Bid + scope
Price the actual work before it grows.
List outputs, review cycles, meeting time, dependencies and exclusions. Identify who maintains each deliverable.
Measure
Priced hours against hours needed for the agreed outputs.
BIM & THE BOTTOM LINE / A TRADE-LEVEL GUIDEMake BIM
FROM A REQUIREMENT TO A RESULT YOU CAN MEASURE.Make BIM
earn its place.
Understand where the effort goes, how the trade could benefit and what can eat the savings before they reach you.
Try the value calculator ↓The hours have a cost.
Make the value visible.
At an illustrative CAD $30 to $150 per hour, one modeller assigned 165 hours a month represents $4,950 to $24,750 per month. Over a three-month coordination project, that is 495 hours and $14,850 to $74,250.
This is a planning range, not a verified Canadian industry average. It assumes one modeller spends all 165 allocated hours each month on this work. It is a cost per person, not a fixed price per model: model size, trade scope, inputs and review cycles change the effort.
| Hourly rate | Monthly burn 165 hours | Three-month total 495 hours |
|---|---|---|
| $30/hr | $4,950 | $14,850 |
| $60/hr | $9,900 | $29,700 |
| $90/hr | $14,850 | $44,550 |
| $120/hr | $19,800 | $59,400 |
| $150/hr | $24,750 | $74,250 |
Make that modelling investment work for the trade. When the model supports automation and prefabrication, it should help reduce repeated detailing, improve fabrication information and support smoother installation. Measure the benefit against the complete modelling, setup, checking and correction effort. Coordination acceptance and authorised fabrication release remain separate decisions.
Monthly: hourly rate × 165 hours. Three months: monthly cost × 3.
Be clear about the rate.
An employee wage, an internal cost rate and a supplier's billed rate are different. If starting with wages, account for employer costs, software, hardware, support and overhead. If using a quoted or fully loaded rate, confirm what it already includes so you do not count costs twice.
Read the scope. Protect the allowance.
Price meetings, checking, revisions, exports and fabrication support within the hours or as separate allowances. At the same allocation, one extra month adds another $4,950 to $24,750. Late decisions and repeat coordination use time that needs to be accounted for.
01 / Where value starts02 / Price the scope03 / Test the numbers04 / Avoid the pitfalls05 / Measure the result
THE OPPORTUNITYUseful work.
Useful work.
Fewer avoidable costs.
BIM can support better decisions and handoffs. The benefit depends on the task, the information and the people using it. Owning a model or a software licence does not establish a saving.
These are BIMTA opportunities to test on your own workflow, not promised savings. Agree what changes, who benefits and how you will measure the difference.
Quantities + buying
Reduce repeated take-offs and avoidable ordering corrections.
Check units, filters, exclusions and measurement rules. Add the purchasing allowances the model does not contain.
Measure
Time to a checked quantity package; quantity corrections and returns.
Coordination
Resolve selected problems while changes are still manageable.
Use relevant model revisions, agreed tests, assigned issues and a clear decision deadline.
Measure
Verified issues resolved before release; review and correction hours.
Fabrication
Make useful information flow into the shop.
Confirm components, dimensions, connections, assemblies and the person authorised to release production.
Measure
Time to an accepted shop package; fabrication corrections and scrap.
Installation + change
Reduce searching, repeated layout and avoidable field corrections.
Deliver the right revision, usable layout information and a way to bring field changes back.
Measure
Time spent finding information, installation hours and recorded rework.
Handover
Avoid reconstructing agreed information at the end.
Agree required asset information early. Capture it once, maintain it and test the receiver’s acceptance checks.
Measure
Collection effort, rejected records and correction time.
THE SCOPE CHAIN
- 01Define the output.
What must the receiver be able to use?
- 02Price the effort.
Include production, checking and change.
- 03Agree the release.
Name who accepts and authorises the work.
BEFORE YOU PROMISE THE DELIVERABLEThe scope
Read Issue 001: Canadian bid requirements ↗
The scope
sets the workload.
Read the contract and the documents it incorporates with the responsible commercial team. Turn unclear requirements into specific questions before committing resources.
- Output: coordination model, fabrication package, drawings, quantities or asset information?
- Definition: required detail, properties, units, format, version and acceptance checks?
- Dependencies: whose information, which revision and when is it needed?
- Effort: modelling, meetings, review rounds, exports, setup, training and ongoing updates?
- Release + change: who accepts it, who releases work and how are late changes handled?
A useful pricing starting point is planned hours at your internal cost, attributable tools and support, then your company’s commercial allowances. A billing rate and an internal labour cost serve different purposes. This page does not determine contractual entitlement.
Use the Before You Price BIM checklist →Read Issue 001: Canadian bid requirements ↗
MAKE THE ASSUMPTION VISIBLEFive minutes saved.
Five minutes saved.
What is it worth?
Time released can create capacity. It becomes a cash reduction when actual spending falls, such as paid overtime or outsourced effort. The two should be recorded separately.
Try one repeated task.
Invented example values. Change them to explore an assumption. Entries stay on this page and are not submitted or saved.
ILLUSTRATIVE CAPACITY MODEL / CADModelled value after entered extra costs$225
Positive in this scenario. Verify the assumptions and what benefit the trade actually keeps.
- Task hours released
- 8.33 h
- Labour capacity value
- $625
- Setup, tools + support
- $400
- Modelled cost recovery
- 64 repeats
Capacity value is not verified cash saving or net profit. Only entered costs are included. Cost recovery assumes the same time difference and labour cost on every repetition, with no further setup cost.
See the calculation + its limits
Hours released = (current minutes − proposed minutes) × repetitions ÷ 60. Labour capacity value = hours released × assumed hourly cost. Extra cost = additional setup hours × hourly cost + tools and support. Modelled net value = capacity value − extra cost.
Cost recovery is the entered extra cost divided by positive value per repetition, rounded up. It describes recovery in this capacity model, not a cash payback forecast. Add recurring checking and correction time to each task; add one-off effort to setup, once. Taxes, financing, revenue changes and risks are not separately modelled.
WHERE THE BENEFIT CAN DISAPPEARWatch the work
Watch the work
around the model.
Ask these questions early, while the scope and method can still be improved.
The benefit sits elsewhere.
The trade creates the information, another party receives the benefit, and the trade absorbs the effort.
Do this: Name the producer, beneficiary, payer and acceptance owner before committing.
“Just one more” becomes the job.
Extra fields, meetings, exports and review cycles consume an allowance that was never priced for them.
Do this: Keep a deliverable register and use the project’s agreed clarification and change process.
Coordinated is mistaken for released.
A route fits, but manufacturing, connections or site conditions have not been checked.
Do this: Keep coordination acceptance and fabrication release as explicit, separate decisions.
A fast click hides slow checking.
The tool runs quickly, while cleanup, corrections and maintenance increase.
Do this: Measure the full accepted task, including failed attempts and support.
More detail creates no useful next step.
The model becomes expensive to produce without helping the shop, field or receiver.
Do this: Require a named use and acceptance check for requested detail and data.
The same benefit gets counted twice.
Released hours are counted as both labour saving and extra profit without evidence of either.
Do this: Keep capacity, actual cash reduction and additional revenue separate.
BUILD YOUR OWN EVIDENCEStart small.
Start small.
Count the whole task.
- Choose one useful result. Name the task, beneficiary and acceptance check.
- Record the current method. Use comparable examples and record setup, execution, checking and corrections.
- Try the alternative. Include several representative cases, failures and the cost of learning it.
- Compare on equal terms. Keep scope, quality and time period consistent. Label estimates separately from observed results.
- Keep what works. Write the steps, limits, version and recovery route. Recheck when the tools or inputs change.
THE FINISH LINEAn accepted
result.
result.
Preparation + execution + checking + correction.
Count the complete task.
Good questions have a source.
The cost opportunities, pitfalls and calculator are original BIMTA educational guidance. No industry savings percentage is claimed. The references below provide planning and information-management context, not a forecast for your trade.
Penn State / BIM Uses ↗A way to discuss the intended uses of BIM when planning the work.ISO 19650-1 / public abstract ↗Information-management concepts and principles. The full standard is supplied separately.
Need to develop the skill behind the result?
BIM training + Canadian trade schools ↗Ask a general question in Trade Q&A ↗