Structures
High rise design with ETABS and SAFE: the eight steps engineers actually follow
High rise design with ETABS and SAFE in eight steps: structural system, model set-up, loads, modal checks, member design, foundations in SAFE, deliverables.
News & insights
Construction industry knowledge
Articles written by the lecturers and practising engineers of the Institute: cost estimating, BIM, Revit, structures, scheduling and careers — for working engineers and students.
Cost estimating – QS
Cost estimate versus tender price: eight differences a new engineer must know
A cost estimate versus tender price differ in purpose, author, norms and input rates. An eight-point comparison, plus seven things to change when pricing a bid.
Tekla
What is a shop drawing? How it differs from the design drawings, and how it gets approved
What is a shop drawing, how it differs from the approved design, who prepares it, the submittal loop and its four outcomes, and why drawings come back.
Scheduling
What is the critical path? Five reasons construction schedules slip, and how to hold them
What the critical path is, shown on one townhouse; five reasons construction schedules slip on real sites, the weekly update routine and how to report it.
Architecture – Visualisation
What is architectural visualisation? The SketchUp, 3ds Max and Photoshop path
Architectural visualisation as a career or a side skill: what each of the three tools does, and a 12-week path from SketchUp through 3ds Max to Photoshop.
Cost estimating – QS
Vietnam construction decrees in force in 2026: what replaced what
Vietnam construction decrees in force from 1 July 2026: 217/2026 replaces 175/2024, 206 replaces 10/2021, 210 replaces 37/2015, plus the transitional rules.
News
Construction software: a map of the tools each project stage needs
A map of construction software across the seven stages of a project, the difference between engineering and management tools, and what to learn first.
News
Install Tekla free for students: three steps from account to running software
How to install Tekla free for students: create a Trimble account, set an Educational profile, then download the installer and the South-East Asia environment.
Revit
Dynamo: the complete guide to visual programming for Revit — what it is, what it does, Dynamo vs the Revit API, and how to learn it
Dynamo is the visual programming tool bundled with Revit. What Dynamo is, nodes and graphs, packages, Dynamo Player, everyday uses, and Dynamo vs the Revit API.
Revit
What is Revit MEP? What an MEP engineer actually does with it on a project
Revit MEP is the building-services toolset in Autodesk Revit. What the M, E and P systems model and return, and the six jobs an MEP engineer does with it.
Revit
Revit: the complete guide to Autodesk's BIM software — three disciplines, versions, price and how to learn it
Revit is Autodesk's BIM software. This guide covers Revit vs AutoCAD, the Architecture, Structure and MEP disciplines, versions, licensing and how to learn it.
BIM
What is the difference between BIM and Revit? Knowing Revit is not doing BIM
The difference between BIM and Revit: BIM is a way of working, Revit is one tool. Why fluency in Revit is not enough, and what real BIM needs as well.
AutoCAD – Drawings
How long does it take to learn AutoCAD? From zero to a real drawing set
How long does it take to learn AutoCAD? Three skill levels with real hours each, self-taught versus taught, the hardware you need and what to learn next.
Cost estimating – QS
What goes into as-built records? The list under Decree 207/2026, now in force
As-built records under Decree 207/2026, which replaced Decree 06/2021: the three-group list, how to produce and stamp an as-built drawing, who signs it.
AutoCAD – Drawings
How to read reinforced concrete structural drawings, from the general notes to the bar schedule
How to read structural drawings in the right order: general notes, foundation plan, framing plan, beam and column sections, bar schedule. What 4Ø20 and Ø8a150 mean.
Cost estimating – QS
What should construction economics students learn to be job-ready at graduation?
What construction economics students should add outside the lecture hall: the 4 skills employers test first, what to learn each year, where graduates work.
Structures
An ETABS learning path for structural students, from coursework to employment
Learning ETABS in eight weeks: the structural concepts to secure first, using your own project as practice, and the modelling errors students make most.
BIM
Is a BIM certificate required in Vietnam? Practice certificates versus course certificates
How a practice certificate differs from a course certificate, why no BIM practice certificate exists in Vietnam, and how firms prove BIM capability when bidding.
Careers
Learn Revit online or in person? An honest comparison, including where online loses
Online or in-person classes for construction software: how a live online class differs from pre-recorded video, and which software works online.
BIM
What is Civil 3D? A living road model, not a stack of separate drawings
What Civil 3D is, how it differs from AutoCAD, how surfaces, alignments, profiles and corridors stay linked, and where earthwork quantities come from.
News
What is IFC? The open format that lets BIM tools read each other's models
What IFC is, who maintains it, how the versions differ, what survives an IFC export and what stays behind, and when to send the native file instead.
Revit
What is a family in Revit, and why your library sets your modelling speed
What a Revit family is, how it differs from a type and an instance, the three kinds and when to use each, and five traps in downloaded families.
Revit
What a building services engineer needs to move from 2D to BIM
What an MEP engineer needs to learn to move from 2D to BIM: what a model gives building services, three 2D habits to drop, an eight-week path and how coordination works.
Tekla
Steel shop drawings: from the Tekla model to fabrication drawings
How steel shop drawings differ from design drawings, the six steps from a Tekla model to fabrication drawings, and the modelling errors that reach the shop floor.
AutoCAD – Drawings
AutoCAD for civil engineering students: how good do you need to be in year one?
How much AutoCAD a civil engineering student actually needs: the good-enough level for each year, a four-week path to the first design project, and habits to avoid.
Cost estimating – QS
Construction payment and settlement records: the checklist under Decrees 210/2026 and 254/2025
What construction payment and settlement records contain: a stage-by-stage checklist, forms 02.a/TT to 05.a/TT, deadlines under Decrees 210/2026 and 254/2025.
AutoCAD – Drawings
Construction drawing symbols: 110 illustrated symbols to current TCVN standards
110 construction drawing symbols with figures: doors, windows, stairs, line types, materials, structure, services. Jump-to index and a printable PDF.
News
What is Cubicost? Glodon's 5D BIM quantity takeoff suite explained
What Cubicost is, who makes it, which modules it contains and how it takes off quantities, plus where the suite stops in the Vietnamese cost workflow.
News
Installing Robot Structural Analysis free for structural students
How to get Robot Structural Analysis free with an Autodesk Education account, the minimum requirements for 2027, and how the two-way link with Revit works.
News
Installing Navisworks free for students, and how to federate models
How to get Navisworks free with an Autodesk Education account, the difference between Manage, Simulate and Freedom, and the minimum requirements for 2027.
News
Installing Civil 3D free for students in roads and infrastructure
How to get Civil 3D free with an Autodesk Education account, the official minimum requirements for 2027, and why you do not need to install AutoCAD separately.
News
Installing AutoCAD free for students, and the minimum requirements for 2027
How to download and install AutoCAD with an Autodesk Education account, the official minimum requirements for AutoCAD 2027, and the setup worth doing first.
News
Installing Revit free for students, and the minimum requirements for 2027
How to download and install Revit with an Autodesk Education account, the official minimum requirements for Revit 2027, what is new in 2027, and common errors.
News
Autodesk Education for students: creating an account and verifying your school
How to create an Autodesk Education account with your school email, submit verification documents, and activate free licensed software as a student.
Revit
What is the Revit API? Can an engineer with no programming background learn it
What the Revit API is and what it does, Dynamo or C#, how much programming you actually need, a four-stage path for engineers, and who hires for this.
Architecture – Visualisation
SketchUp or Revit for first and second year architecture students?
Which to learn first. The two programs serve different design stages — a comparison against what early studio work actually demands, and when to move to Revit.
BIM
How infrastructure BIM differs from building BIM, and what Civil 3D is for
Why infrastructure BIM turns on alignments, terrain and earthworks, where Revit runs out, what Civil 3D does, and what Vietnamese law says about linear works.
Structures
The difference between ETABS and SAP2000, and where SAFE fits in
How ETABS and SAP2000 actually differ, when SAFE is required, a lookup table by structure type, which one to learn first, and why two models disagree.
Tekla
What is Tekla Structures? And when to use it instead of Revit Structure
What is Tekla Structures, how it differs from Revit Structure across eight criteria, where it wins on steel and precast, and what you need before learning it.
Scheduling
What is MS Project? Building a construction schedule from scratch
What is MS Project and how it beats a spreadsheet, the three ideas you must grasp, seven steps to a working construction schedule, and MS Project or Primavera.
BIM
What is a BEP? The BIM execution plan, and how to write one people actually use
What is a BEP, how it differs from the EIR, the five questions every BEP must answer, a look inside a real project BEP, and why a BEP is a living document.
BIM
BIM regulations in Vietnam: grade II works and above must apply BIM from 1 July 2026
BIM regulations in Vietnam changed on 1 July 2026. Decree 217/2026 makes BIM mandatory for new works of grade II and above, whatever the funding.
BIM
What is a CDE? The common data environment in BIM, explained for beginners
What is a CDE and how it differs from a shared drive: the four states, the legal duty from 1 July 2026, and the main platforms such as ACC and Aconex.
BIM
What is Navisworks used for? Clash detection and 4D simulation, explained simply
What Navisworks is and what it is for - why model review needs its own tool, what one missed clash costs, how 4D simulation works and who should learn it.
BIM
What is a BIM Manager? The role, the pay, the career path and how it differs from a BIM Coordinator
What a BIM Manager is, what the job involves day to day, how it differs from a Project Manager and a BIM Coordinator, what it pays and how long it takes.
BIM
What is BIM? An explanation for people outside the industry, in 10 minutes
BIM is not a piece of software. What BIM actually is, explained with a real example, why grade II works and above must now apply it, and where to start.
Careers
In-house Revit and BIM training for companies: the process, the cost, and how to measure results
When in-house training beats public courses, the five-step process from survey to handover, how the cost is priced, and what to measure after three months.
Scheduling
What is Synchro 4D? Construction schedule simulation with Synchro, and how it differs from Navisworks
What Synchro 4D is and who makes it; how it differs from Navisworks TimeLiner; when it is worth buying, what it costs, a project workflow and where to learn it.
Revit
What is LOD in BIM? LOD 100, 200, 300, 350, 400 and 500 explained, and when each applies
What LOD in BIM means and who defines it, LOD 100 to 500 shown on one concrete column, and the contract mistakes that make LOD expensive.
BIM
What are BIM 4D and 5D? From 3D to 7D, and the software used at each level
4D adds time, 5D adds cost, 6D and 7D cover operations and energy. What each BIM dimension means, which software is used at each, and how far Vietnam has got.
Revit
Should you learn Revit Architecture, Structure or MEP? Choose by the job you do
A decision table by job role, how hard it is to switch branch later, and which of the three branches is shortest of people in Vietnam right now.
Revit
A learning path for Revit beginners: what to learn first, and how long until you are employable
A three-stage Revit learning path — four weeks of fundamentals, then a discipline branch, then Families and coordination — with self-study time compared.
Careers
Which software should a new civil engineering graduate learn first? Priority by job role
A priority table by job role — structural, estimating, site, architecture, MEP — plus how employers test new graduates and a six-month learning plan.
AutoCAD – Drawings
How to read construction drawings: what the set contains and the order to read it
How to read construction drawings: what the set contains, the order to read it in, how architectural, structural and MEP sets differ, plus an exercise.
Cost estimating – QS
What is quantity take-off? Seven mistakes beginners make when measuring
What quantity take-off is, where it sits in the estimating process, a 5-step method for measuring off the drawings, and the 7 mistakes beginners make.
Cost estimating – QS
What is a quantity surveyor? The job, the salary and the path to becoming a QS in Vietnam
What is a quantity surveyor? The QS handles quantities, cost and contracts. Which department they sit in, how they differ from a cost estimator and QA/QC.
Cost estimating – QS
Where to start learning construction cost estimating? A 6-week roadmap for beginners
Start from the drawings, not the software: a 6-week roadmap for construction cost estimating under Vietnam's cost rules effective 1 July 2026.