields your project will require. For example, look for a BIM consultant that understands masonry BIM and framing BIM if you are building a project with complex coordination requirements or require offsite fabrication.

4. Full Project Integration

Project integration is a bridge between worksite contributors and technology. It’s important in every industry, but it’s particularly vital in construction — particularly across megaprojects that require ultra-precise design.

A BIM consultant skilled in project integration will provide skilled builders with critical, high-level details in real time. This creates informed, job-ready contractors with a full understanding of how their contributions represent an important part of the whole.

BIM contractors who understand project integration help solve several complex problems on a construction site. These challenges can include:

Project complexity: Projects grow complicated as budgets shrink and owners expect faster delivery timelines. BIM consultants skilled in project integration help manage these factors and preserve results.
ESG initiatives: Environmental, Social, and Governance considerations create extra steps and obstacles to project completion. Seasoned BIM consultants can help decision-makers meet carbon-reduced or net-zero goals while keeping projects on target.
Workforce challenges: 93% of all construction firms have open positions they can’t fill. BIM consultants with project integration experience have the skills to minimize field labor needs and the issues an aging workforce creates.

5. Stakeholder Knowledge Depth

Every stakeholder with a role in the building lifecycle should understand the role BIM services play across the worksite. BIM consultants inform more than strategic technology integration; they also help technical and non-technical decision-makers at a site understand BIM and its benefits.

Measuring the depth of BIM familiarity, and satisfaction, across stakeholders is an ongoing process. First, it’s important to identify what stakeholders already know about BIM. As stakeholders can include contractors, consultants, trade partners,, and building owners, knowledge levels will naturally differ. BIM consultants then work to fill these knowledge gaps, even adjusting the BIM process with revised protocols or training programs for continuous improvement.

Put the Right BIM Consultant to Work at Your Worksite

Experienced BIM consultants bring a long-term perspective to construction projects. They understand the importance of creating sustainable, resilient buildings that stand the test of time. That’s the type of leadership you need directing your next BIM strategy: a consultant ready to help your team spend less time learning and more time building — without missteps that create painful, time-consuming rework.

VIATechnik specializes in BIM and VDC methodologies that drive efficiency and a sustainable competitive advantage. Our BIM consultants harness BIM automation techniques and innovative VDC applications to prioritize your vision. We can also help create the next generation of industry leaders within your team through comprehensive BIM and VDC training, with benefits that extend far beyond the duration of our involvement.

Commit to a faster, safer project today when you partner with a VIATechnik BIM consultant for your next build. Book your call with us today to discuss how a BIM consultant can offer the project integration, BIM integration, and standalone experience you need leading your worksite.