Research and Accuracy Analysis on Engineering Quantity Calculation of a Projected Building by BIM Software

Engineering quantity calculation is the premise and foundation of cost control in architectural engineering. However, the traditional calculation method of engineering quantity way by manual method is inefficient and with low precision. The calculation is faster and more accurate if Building Information Modeling (BIM) technology is applied. In this paper, the development and histories of BIM applications in engineering cost management are introduced. Based on the data of an actual building, a simulation model is established by BIM software. The engineering quantities are calculated, and then, the results of the traditional manual calculation method of engineering quantity and calculation method of BIM are compared and analyzed. The data with a relative error of more than 10% is listed, and the reason for the relative error is conducted. It is concluded that the rules of BIM calculation and manual calculation are different, causing BIM method not accurate enough for some nodes. The suggested method is that BIM method is firstly applied for the total engineering quantity calculation, and then, the manual method is proposed to check the accuracy in some key nodes.