How to calculate the return on RIXBUILD in a construction project

The return on RIXBUILD cannot honestly be expressed as a single universal percentage. Every company differs in the number of projects, team size, volume of documents, frequency of variations and the way progress claims, financial reports and management information are prepared.

That is why the RIXBUILD calculator starts with a comparatively simple, measurable benefit — the working time a team can spend on more valuable tasks instead of searching for information, re-keying it and checking it again.

The software price is not the full price of project control

Managing construction project information costs money even when a company does not use a dedicated system.

Costs arise when people:

• re-type the same data into several files;
• search for documents in e-mails and folders;
• compare different Excel versions;
• check which version of a BoQ or document is current;
• chase the status of variations and approvals;
• prepare progress claims and management reports by hand;
• compile financial information from several sources;
• correct errors across several unconnected documents.

RIXBUILD links this information in one controlled project workflow. The system's calculation logic is consistent, and current information no longer has to be recreated in several parallel versions.

The international information management standard ISO 19650 describes the principles for exchanging, registering, versioning and organising information across the whole life cycle of a built asset. These principles matter even for companies that do not run a full BIM process: project information must be findable, current and verifiable.

What does the calculator calculate?

The RIXBUILD calculator estimates the time saved by two groups of people.

Active RIXBUILD users

These are the people who work daily with work done, variations, documents, reports and project data, and who also approve, sign off and sign documents — all of which is included in the User licence.

Time is saved because there is less need to:

• re-type information;
• prepare reports again;
• compare file versions;
• search for documents;
• chase the current status and approval progress;
• merge data from several sources by hand.

The number of active users is made up of the administrator included in the account licence plus the selected number of User licences.

Management and support team

RIXBUILD information is also used by people who do not work in the system all day.

These may include:

• project directors;
• finance managers;
• accountants;
• estimators / quantity surveyors;
• document controllers;
• company owners;
• the CEO or board members.

Without a single system, these people often have to prepare, request, check and compile information by hand.

RIXBUILD lets them see project progress, the financial plan and the current situation both on a single site and across the company's whole project portfolio.

How is the annual value calculated?

First, the calculator works out the total working time saved per month.

It takes into account:

• the number of active users;
• the number of people in the management and support team;
• the hours saved by each group;
• the average hourly value of work specified by the company.

The total monthly time saved is converted into an annual value of working time.

The annual RIXBUILD fee is deducted from the calculated annual value.

As a result, the calculator shows:

• time saved per month;
• the calculated annual value of time;
• the annual RIXBUILD fee;
• the estimated net annual benefit;
• ROI.

ROI is calculated as follows:

All time-value assumptions can be adjusted to match your company's situation.

Where do approvals and signing fit in?

Document approval, sign-off and signing with an e-signature (eParaksts) are included in the User licence — no separate signer licence is required.

Approval is more than pressing a button — time is also spent:

• finding the document;
• confirming the version;
• locating the attachments;
• checking earlier comments;
• chasing the document's status;
• forwarding documents to the next participant.

When this process runs in one system, e-mail traffic and repeated checking of information fall — this time saving is part of the value attributed to the active user group.

What does the ROI calculation not fully show?

Working time is only one part of the value of RIXBUILD.

The calculator cannot fully capture:

• cost deviations spotted in time;
• the use of a wrong document version that was avoided;
• margin risk noticed earlier;
• a verifiable history of variations and approvals;
• management's ability to decide faster;
• the ability to run more projects without a proportional increase in administration;
• a lower risk of disputes and rework.

The NIST study on inadequate interoperability in construction analyses the costs created by re-entering data, verifying information and moving it between unconnected systems.

The Autodesk and FMI study on the use of data in construction looks at the link between poor project data and worse decisions, inefficiency and rework.

These sources do not determine the savings of a specific RIXBUILD client. They show why current, structured and interlinked information is a business value, not just a convenience feature.

Order, visibility and efficiency

The most important benefit of RIXBUILD is not only the hours saved.

The system helps a company work in a defined order:

• the correct information is in the system;
• the active version is clearly identifiable;
• variations stay linked to the project;
• the approval history is verifiable;
• reports are built from current data;
• management sees the overall picture of the project and the company.

RIXBUILD removes some of the typical sources of error — manual re-keying of data, parallel file versions and uncontrolled formulas.

This does not mean the software guarantees a completely error-free project. It means the company reduces the situations in which the work process itself creates the error.

How to get a more reliable estimate

Enter your company's real assumptions into the calculator:

• 1. Specify the number of User licences you need.
• 2. Estimate how many hours per month each group spends on repetitive administrative work.
• 3. Specify your company's average fully loaded hourly value of work.
• 4. Do not count people already included among the active users in the management and support team.
• 5. Look at both the net annual benefit and the ROI.

The calculation is indicative, not a guarantee of a specific financial result.

The most accurate way to assess the value of RIXBUILD is to review a company's current work process and compare it with working in one controlled RIXBUILD workflow.