Salaries and Career Growth of BIM Professionals in India (Updated 2022)

The AEC (Architecture, Engineering and Construction) industry is back to full speed post-pandemic. Most of the architectural firms in the metropolitan cities of India are transforming into BIM to deliver projects in highly competitive schedules with utmost quality. This change opened up a higher demand for BIM (Building Information Modeling) professionals than ever before, and it's only to grow more.

BIM is a digital representation of a building's physical and functional characteristics. It is a shared knowledge resource between all the stakeholders about a facility, forming a reliable basis for decisions from inception throughout the building's life cycle.

There are several BIM tools, like Vectorworks, Navisworks, Tekla BIMsight, and Infurnia, among which Revit and ArchiCAD are the most popular in India. Post-Covid, cloud-based solutions for this BIM software are in great demand as they eradicate the requirement of teams working from one location.

BIM makes the stakeholders visualize the project right from the conceptual stage. It makes cost estimation easy and accurate through all project stages. The efficiency of the construction process also increases as there will be fewer change orders and RFIs (Request for Information) when every consultant can integrate into the project and work as a single team. Energy analysis is at the fingertips, giving the stakeholders a chance to take their stand on sustainability. These are some primary advantages of BIM in the current industry, which would scale the reduction in project costs by 20-30%.

When BIM effectively saves a significant amount of time and money, BIM professionals have become very valuable to the industry. Being an established practice for decades, there are many niches in this profession. Designing, drafting, coordinating, QC (quality check), and many more duties based on one's experience, expertise, and the firm they work for.

Now, let’s take a look at the various BIM professionals’ salaries.

BIM Modeller

Becoming a BIM Modeller is the first step into the profession. On average, a BIM modeller’s salary in India is around ₹25,500/month, whereas Junior Architect/Engineer salaries are around ₹20,000/month. These roles require essential architectural or technical degrees with minimal or no experience. Still, some ‘advanced beginner’ or ‘competent’ level knowledge in BIM would boost one's compensation by 20-25%. This is the level where one would learn the professional basics of AEC along with BIM.

BIM Designer/Engineer

BIM Designer/Engineer would earn around ₹31,000-₹35,000/month. At this level, one would be required to design in BIM with creative edge/technical knowledge and understand the construction and documentation process. Intense teamwork is essential to sustain at this level.

This is when one decides if they want to pursue the core Architecture/Engineering profession or step into the realm of BIM.

BIM Coordinator

A BIM coordinator’s monthly salary in India can reach up to ₹55,000/month, though the range can be quite wide. BIM coordinators manage, control and source project content to all project stakeholders. The job scope is similar to that of a BIM manager except a BIM coordinator may not oversee the entire BIM team. Their main responsibility is to coordinate and manage BIM data sets from both internal and external BIM team members while review 3D models for accuracy and clash detection.

BIM Manager

One can become a BIM Manager after 5-7 years of experience and get a salary of ₹75,000/month. In relatively small firms, BIM managers would be the expert BIM designer. They coordinate with other designers and make them follow the industry standards of modelling. In MNCs (Multinational Companies), BIM managers are recruited specifically for this job. They exclusively QC to ensure that the drawings follow specific LOD (Level of details) that the stakeholders agreed upon. This position takes heavy responsibility for drawings, hence the pay.

BIM Consultant

BIM professionals, after a while with sufficient experience, can become BIM consultants. They usually handle the entire BIM solution for architectural firms with minimal BIM support in-house. This responsibility would make them BIM consultants and earn their rightful share of the project instead of salaries. At this point, the sky's the limit for one's career, and salary, growth. There exist many case studies of Architects/designers turning into consultants after a decade-long experience, who later scaled their consultation to provide BIM solutions for projects in foreign countries, entering into a dollar league.

Coming to BIM App Developers, this is a non-traditional path for AEC professionals. One would require an additional set of skills like programming in languages like C++, Python, etc., apart from basic architectural and BIM knowledge. App developers would, in general, develop plugins to use along with BIM. These plugins can be as simple as area calculators to as complex as generative design solutions. They save BIM users significant time by automating some mundane tasks, especially in large-scale projects, thus implying a massive market for BIM App developers.

Estimated Salaries of BIM Professionals in India

Disclaimer: These are estimated monthly salaries and should not be taken as final.

As a whole, BIM proved its potential to change the fate of the AEC industries worldwide. Its scope in the AEC industry is huge and it has proven its worth in several fields. Though the demand for BIM professionals is high but still low in supply, the popularity of BIM careers in India is slowly gaining momentum.

In a soon-to-be highly competitive field, professional coaching and consistent practice are the only ways to master and shape one's career as a BIM professional.

If you see yourself pursuing a career in BIM, then take the first step with Novatr's BIM Professional Course. Learn the real-world BIM applications from BIM experts from top AEC firms. Then practice what you have learned by working on real-life BIM projects in line with the RIBA plan of work. By the end of the course, you will have the industry-relevant BIM skillset along with a portfolio of BIM projects.