Frequently Asked Questions

What is LOD?
A 3D model does not have scale like 2D plans for obvious reasons, but it has LOD. LOD was created to represent the Level of Development or Level of Detail, which is where the abbreviation comes from. The main difference from 2D scale is that LOD is not only representing the geometrical detail of the elements, but the amount of information linked to them. The PDF linked above is a very detailed description of the LOD, but roughly we can say the following similarities to the ordinary 2D scale system: http://bimforum.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/2013-LOD-Specification.pdf

• LOD 100 - Symbolic representation
• LOD 200 - M 1:200 scale of drawings
• LOD 300 - M 1:100 scale of drawings
• LOD 350 - M 1:50 scale of drawings
• LOD 400 - M 1:25 scale of drawings
• LOD 500 - Fabrication level

Do we work to the international market?
Thanks to our English and German speaking colleagues, we regularly work on international projects. The workflow of a BIM project does not require a personal contact on the spot, however we had several occassions, when one of our colleagues travelled to Singapore, Tokyo or Abu-Dhabi to coordinate the project on spot.

Is the BIM model an unneccessary overhead?
A construction supported by a BIM model does require a longer planning period, however looking at the timeperiod of the entire project, the time invested will have a great return:

• - All conflicts hidden in the plans can be filtered out
• - During the traditional workflow, the compilers of the engineering firms of different special fields - with usually low experience - try to align the designs in 2D. The coordination of these is a challenging - and by experience, an impossible - task.
• - Despite the 6-10 sections prepared, the building will be full of half-baked details, which can be helped only by improvisation on the spot and halfway measures.
• - The construction will be shorter in time, calculable and more cost-effective. One day of offset or delay in the construction is a lot more costly, than a day spent with planning during the preperation of the project.

How detailed the model needs to be?
Building only fabrication drawing level models (LOD 400-500) is not economical and not really necessary either. In practice, an LOD 200-300 is far enough for plan coordination and virtual construction. A quantity takeoff can be derived with ease, meaning we can takeoff a quantity even if it was not modeled. Deriving is a very sensitive process obviously, so it needs a lot of experience and care.

What do we deliver?
If the goal is the support of construction, the facility managment, simulation or potential further 3D planning, then on top of the data collected into the tables (quantities, conflicts in plans, schedules), we hand over the model in an editable, native format. In case of plancoordination, the final product is a self-consistent plan-package, ready to be constructed.