Building Information Modeling or BIM, for the building professional is quite a common term; a recent article in the Washington Post Real Estate section put it into simple terms:
Modeling building components without adding “information” is not BIM; you need to add information about what the building model components to gain the benefits, communicating your design intent even further so that it can be used in scheduling, cost analysis, energy and environmental simulation and construction coordination. Simply drawing in 3D is not BIM.
The benefits of BIM is seen not only on large complex buildings but also on smaller projects where perhaps greater needs or emphasis on scheduling and costs can constrain tight budgets.
BIM can be used to explore creative design solutions and hopefully make buildings better with more intelligent decisions.
