Problem Statement from the client :

The client is one of the Top Fire Protection Contractors in Ireland, supporting prestigious projects’ passive fire protection. For every project of theirs, reviewing the design drawings they are required to budget the total intumescent paint quantities and the fire proofing compound in a very short period of time, in accordance with the project specifications.

Scope of Work:

Intumescent Paint Quantity, Fire proofing compound Quantity for the building

Project Location:

Multiple projects in Dublin, Ireland

Input Shared by the client:

1. PDF drawings of Steel structures
2. .IFC or .RVT Revit model or .NWD Navisworks of overall building (including MEP, Architecture and Structure)
3. Specifications of the fire proofing compound
4. General organization technical details for sizing and takeoff

Software and technology used:

• Bluebeam Revu 
• 3D BIM tool - Autodesk Revit 2021
• 3D BIM tool - Autodesk Navisworks Manage 2021
• Microsoft Excel for exporting and submitting final quantities

Project Timeline:

From the date of onboarding - the project needed about 1-4 days for completion, based on project size.

The project involved quick turn around times as the outputs would either be used for budgeting and bidding for a new project or procuring materials.

Key Challenges & How we solved the problem:

The projects involved extracting quantities from the PDF drawings and or BIM models for extracting the quantities of steel structure, number and size of the openings in walls and floors.This is manual, labour intensive intensive task that requires significant time and efforts to get the accurate and faster results.

Intumescent Painting Quantities assignment:

For PDF based takeoffs - We used Bluebeam Revu’s quantity takeoff abilities by setting up custom tool sets, line styles, counts, Dynamic Fill etc to efficiently measure from the drawings and also keep a track of the measurements for later QC and verification.

‍For BIM based Takeoffs - We used Autodesk Revit’s versatile Scheduling and Takeoff options to filter out the exposed and unexposed structure. The added ability to associate metadata was used to extract the quantities of only elements that required painting to separate from ones that did not automatically. Visual and rule based filters checks in 3D views were performed to verify the right selection of elements.

Fire proofing Compound Quantities assignment:

BIM models were utilized to know where the penetrations were required, based on the MEP - ducts, pipes, cable trays etc. Using a Dynamo Script, we have placed the sleeves at the locations of the penetrations to speed up and accurately place across the building. 

There by reducing significant amount of time. Further, a Schedule of all the sleeves was extracted to get the total opening area, based on the type and size of the openening.

Outcome or How the client got benefitted

The client required faster turnaround time for each project and sometimes multiple projects were to be completed in a short period of time. With our dedicated team of experts in both BIM and fire protection engineering, we were able to facilitate clients in faster and accurate bidding, resulting in getting awarded more projects. Moreover, the client did not have a BIM team, so in all projects, they were relying on their internal estimation team to make use of traditional methods in 2D PDF drawings for all estimation purposes, thereby increasing the time required. 

With efficient implementation of software, right workflow and skilled resources, we were able to support client in gaining advantage over other bidders on the project.