Firenetics: custom BIM,
fire rating plugin for Revit®
Creating a custom Revit® plugin and API integration to streamline architect’s fire rating process.
.NET C# .NET API(JSON) Microsoft SQL Server
The client
Firenetics was an entirely new project inspired by an industry-wide dilemma within the architecture field concerning fire safety design. Tizbi’s software development team operated independently to construct a solution for a recurring issue discovered in the architecture/construction industry.
The project aimed to improve the construction of buildings by calculating fire rating requirements and modeling various passive fire protection solutions on load-bearing structures. This process is meant to be applied in the planning phase of a construction project, thereby optimizing cost savings related to structural material and passive fire rating solutions.
The challenge
It is increasingly difficult to estimate the amount of fire protective coating needed to meet the required fire rating for a specific situation. Between the different sizes of steel and varying requirements across manufacturers of passive fire protection solution, many details must be considered.
Before Firenetics, no known BIM tool existed to assist construction professionals in designing buildings while accounting for fire rating requirements. This gap often led architects astray in their attempts to optimize costs by incorporating smaller foundational steel components in their designs, only to encounter significant challenges during the fire rating phase.
These materials often proved increasingly difficult—if not impossible—to fire-rate. As a result, any savings achieved on steel components would be offset by the costly and labor-intensive process of meeting fire rating requirements, ultimately eliminating the intended cost benefits.
Tizbi software developers decided to design a BIM Revit® plug-in to address this problem.
We develop custom plugins and BIM solutions for architectural firms.
Tizbi Solution
BIM integration
The Tizbi team set out to create a completely new product from scratch to address a significant industry problem. Architects and designers were the target users, and Revit® is the leading Building Information Modeling (BIM) system in this industry. Therefore, we developed Firenetics as a Revit® plugin.
The Firenetics BIM integrates seamlessly into Revit® and is an intelligent tool that enhances fire safety design process. After accessing an architect’s building model, it analyzes and classifies building components typically requiring fire ratings, such as structural columns, beams, joists, and staircases, etc. These elements are presented in a clear format, allowing architects and designers to specify fire rating standards, receiving calculations in real time.
Proactive design
The BIM plugin helps designers make informed decisions as they model, taking into account various factors related to building components. Firenetics then compares the specified fire ratings to different manufacturers’ criteria and calculates critical parameters such as dry film thickness (DFT), gallons of coating required, and the weight of a coating vs the weight of a structural member.
This immediate feedback highlights elements that may be challenging to fire-rate, enabling designers to address potential issues proactively. For the first time, designers can incorporate structural fire safety and compliance considerations directly into their design workflow, bridging the gap between design intent and practical fire safety solutions.
Tech stack
The results
We developed an innovative BIM plugin that integrates fire safety into the design process as a core feature, rather than treating it as the afterthought it has traditionally been.
Proactive issue identification
The plugin highlights elements that may be challenging to fire-rate, enabling designers to address potential issues before construction begins.
Enhanced building quality
Firenetics provides a streamlined process for achieving structural fire safety throughout the design process, improving overall building quality.
Cost optimization
Architects can avoid costly errors, such as incorporating materials that are difficult or impossible to fire-rate.
Real-time decision support
Designers can specify fire rating standards and receive real-time feedback on critical factors. Critical design changes can be implemented earlier in the process, while it is still convenient.
Innovative industry solution
Firenetics is the first known tool to address this industry gap, transforming how construction professionals approach fire safety in building design.
Seamless integration
Firenetics integrates effortlessly into the tools architects already use, minimizing the learning curve and encouraging widespread adoption.
Free Autodesk Revit plugin for architects and designers.
"We very much appreciate Tizbi's partnership in our programming needs. Each engineer we've worked with is responsive, informed, asks relevant and intelligent questions and gets the job done."
"It has been a long, winding road getting everything ready for the launch day. We would not be here without the dedication of the Tizbi® team.
I like that COO digs his heels in when I'm wrong about something. I like the transparency. I like that the whole team takes a consultative approach (COO, project manager and developer).
Most of all, I like that they put my customers and my business ahead of their own. They truly have my back. They are a partner, not a vendor."
"This year, my wife and I gave birth to two beautiful babies: our son, Primo, and our new book, Billy Sparkle's TIPs, which I wrote and my wife tirelessly edited. We wanted a website that would complement the look and feel of our new book and Tizbi® came through for us in a world-class way.
Alex and his team took the time to listen to what we wanted and were with us at every step along the way - responding to our requests and helping us navigate through the process. We now have a website that looks amazing, does what we want it to, and will continue to be enhanced with the help and guidance of our friends at Tizbi®."
"We are a rapidly growing startup in a highly competitive business. We understood from the start that for us to thrive we needed clear product superiority, we needed it fast, and at a great value. Tizbi® delivered for us.
What separates Tizbi® from all the rest is not only the talent of their developers, but in how well they manage their development team's integration with your team, their robust project management, and their no-risk business model. They are highly efficient at using the best collaboration, prototyping, and agile management tools available, plus they only use the most experienced project managers. There are never any development secrets or surprises, and you always have rights and access to the source code and project resources, so you never feel out of control.
The speed to market, high quality, and low cost of the apps developed having Tizbi® as an integrated part of our team has given us the competitive advantage to succeed beyond even our most optimistic expectations."
"I have nothing but praise for Jim, his partners and the staff of Tizbi®. They helped us turn a rough concept into a sleek, user friendly product."
CEO, SourceAuthority
"Tizbi's team is a big part of our company and has been instrumental in helping us to become the 30 million dollar business that we are today.
Tizbi® understands business needs and also understands how effective technology can help solve business problems."
"I just wanted to send a note and thank you very much for a job well done with the website. The new site looks FANTASTIC.
The Tizbi® team launched the site on time, on budget and with no major technical issues. The go-live was smooth and our customers love it. We really appreciate all your hard work to get this launched in such a successful way.
We have been working with Tizbi® for over a year and over the course of that time, they have really gotten to know and understand our business.
We view them not as a vendor but as a partner. They take the time to understand our technology needs, think strategically about those needs and then implement very technically sound solutions.
We would highly recommend Tizbi® as a strong, strategic and cost effective technology partner."
"We contacted Tizbi® in 2014 to help us build a better way to manage indirect sales channels for manufacturers. At Ardent we recruit and support the productivity for over 200 manufactures representatives across North America for our clients so managing those channels and reporting on that activity was critical to our growth.
The Tizbi® team started by learning our business and starting with a few essentials, an App designed to communicate with our Reps and a way to track activity in the field. The data was instrumental in helping us understand where our opportunities were as well as where we need to place more focus. Since then Tizbi® has built a system for us that helps us identify, recruit, track productivity and export that information into a report for our clients. This year they integrated our database with Prosperworks CRM so we can track our tasks and customer follow ups in the push of a button.
The folks at Tizbi® have saved us from hiring a team of administrators by understanding our business, how we grow and developing the tools we need to stay ahead of our competition."
"A few years ago we were introduced to the Tizbi® team by a friend of mine. During our search for a company we could engage to develop our web portal/platform, we met with a spoke to a lot of software companies.
In the end we choose Tizbi® to develop our robust web platform for our football recruiting service. Sasha, Steve and Kat were great to work with and made it easy for us, as non-technical folks to understand.
We have used them to continuously for upgrades and new development.
They did an outstanding job and our web platform has been very well received by our clients. I would highly recommend Tizbi® to anyone looking for a software development company."
"We were a software idea startup in 2014, and had the good fortune to be introduced to the hard working team at Tizbi®. At the very beginning, Tizbi® explained to us how we should plan our idea from it's inception to the entire product lifecycle journey in great detail.
They were patient and clearly experienced. We could vividly see they had a great and long history in dealing with not only startups, but established companies as well. Tizbi® always captured and understood our ideas and translated them into an active process that led us to an exciting finished product.
None of our primitive questions were beneath them, and they grasped every difficult request and proposal from us. They had the unique ability to comprehend where we were trying to go with our product at all times. The leadership team became our mentors, advisors, and cheerleaders all in one. Our future versions of our product are in good hands, and we are constantly excited and encouraged to take future steps with our friends at Tizbi®!"
"At JumpShift (now Adeption.io) we have partnered with Tizbi® as our technology integrator from the beginning. They helped shape and develop our innovative MVP and we have been continuously evolving it ever since.
The team cares about our product like we do and aren't afraid to contribute additional ideas, designs to keep improving the product. We have also had many critical deadlines for end customers that initially seemed impossible to reach.
The Tizbi® team has always been prepared to do all humanly possible to meet these deadlines and still deliver a quality product.
I couldn't recommend Tizbi® enough, Steve, Sasha, Kat and Olga have been awesome long term partners."
"Tizbi®, Inc. is hands down the most amazing company to work with for your software development needs. I went to them back in 2014 with an idea on how to change the education world, and what I received in response was simply unexpected.
Jim Turner, the developers, and the project management team truly became my personal team. They surrounded me and assisted me in every step of the process to ensure that my vision became a reality.
The customer service, response time, willingness to problem-solving, and desire to provide the best project possible was unprecedented. I knew that I was going to create a software product through the help of Tizbi®, Inc. professionals, however, I never knew that I was going to gain a team that has been right by my side for the past 3 years. They will forever maintain my business on my current software project, as well as any future endeavors.
Thank you Tizbi®, Inc. for making my dreams a reality and for being more than just a software development company. Thank you for truly being a part of my team and embarking on this professional journey with me. I look forward to many more years of amazingness and success with you!"
"Tizbi® was able to design and develop a system that has transformed our, now, self-sufficient business. Our project manager, Olga, has been invaluable and as an entire team, they have exceptional communication and transparency. We hope to continue our relationship with them for years to come."
"We have used Tizbi® for over five years. During that time, they have completed numerous tasks for us—always on time, within budget, and with high quality. They migrated our site from Oracle to MySQL,created a custom CMS, completed a major overhaul of SEO and paid search tags, and created a new subscription access for our site. We were so impressed with the quality of Tizbi’s work, their dedication to our product, and their innovative ideas that we now use them for all our programming needs.The entire Tizbi® team is very easy to work with. Our project manager, Olga, and the developers are quick to respond to all our needs. They always meet or exceed all deadlines.The Mailbox team would highly recommend Tizbi®. We consider them to be much more than just avendor…they are our partner."
"Tizbi’s leadership team is truly visionary. They believe in people. In my experience working with the Tizbi® team, their leadership has been committed to believing in a person with a valuable vision and then taking massive action towards bringing that vision into reality. The Tizbi® team is professional and friendly in the extreme and capable of bringing projects to completion. Their expertise with technology and with advertising has brought my business to a very good point. My business exists and thrives thanks to Tizbi’s leadership believing in my vision and their team that helped make it a reality. "
Technical Consultant in the IT Field, MuleSoft Trainer and Consultant. , Mule Learning
Ready to discuss your software needs?
Scan the following QR-code to get a free consultation
