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Building information modeling (BIM) creates value when the model becomes a shared working record for design coordination, fabrication, scheduling, estimating and construction—not when it is merely a three-dimensional picture. A 2011 Building Design + Construction feature showed that distinction through two project teams: Crate & Barrel used detailed Revit models to support repeatable prefabrication, while SHP and Messer used model data for fast-track decisions, scanning, scheduling and cost control. Their results are historical case studies, not promises for every project, but they show what “grown-up” BIM looks like in practice.
What BIM is—and what it is not
BIM is a coordinated information model of a building and its systems. Geometry is only one layer. A useful model can also carry the identity, dimensions, materials, interfaces and sequencing information needed by architects, engineers, fabricators, contractors, owners and facility teams.
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That makes BIM different from simply drawing a building in 3D. A visualization can help someone understand a shape; a coordinated model can expose a duct conflict, generate quantities, guide a shop drawing, support a procurement decision or show when a room must be cleared for installation. The benefit appears when information moves between project stages without being redrawn or reinterpreted each time.
The distinction mattered in the period covered by the feature. In the ZweigWhite 2010 Information Technology Survey, as reported by Building Design + Construction in 2011, 69% of surveyed architecture and engineering executives said their firms wanted to increase BIM use, yet they said BIM was used on only 3% of their projects. Those figures describe the gap between interest and actual deployment at that time; they are not current adoption statistics.
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“Our stores are challenging to build,” Crate & Barrel construction director John Moebes said. His explanation captures why a model can matter operationally: “We use a lot of lighting to illuminate our merchandise, which requires complex electrical and HVAC infrastructure. There’s also a high sensitivity to the delivered facility, as it represents the brand.”
How the Crate & Barrel workflow turned a model into a delivery system
A detailed model matched a repeatable team
Crate & Barrel worked with in-house teams and outside architecture, structural engineering and MEP firms. The teams modeled the structure, exterior skin, metal framing, doors and hardware in Revit. The company’s continuing relationships with Moore Lindner, SteelFab and Codding Steel Frame Solutions gave the model a stable route into real work rather than leaving it as a design-side deliverable.
That continuity allowed the participants to agree on what needed to be modeled and how information would be exchanged. Codding’s J.R. Gunter described the fabrication implication this way: “Any drawing that an architect brings us, we can provide an exact duplicate of in panelization.” The point was not that every drawing automatically becomes a finished panel. It was that a coordinated digital description could be translated into repeatable off-site production.
From Revit elements to shop drawings and prefabrication
The models informed shop drawings and fabrication for panels, fixtures and millwork. Model exports could feed shop-drawing workflows, while local trades still used the model on site. This created a chain from design intent to manufactured components and field installation. The model therefore served several audiences at once: designers checked coordination, fabricators prepared components, and installers consulted the same information during construction.
For a retailer with distinctive layouts and demanding lighting, electrical and HVAC requirements, that chain can reduce the ambiguity that otherwise appears when each specialty works from a separate interpretation. It also explains why the case depended on relationships and process discipline as much as on software.
Reported outcomes from named stores
Building Design + Construction reported that Crate & Barrel’s cost per square foot fell by almost 45% after the company adopted full-building BIM. The same account said design and construction for a unique store moved from 88 weeks to an average of 56 weeks. These are results reported for this company’s program and period, not a general BIM performance guarantee.
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The feature gave additional schedule examples. The exterior of the 24,000-square-foot Pittsburgh store was enclosed in 13 days, and the store opened six weeks ahead of what the article called a traditional schedule. A Durham, North Carolina, store had 11 weeks trimmed from its schedule. The report does not establish that the same percentages or durations would occur on another building, with another team or under different market conditions.
| Reported measure | Crate & Barrel result | How to interpret it |
|---|---|---|
| Cost per square foot | Almost 45% lower after full-building BIM | Case-specific result reported in the 2011 feature |
| Design and construction of a unique store | 88 weeks to an average of 56 weeks | Reported program outcome, not an industry benchmark |
| Pittsburgh store exterior | 24,000 square feet enclosed in 13 days | Project example; the article says opening was six weeks ahead of a traditional schedule |
| Durham store schedule | 11 weeks trimmed | Reported schedule result for that store |
The management lesson
Moebes argued that repeat collaboration solved many of the team’s BIM problems: “I always thought that was what you’re supposed to get to with IPD or design-build. It’s amazing to me how many BIM problems can be solved by simply working together more often.” That observation is important for owners considering a software purchase. A model cannot repair undefined responsibilities, late trade involvement or incompatible exchange procedures by itself.
How SHP and Messer used BIM across project stages
An integrated company and a performance-based brief
SHP and Messer formed 2enCompass as a 50/50 integrated design and construction company. Its work for private education clients used performance-based arrangements, bringing design and construction decisions into a more connected process. The feature presents this as a different implementation pattern from Crate & Barrel’s repeat retail rollout, not as a controlled comparison or a universal ranking.
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The renovation had a reported value of $12.5 million. For that project, model-based scheduling helped coordinate the movement of rare books. Laser scanning checked installed work against the model, and the team also performed estimating from the model. Those uses show information being applied to logistics, verification and cost planning—not just to clash detection.
The account says owners and consultants were involved and that performance goals were met, including a change-order rate below the agreed acceptable threshold. The statement is a report about this project’s delivery and should not be read as evidence that every BIM project will achieve the same change-order result.
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On a fast-track project for Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, the team used BIM to accelerate design and purchasing decisions and ordered steel early. The article says the move was intended to avoid a 15% steel price increase and that the possible cost could have been as much as 50% more for the structural steel package. Those figures describe the price risk the team was addressing at that time; they are not a current steel-price forecast or proof that BIM always prevents escalation.
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Two implementation patterns, and the choices behind them
The two examples illustrate different ways to define BIM scope. One emphasizes a highly detailed whole-building model tied to fabrication and repeat production. The other emphasizes integrated decision-making across scheduling, estimating, scanning and procurement. Neither case establishes that one pattern is always better.
| Decision axis | Detailed fabrication-oriented approach | Integrated stage-to-stage approach |
|---|---|---|
| Model scope | Structure, skin, framing, doors, hardware, MEP interfaces and elements needed for shop drawings | Information sufficient for scheduling, estimating, scanning checks and coordinated delivery |
| Downstream use | Panelization, fixtures, millwork and field installation | Rare-book logistics, installation verification, cost planning and early purchasing |
| Team condition | Repeat relationships among owner, designers, engineers and fabricators | Integrated design-construction company with owner and consultant participation |
| Delivery structure | Retail program using coordinated outside partners and in-house teams | Performance-based, integrated design and construction |
| Owner’s future need | Consistent store delivery and a model usable by trades | Decisions across construction and performance objectives |
Before modeling begins, an owner should decide which column—or combination—matches the project’s actual decisions. A model built to support fabrication needs different detail, naming, tolerances and approval timing from a model used mainly for early design coordination.
What it takes to move from 2D CAD to working BIM
1. Define decisions, not just deliverables
List the decisions the model must support: approving a layout, coordinating a ceiling zone, releasing a panel, sequencing a shutdown, estimating quantities, checking an installation or handing information to facilities staff. For each decision, assign a responsible party, a required date and the information that must be reliable. This prevents a vague requirement such as “provide a BIM model” from becoming an expensive but unusable file.
2. Set the information exchange rules
Agree on authoring platforms, file formats, coordinates, naming, model breakdown, revision control, approvals and who owns each element. Interoperability was identified as a barrier in the 2011 feature. If one participant cannot reliably read, export or update another participant’s information, coordination effort shifts back to manual recreation.
3. Bring fabricators and key trades in early
Crate & Barrel’s example shows why trade participation matters when the model will drive panelization, fixtures or millwork. Ask fabricators what dimensions, tolerances, connection details and export formats they need before the design is frozen. Early involvement also exposes elements that appear complete in a design model but are not manufacturable.
4. Choose the minimum useful level of detail
More geometry is not automatically more value. Model what a downstream user will inspect, price, sequence, fabricate, install or maintain. Excess detail increases authoring time and file-management demands; insufficient detail forces trades to redraw information. Tie each modeled attribute to a decision so the team can defend the effort.
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5. Test the workflow on a bounded package
Use one building zone, system or prefabricated package to test exchange, clash review, quantity extraction, shop-drawing production and field access. Record where people re-enter data, which exports lose information and how long approvals take. Correct those failures before expanding the standard to the entire project.
6. Connect the model to schedule and cost processes
A schedule or estimate linked to model elements is useful only when coding, quantities and status rules are agreed. Define what “modeled,” “approved,” “procured,” “fabricated” and “installed” mean, and who updates each status. The SHP–Messer examples demonstrate the potential of using one information source for scheduling, estimating and purchasing, but they also imply the need for disciplined ownership.
7. Plan field verification and handover
Decide how installed work will be checked. Laser scanning was used on the library renovation to compare installation with the model. If the owner expects facilities-management use, specify which asset data must be verified at handover, how often it will be updated and who will maintain it after construction.
Costs, barriers and the price of inaction
Upfront technology and training
The feature names the upfront cost of high-end graphics-processing technology as a barrier. Hardware is only one part of the investment: teams also need authoring and coordination software, training, standards, content libraries, model management and time for people to learn a new process. A low-cost license does not make an unplanned workflow inexpensive.
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File exchange failures, inconsistent coordinates, duplicated models and unclear ownership can erase the expected benefit. Establish a coordination lead, publish exchange requirements and test exports with the people who will actually fabricate, estimate or install the work.
Traditional adversarial relationships
Integrated working is not universally welcomed. SHP technology and BIM-services director Aaron Phillips observed: “Some owners actually want the adversarial relationship between an architect and a construction manager, because they view it as a system of checks and balances.” A project can retain independent checks while still agreeing on shared information, review gates and model responsibilities; the delivery structure should be an explicit owner decision.
The cost of doing nothing
Phillips framed the choice directly: “What’s the cost of doing nothing? If we continue to do the same things over and over, it costs us more to do that than to change.” For a project team, that cost may appear as repeated drawing production, late conflict discovery, emergency procurement, field rework or decisions made without reliable quantities. The right comparison is not BIM versus zero spending; it is the proposed BIM process versus the documented cost and risk of the current process.
How to judge whether BIM is working
- Coordination issues are found before fabrication or field installation, with responsibility and resolution dates recorded.
- Shop drawings, schedules or estimates use model information without avoidable re-entry.
- Trade partners can open, interpret and act on the agreed exchange format.
- Owners can verify installed conditions and receive the information they actually need at handover.
- The team can show which hours, purchases, changes or delays were affected by the model rather than attributing every improvement to BIM.
The 2011 cases make a narrow but durable point: BIM becomes credible when project participants connect a model to a decision, a physical output or a measurable delivery obligation. Three-dimensional appearance is the starting point; coordinated action is the test.
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