Material estimation and energy analysis for a domestic building using Revit architecture and insight: a sustainable approach

Using different types of software in the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry allows an emerging new trend, where the traditional way of designing and estimating an engineering structure will consume a lot of time and workforce. The intervention of software packages shows the best results and can be seen as a better replacement for manual designing and estimation. The current paper is formulated to investigate two levels among seven levels in BIM and compare the estimation of the material and energy cost of a drafted building. The model considered the climate and location attributes of Cardiff, Wales, U.K. As a part of adopting sustainable development, there is a need to reduce carbon emissions. The focus was to find the selected building material and energy cost estimation. The study building is a residential building with G + 3 (ground + three floors) drafted in the Revit Architecture Building Information Modelling (BIM) software. A detailed estimation of the building was performed to find the building material cost, volume, and total cost. Besides, the different types of materials are proposed for each component. The units presented in this paper are in meters with uniform across the document and the decimal numbers are applied for accuracy. The building model is applied with four different building-type materials, such as concrete for slabs and columns. Where walls with brick type that is commonly used timber and glass for windows are selected, the report shall concentrate on the cost and energy analysis of the different materials that promote BIM levels 1, 2, and 3. The model is developed with auto desk–Revit and insight software for material estimation and energy analysis. Finally, the results are compared with manual estimation to show that the use of BIM modelling can be treated as a sustainable approach that promotes life cycle analysis that allows the project stakeholders to make better decisions before the erection of the structure.