BIM in Construction - What the Numbers Really Say

Some time ago, all you needed to get going on-site was a printed drawing, a clipboard and a team that knew how to make it happen. But if you’ve been in the industry, you’ve felt the shift. Projects are getting more complex, margins tighter and expectations higher. Clients want clarity. Cities want sustainability. And contractors? They want to build smarter.

That’s why Building Information Modeling – BIM – is making strides lately. Well, somewhat. It’s a tool that promises problem-solving, yet for most contractors in Europe, it’s still something they might get around to. 

Let’s take a look at the basics and figure out where BIM stands in 2025, what it’s doing for those who use it and why the rest are still holding off.

BIM Awareness High, Usage… Low

There’s a noticeable gap between knowing BIM and implementing it. Nearly half of contractors across Europe, around 47%, know what it is, but when it comes to actually using it on projects? We’re looking at about 1 in 10 contractors. That gap, awareness vs. application, is telling. Compare this to 92% awareness and 45% usage among architects and you’ll see that contractors are playing catch-up.

Some countries are ahead of the curve. In the Netherlands, for example, 79% of contractors are aware of BIM, and 42% are actually using it, by far the leaders in Europe. In Spain and the UK, usage is creeping up to around a quarter of contractors, but in countries like France, Italy or Poland, awareness is moderate, interest low and usage barely cracks single digits.

Germany is a bit of an outlier. Awareness has jumped massively since 2022, largely due to BIM becoming mandatory for public building projects. But even with that rule in place, actual use of BIM among German contractors is still low. Why? Because not every contractor works on public jobs, and adoption takes time, especially when you’re juggling labor shortages, pricing pressure and shifting regulations.

Why Aren’t More Contractors Using BIM?

The reasons are less about resistance and more about reality and/or practicality. 

A Familiar Trend…

First off, BIM is very much a new-build game, and the market has been under pressure. With rising costs, labor shortages and tighter regulations, large-scale projects aren’t happening as much. Fewer new builds mean less need for BIM. Simple as that. Smaller firms don’t see the value in investing in it when the projects they’re working on are too small (20%), when the company is too small (20%) nor when their projects don’t demand that level of complexity. 19% have even said they haven’t considered it at all. 

Lack of Ecosystem Alignment

Perhaps the most cited challenge among BIM users is exchangeability. Only 10% of main project stakeholders (contractors, HVAC, electrical installers) use BIM​, and that means problems for collaboration. This mismatch leads to friction, data silos and rework – all of which diminish BIM’s potential to streamline workflows. So, it’s no wonder it stacks up as a pain-point for 59% of contractors.

Cost, Complexity & Training

Other limiting factors include the need for financial investment (13%), training and knowledge gaps (9%) and perceived complexity (7%). Simply put: many contractors aren’t against BIM—they just aren’t ready for it yet.

What’s In It for the Ones Who Do Use BIM?

Contractors who are using BIM say the benefits are real. Top of the list is efficiency (67%). Jobs run smoother, there’s fewer surprises and delays. In the off-chance things do go wrong, they catch issues earlier thanks to tools like clash detection and quantity take-offs (59%). Better overall planning is at 14%.

Another big win is the ROI. In projects where BIM isn’t used, failure – what gets ripped out, redone or reordered – costs, on average over 11%. With BIM, those costs drop to about 7%. And when contractors go a step further and tap into more advanced features like 4D planning, 5D cost tracking, failure costs dip even lower.

These numbers aren’t marketing fluff. They’re verified data: BIM pays for itself. Not overnight, but consistently.

More Work To Be Done

Let’s be clear: most contractors using BIM today are only using the basics. Nearly all rely on 3D visualization (81%), 2D drawing generation (77%) and clash detection (76%). And that’s fine, especially if it helps streamline the process. But those who take advantage of BIM’s full feature set are few.

Only about a third are using features like 4D BIM (planning integration, 28%), 5D BIM (cost estimation, 31%), or 6D and 7D features that bring sustainability and lifecycle maintenance into the mix.

Meaning, there’s quite an untapped potential there. These features are tailor-made for contractors, but they’re still underused, partly because of the issues we’ve mentioned (lack of training, coordination problems, and the complexity of getting everyone on the same page). So, even among the BIM crowd, there’s room to grow.

BIM Isn’t One-Size-Fits-All

The European construction market is anything but uniform and BIM adoption rates reflect that. In the Netherlands, it’s become second nature. Contractors there are using BIM in the majority of their projects, and they’ve built a culture around it. In Spain and the UK, BIM use is growing steadily, helped by stronger project pipelines and a shift toward more complex, higher-margin work where BIM’s benefits really come through. Germany is catching up due to public mandates, but private sector adoption is lagging. 

Meanwhile, in countries like France, Poland and Italy, BIM is still seen as a future consideration rather than a current need. In Italy, most contractors – a whopping 60% of them – actually say they never plan to use it, making it the most skeptical market, driven mostly by fragmentation and project scale.

Future Outlook – What Could Push BIM Forward

Despite the current hiccups, BIM isn’t standing still. There are clear drivers that could accelerate adoption:

1. Public mandates – As more governments make BIM mandatory for public work, contractors will have to follow suit, or risk losing out on valuable tenders
2. Prefab and industrialization – The shift toward off-site construction and prefab methods relies heavily on precise coordination and planning. So, as prefab rebounds post-2024, BIM should follow along
3. Labor shortages – With skilled labor hard to find, firms are looking at tech to do more with less. BIM helps bridge that gap by reducing rework, improving planning and making better use of crew hours
4. Sustainability requirements – As green building standards tighten and clients demand more transparency on materials, energy and lifecycle impact, BIM will become essential

Contractors also report that 42% of their BIM projects involve model handover to the client—hinting at a shift toward lifecycle thinking, which will grow as sustainability and maintenance planning become more central.

Conclusion

No one’s pretending that BIM is easy to implement. But based on the numbers, the pain is frontloaded, and the payoff long-term. BIM isn’t a tool that helps out in a pinch, but a strategy shift that moves you away from reactive firefighting to proactive planning.

And while the European contractor market is still fragmented in its adoption, there’s clear momentum. More firms are getting on board, especially in countries where digital mandates, prefab and sustainability are reshaping the construction landscape. So if your company’s rethinking its day-to-day, BIM could save you time, cost and chaos. And that’s just the starting point. It doesn’t need to be an all-or-nothing leap. Just a better way to start your next job.

Want to closer look at BIM? Get in touch. We have blogs, webinars and detailed reports to help you figure out how it fits into your next move.