Catch Problems Before Construction, Not During
Check for conflicts between any trades with one click — and track every issue until it is fixed.
The Problem
Conflicts between architectural, structural, and MEP elements are often discovered during construction — when fixes cost up to 10 times more than they would have during design. Checking for conflicts usually means exporting models to separate software, running the check, and then manually communicating results back to the team. The process is slow, disconnected, and still misses problems because the models go out of date between checks.
Without ApexBIM: export the architectural model, export the structural model, export the MEP model, import all three into a clash detection tool, run the check, export a report as a spreadsheet, email it to the team, and hope the models have not changed since the export. Each conflict is then tracked in a separate issue tracker with no link back to the 3D model — making it hard to verify that the fix actually solves the problem.
- 1
Open the shared model
All trades — architectural, structural, and MEP — are already in the same online model. No exports, no imports, no out-of-date files. Everyone is looking at the same thing.
- 2
Check for conflicts
Click "Detect Conflicts" and choose which element types to check (for example, MEP pipes against structural walls). ApexBIM runs the check in seconds and flags every conflict with its exact location in the 3D model.
- 3
Review conflicts in 3D
Each conflict is shown in the 3D viewer with the conflicting elements highlighted. Zoom to the conflict, see the surrounding context, and understand the issue right away — no need to cross-reference a spreadsheet with a separate model.
- 4
Assign and track to resolution
Assign each conflict to the person responsible, with a priority level. The conflict becomes a trackable issue that can be shared with any design software. Track its status from "open" to "in progress" to "resolved" — all linked to the 3D model.
The Outcome
Problems are caught during design, not construction. The coordination meeting that used to take 2 hours now takes 20 minutes because everyone is looking at the same model with conflicts already flagged. Change orders caused by design conflicts drop significantly — based on what our customers report.
Results
Features Used
ApexBIM capabilities that power this workflow.
Related use cases
Who this helps
This use case is relevant to the following roles:
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