To find out what our users have been saying about DesignBuilder read on...
Warren Gray, Mechanical Engineer, Solid Green Consulting: "We decided to go out and measure some natural light levels in buildings that we have access to.... One building was our own office, and the other was a green building we worked on which will be tenanted in 2 weeks so we had a chance to take readings in the same environment for which we simulated. I am happy to say that the DesignBuilder results are very close to what we measured... What impresses me is that if we measure a value of 250 lux at 3m from the facade, DB returns similar values. This means that if we say that 40% of a building's usable area will have lux levels of 250 or above, then the measured results correlate with that. ... It certainly makes us confident in the results we give to clients."
Dr Manfred J. Zapka, University of Hawaii: "First of all I would like to thank you very much for the outstanding online training that you made possible for our team. I was very happy that we could join with three people in an online training that offered us as an outstanding value. ... The course with DesignBuilder is going very well and we have some great feedback from the students.... Your data entry GUI makes it easy for students not only to “accept defaults” but to experiment. In addition your online help is extremely thorough and you present not only the theoretical background but also offer great links to the reference. You might not realize what a powerful learning tool this is; but it is. We think you have created something very valuable and we are looking forward very much to where your company goes from here... Thanks again for your great support. "
Mark O’Neill, DM Hall LLP, Glasgow, Scotland: "Gold stars all round .... Many thanks again for the high quality of customer service I receive from all at DesignBuilder, it is quite refreshing and a credit to your company."
Dr. Alex Friess
Associate Professor, Rochester Institute of Technology Dubai,
UAE: "I have been using DesignBuilder in the context of my Sustainable Energy Management graduate course in Mechanical Engineering since 2009. The driving factors in choosing DesignBuilder were the software’s extensive capabilities and EnergyPlus engine, coupled with an easy to use interface. Students have been able to very quickly learn to use and apply it as an experimental tool to explore the adequacy of energy management measures. It has allowed the introduction of an experiential learning component into the course that is invaluable in providing insight into the building energy balance and the effectiveness of energetic measures.
I am highly satisfied with DesignBuilders capabilities and interface, and with the support and service received. Thank you very much."
Dr. Farshad Nasrollahi, Assistant Professor, Berlin University of Technology, Germany
I used DesignBuilder for the first time during my doctoral studies at the Berlin University of Technology. Since it uses EnergyPlus as its simulation engine, it is a very accurate and powerful simulation software tool and at the same time has a very easy to use interface. DesignBuilder has extensive capabilities that cover most of the features building energy simulation users need. Therefore it is a fantastic simulation software tool for all building simulation user groups, especially for architects and architecture students. I was so satisfied with the capabilities of DesignBuilder as well as with the high quality of customer service during my doctoral studies that I am using the software for my postgraduate sustainable design and simulation course at the Institute of Architecture at the Berlin University of Technology. Another reason for choosing DesignBuilder for education is the easy and quick to learn teaching process. The experiences from my course show me that students were able to learn how to use and apply DesignBuilder very quickly for simulation and optimization of building energy performance.
Jean Marais, Big-Gruppe, Berlin: "I’ve just discovered how the
shading from other buildings was written out with transmission schedules
to the EnergyPlus idf of the building that I’m currently simulating. I
love the way this whole thing hangs together and again just want to
compliment you and your team on a cracking job. From a total design
point of view, I absolutely love this program. I find it very well
thought out and I enjoy using it."
Roy Redhead, RJR Independent Energy Assessors, UK: “I was looking for a way to improve accuracy and speed up production and found that DesignBuilder is capable of helping me do both.
Complex roof structures and multi zone properties can be created so quickly it eliminates tedious and seemingly endless hours on area calculations for individual zones. Not only can I get to the end result more quickly but it makes running the recommendations back through the model simple and the information to the client much more valuable.
No need for a calculator now, simplify adding offices to Portal frame buildings, saw tooth roofing with complex angles are so easy. Using templates of the types of building visited regularly in my area means I can enter entire project data sets in a single click”.
Michael Reilly, Director of Operations, CADmeleon, Scotland:
“…I looked at [another supplier] first as I had used this throughout my further education … however I was not entirely satisfied with the customer service that this company provided, it seemed every time you called in with a problem with the software… a cost was incurred, and a staffbase who take every opportunity to query the purchaser of their software’s intent. I then looked at DesignBuilder along with a few other software solutions to the iSBEM problem, DesignBuilder became the software of choice for CADmeleon, this also meant that the other company’s that we work with on large scale projects (Green Energy Partners and Dearle & Henderson) followed suit and chose DesignBuilder as our sole software for level 3 & 4 Buildings. By using DesignBuilder I estimate that our establishments can process certificates up to 3 times as fast compared to the iSBEM method, this has allowed us to excel in the Scottish market, enabling us to become well established as a major player in Energy Performance Certificates in Scotland. I have even held masterclasses with some of our clients showing them how to manipulate the data held in their models to improve their ratings which has involved them buying seats of DesignBuilder, East Ayrshire Council being one. I am also regularly tasked with travelling to the USA where our parent company operate, to assist them in working with clients requiring Technical Energy Analysis’ which will involve the EnergyPlus package. I hope to secure contracts within Michigan this month for over 200 buildings. Hope this explains why I am so happy with DesignBuilder.”
Miguel Bolivar, MSc Graduate, Southampton University, UK: "DesignBuilder not only helped me to validate my results but allowed me to get in touch with an advanced building energy simulation tool and test some of its capabilities. As a mechanical engineer, the 3D interface when developing the graphics models is really easy to use and when setting materials, activities and HVAC properties the libraries and information available is really useful under a very user-friendly environment. The simulation speed is short which made easier the iteration process."
Paul James, Director eCubed Building Workshop, NZ: "Just thought I'd drop you a line, I've been working with teams using modelling software for a number of years, and I would like to say how impressed I am with the responses and the development being achieved with design builder. The product is being developed with the design process in mind and this is fantastic from my perspective. Keep up the good work..."
www.e3bw.co.nz
Miguel Pelicano, MANVIA - MotaEngil group, Portugal: "I am responsable for building the geometric model, simulate and determine the energy class of almost 100 supermarket stores from a big portuguese company. DesignBuilder is my "army knife", really a must! A great software from a great team! Thank you, great job! "
Stephen Dunn, Director, SDS Energy, UK: "SDS Energy based in Northern Ireland have been using thermal simulation software for the last three years to demonstrate building compliance with Part F of the Northern Ireland Building Regulations, using SBEM and carrying out overheating calculations for new build projects. After assessing all the software tools available we adopted DesignBuilder in March 2008. Since then we have found the time required to produce EPC and carry out Building Regulation compliance checks has been much reduced boosting our productivity and profits. DesignBuilder has met all our requirements and expectations:
- Cost of training, license and technical support are very competitive.
- The software is intuitive and very easy to learn.
- Speed - the software gets to grips with simple and complex models quickly. The software is easy to navigate especially when making changes to base models thus providing a fast response time to clients or Building Control departments
- Technical support – it is vital that you have access to capable technical support by email or telephone and we have found this with DesignBuilder; you have a direct relationship with a dedicated software engineer who understands your business.
- Visualisation – the building models can be displayed on screen and this helps the clients understanding of his building. Design changes and tweaks can be easily assessed visually in front of the client with great speed; we find this beneficial with hands on clients and architects.
- Reliability – DesignBuilder has proved to be very stable and reliable, other software we had used in the past had a tendency to crash. "
Dave Cocking, Director of Arrow Energy Solutions, UK: "Changing to Design Builder SBEM was undoubtedly the best business decision I’ve made regarding EPCs and Part L2 compliance work, as some projects now take less than a third of the time that they would have previously done. It is also a pleasure to use, which is a big consideration when you’re faced with the prospect of certifying a number of buildings.”
Mark Buckley, MBA Engineers, Ireland: "Many thanks for all the help online, over the phone and in person. The
software is very user friendly and is backed up by a great team who go
out of their way to assist in any way they can."
More testimonials on DesignBuilder SBEM
More testimonials on DesignBuilder SBEM
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