I have been designing fire sprinklers since the 1980’s, so have seen many software improvements over the years. In my mind, the MicroBIM system is one of the most significant, in that it is specifically geared towards sprinklers. Most other software has to be adapted to suit our particular needs. MicroBIM is ready to go, ‘out of the box'.

The increases in productivity are significant, but I see its greatest feature is the accuracy of the listing sheets. Any sheets produced by ‘hand’ will always carry a certain element of human error, ie; wrong pap sizes, directions, missed, etc. This is not possible with MicroBIM. If it is drawn – it will be listed.

Another very important factor for me is the ‘help desk’. Any cry for help is almost always answered immediately, if not, at least a message is returned advising when help will arrive. All of the MicroBIM staff I have dealt with have been extremely friendly and helpful.

Since using MicroBIM Fire we as a company have increased our production. We are saving about 2 days a week project dependant.

Louis, Ibrahim and the whole team at Micro BIM have been the greatest help, Not only helping with the plugin but to become a better designer within Revit. The team and software have helped us lay down the future of fire protection in South Africa, we can never thank them enough.

If you looking at one thing, that can help with everything then choose MicroBim design, hydraulics or fabrication, this is your one stop shop

MicroBIM Fire is a must for any Fire Protection Designer. The software easily increases productivity 30%+ with day to day revit design. Their tools make the long, tedious and often boring parts of fabrication listing extremely fast allowing more time for me to work on the enjoyable parts of design. Their tools are easy to use and very comprehensive with options.

Their team is always super responsive to issues and queries which is extremely important in todays fast pace construction market. Their tools are always evolving with new features or upgraded existing features to further improve efficiently with every update. Having used MicroBIM Fire for 4 years now I could not work a single day without it.

MicroBIM has completely streamlined our design and construct process. With an extensive set of families available and pre-set templates a lot of the setup has already been done. We can simply get in there start designing and be confidant the fab sheets are correct. The drawings also look great when applying their templates.

Not requiring another program to produce fab sheets or hydraulic calculations has been a huge cost and time saver for us.

I have been using PipeFAB since February 2019 and it’s been one of my best investments for my business. I design part time supplementary to my fire protection company and I have found using the PipeFAB add-in with Revit has increased my productivity due to all the features within the software. The process for producing cut sheet is magnificent and it would take more than 4 time as long to produce them manually and each upgrade always comes with another feature that saves time.

We have been using PipeFab (now MicroBIM Fire) since 2019 and find the software to be a great help when it comes to modelling fire services in Revit. In the time we have been utilising the software the product development and tech support has been outstanding, with requests for new functions well received and even added to the program. With the constant development and user friendly nature of the software, our productivity in modelling fire sprinkler systems has greatly improved.

I have been designing sprinkler systems since 2000 and can say without a doubt that MicroBIM is by far the most innovative and complete package you could ask for in an application specific design program. Everything you could think of in designing sprinkler/hydrant systems from start to finish is in this program; from builderswork documentation, through calculations to materials reports. The amount of automated tools and the time they save is staggering. The modeling detail is exactly what is going to be replicated in the field such as pipe outlets, couplings and fittings. In addition, pipes are drawn seamlessly in Revit until you apply the ‘cut pipe’ tool (MicroBIM does not create separate pipe segments at each POL like other popular design programs) which facilitates modifications to a full run of pipe with a single click and allows your modeling to remain more efficient until you are ready to move to fabrication. Currently MicroBIM exports from Revit to several stand-alone calculations programs such as Hyena, which is similar to HASS in the USA. The export is capable of complex infrastructure with proper node placement and saves hours of manual input in a matter of minutes (this includes an automated 3D view in Revit with node numbering). I have been to the MicroBIM website and had a look at the packages available and can attest that the MicroBIM Fire Full is the way to go. Tools as simple as ‘pipe sleeve’ which automatically places penetration families on pipes passing through structural elements saves hours of work. The program as whole has been developed to increase both the accuracy and efficiency of the designer.