Home/Compare/vs. BIM Clash Detection
Sheet 01 · Respectfully, the Model Isn't Wrong. It Just Isn't the Whole Set.
BIM clash detection is real, and if you're running it, keep running it. It finds two elements overlapping inside a model that's been coordinated to that level of detail. Preempt Global reads the issued drawing set itself — the specs, general notes, and sheet-to-sheet conflicts that never show up as a clash because they were never modeled in the first place.
$50K Exposure Guarantee · No Model Required · 48-Hour Turnaround
At A Glance
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| Preempt Global | BIM Clash Detection | |
|---|---|---|
| What it checks | The full issued set — drawings, specs, notes, schedules | Geometry inside a coordinated 3D model |
| Prerequisite | None — works from the issued set as-is | A model built to coordination-ready LOD, by every discipline, kept current |
| Who it's for | Paid by and reports to the owner | Typically run by the design team's or GC's VDC group |
| Turnaround | 48 hours | Ongoing weekly / biweekly coordination cycle |
| Guarantee | $50K exposure found, or it's free | None — it's a process, not a deliverable with a guarantee |
| Findings format | Ranked (High/Med/Low) + $ exposure + schedule impact per item | Raw clash list — hard/soft clashes, often with duplicates needing manual triage |
| Pricing | Published, on this page | Typically bundled into design / VDC fees, not quoted standalone |
| Catches spec-vs-drawing or note-vs-note conflicts | Yes | Not designed to — those live outside the model entirely |
This isn't a case against BIM clash detection — it's the industry standard for a reason, and any team running full BIM should keep running it. The rows above are about scope, not quality.
What It Actually Catches
Clash detection is built to do one job extremely well: find two modeled elements occupying the same physical space, or violating a clearance rule, inside a federated model. When every trade has modeled to a coordination-ready level of development, it will find that duct-through-beam every time. That's not in dispute.
What it isn't built to catch: a general note on one sheet that prohibits what a detail on another sheet requires. A spec section that contradicts the drawing set it's paired with. A submittal missing a cut sheet. A fire-rated assembly called out in one place and dropped in another. A schedule that doesn't match the panel it describes. None of that is geometry — it's paper conflicting with paper, and a 3D model was never asked to check for it.
✓ Duct-through-beam and hard clashes between modeled elements
✓ Clearance and soft-clash rule violations, once modeled
A general note that contradicts a detail on another sheet — not designed to
A spec section that contradicts its own drawing set — not designed to
✓ A general note that prohibits what a detail on another sheet requires
✓ A spec section that contradicts the drawing set it's paired with
✓ A fire-rated assembly called out in one place, dropped in another
✓ A schedule that doesn't match the panel or assembly it describes
"If we're already running BIM coordination, why do we need this too?"
Because BIM coordination is scoped to the model, and the model is scoped to what's been drawn in 3D. A construction document review is scoped to the entire issued set — drawings, specs, schedules, and notes — whether or not it's modeled yet. Both are real and worth running. Neither replaces the other. Preempt Global runs alongside your BIM coordination process, not instead of it, and reports to the owner directly instead of surfacing findings inside a design-team coordination meeting.
What's Required To Even Run It
Clash detection is only as good as what's been modeled — and modeled to a level of development where a clash is even detectable. Early in design, on smaller trades, on renovation work, or on any team where one discipline is behind on modeling, there's no coordinated model yet to run the software against. Until then, the conflicts sit in the drawings and specs with nothing checking them.
Preempt Global doesn't require a model at all. Send the issued set — drawings and specs, in whatever format you already have them — and the review runs against what actually exists today, not against what would exist if every discipline were fully modeled and current.
NO MODEL, NO PROBLEM. IF IT'S AN ISSUED SET, IT'S REVIEWABLE.
The Guarantee
BIM Clash Detection
NO GUARANTEE — IT'S A WORKFLOW, NOT A DELIVERABLE
Clash detection software returns whatever it returns: sometimes a handful of real conflicts, sometimes hundreds of duplicate or non-issue "clashes" that still need a coordinator to sort real from noise. There's no dollar figure attached to the output and nothing promised about what the process will find.
Preempt Global
$50K-EXPOSURE-OR-FREE
If the review doesn't surface at least $50,000 in documented cost exposure, it's free. No partial credit, no fine print. On a set of this size and complexity, there's always something to find — which is exactly why we're willing to put a number on it in writing.
BIM coordination tells you what clashed. Ours tells you what it would've cost you — and puts money behind that promise.
Speed
BIM coordination typically runs as a recurring process — weekly or biweekly coordination meetings across design development and into construction documents, with each cycle only as current as the models uploaded to it. That's real, necessary work, but it's built for the length of a design phase, not for a set that needs answers this week. Preempt Global turns a full review of the issued set around in 48 hours, because the whole point of catching something on paper is catching it before the next submittal date, not on the next coordination meeting's schedule.
Literal, to scale: a fixed 48-hour bar vs. a repeating cycle with no fixed end date.
What You Get Back
A clash detection run typically outputs a list — sometimes a long one — of hard and soft clashes, many of them duplicates, near-misses, or conflicts that don't actually matter once someone looks closer. Sorting the real problems from the noise is its own job, and it usually falls to whoever's running the coordination meeting. Every Preempt finding comes ranked — High, Medium, Low — with an estimated dollar exposure and schedule impact attached automatically. You're not triaging a raw output. You're reading a prioritized list of what to fix first and what it's costing you to wait.
What you actually get back — Preempt Global
| Priority | Finding | Est. Field Cost | Schedule |
|---|---|---|---|
| HIGH | Fire-rated assembly called out on A-501, dropped from A-601 | $38,500 | 14 days |
| MED | Spec Section 08 71 00 hardware set contradicts door schedule | $5,800 | 4 days |
| LOW | General note references a keynote removed from sheet set | $350 | 0 days |
Ranked. Priced. Scheduled. Nothing left for you to triage.
Raw clash list (illustrative)
Hard clash — duct vs. beam, Lvl 4
UnresolvedSoft clash — clearance, Lvl 4 (dup.)
DuplicateHard clash — pipe vs. conduit, Lvl 2
UnresolvedReal conflicts, duplicates, and near-misses in one undifferentiated list — no dollar figure or schedule impact attached, still someone's job to triage.
Adoption, Addressed Honestly
BIM clash detection is standard practice on complex projects for good reason — it catches geometric conflicts before anyone breaks ground, and any team running full BIM should keep running it. But "standard practice" and "complete coverage" aren't the same claim. It only sees what's been modeled to a coordination-ready level, by every discipline, kept current.
The written spec, the general notes, the schedules — the parts of the set that live outside the model entirely — none of that gets checked by a clash report, no matter how mature the BIM process is. Preempt Global reads the layer that sits underneath the model: the issued document itself.
The Owner-Side Objection
Usually not. BIM coordination is typically run by the design team's or GC's VDC group, scoped to keep the model buildable and the trades from literally colliding — a real and necessary function, but one that reports into the design/construction side of the table, the same way an architect's QC or a GC's coordination review does. Preempt Global is paid by the owner, reports to no one else, and runs alongside BIM coordination and your team's other QC/QA processes — not replacing any of them, and not answerable to them.
Pricing Transparency
Running BIM coordination well isn't free — it means software licenses, a dedicated coordinator's time, and recurring meeting hours across the length of the project, and that cost is usually folded into a design or GC fee rather than quoted on its own. Preempt Global's pricing is published up front. You'll know what this costs before you ever get on a call.
Retainer · Recommended
$7,000/mo
Unlimited sets reviewed
One-Time Review
$9,000
Single set, one pass
Every deliverable starts included on both — uncheck what you don't need on the pricing page. Either offer carries the same $50K guarantee.
Sheet 01 of 01 — Last Call
Book a 30-minute demo. Nothing's shared until the NDA is signed, and nothing's billed unless we find something worth the fee.
Already running BIM coordination? Good — keep running it. See how the two fit together in the homepage FAQ.
