ADG Engineers delivers structural and civil engineering, advanced digital capabilities, and strategic advisory services that make a difference to people, places, and communities. Their purpose-driven approach combines proven design principles with intelligent technology to accelerate delivery, reduce risk, and create lasting value. The firm has contributed to some of Australia’s most notable projects, including Cross River Rail in Brisbane, Melbourne Metro Tunnel, Quay Quarter Tower in Sydney, and Darwin International Airport.
The challenge
ADG’s previous CAD provider introduced a token‑based licensing model that did not align with the company’s usage patterns. Most engineers only needed to perform quick checks each day, making the new licensing structure inefficient and costly. Training and change management were also concerns, as the team was deeply familiar with the previous CAD software.
The solution
ADG Engineers sought an independent assessment by Bimbeats, a real‑time analytics platform for AEC workflows, to evaluate CAD alternatives. The analysis revealed that Octave BricsCAD provided comparable functionality to their previous CAD software while offering far more flexible licensing. Rather than relying on tokens and named users, BricsCAD offers network licenses, and Bimbeats’ evaluation gave ADG the confidence that this platform was the right fit for their engineers.
“When we looked at alternatives, straight away BricsCAD was the solution that we wanted to go with,” said Matt Wash, Bimbeats CEO and principal advisor to ADG.
“We can have up to 60 people jumping in and out of a model for a few minutes at a time on a lot less licensing than what it would be under a named user license.”
The ADG team saw the improvement immediately.
“We switched from our previous CAD provider to BricsCAD, mainly because we get an equivalent platform with significant cost savings to the business. It's an 80% saving in license fees for every year for the same functionality,” said Noel Ward, managing principal at ADG.
The transition was smooth and required minimal training:
“Going into the transition to BricsCAD, we were a little bit worried about moving away from the previous CAD software because our people were so familiar with it. But it was a very smooth, easy transition process. The time it took everyone to get the team on board was much quicker than we'd anticipated. And a lot of those problems we thought might crop up didn’t actually exist,” said Michael Wilson, chief information officer at ADG.
The team uses BricsCAD Pro for 2D drafting, 3D modeling, and land surveying tools in a unified platform.
“The software performs the same, in some cases better, than our previous CAD. In terms of functionality, our experience is that BricsCAD does everything that the previous software did.
To date, since the transition, no one has reported anything that they used to do in their previous CAD that they couldn’t do in BricsCAD in the way that we currently use it. So there was very good feedback from all our end users. The performance of the platform is very good,” noted Wilson.
Tutorials in the BricsCAD Learning Center further supported the team, ensuring a seamless migration.
“The upskilling and training we had to do were really easy and inexpensive. The team was just able to pick it up and run with it, and the product video tutorials in the BricsCAD Learning Center were also really helpful,” said Wilson.
The results
The move to BricsCAD delivered substantial financial and operational benefits:
Cost savings
ADG reduced annual CAD software costs by 80%, enabling reinvestment into other areas of the business.
“Moving people away from the incumbent software to BricsCAD was just seamless.
“I think the number one thing, if I were to put Bimbeats into an organization, would be to replicate what we’ve done at ADG and get that same cost savings for everybody,” said Wash.
Licensing flexibility
Network licenses give ADG Engineers the freedom to access models as needed, without the constraints of named‑user or token‑based licensing.
Seamless transition
Minimal training was required, with staff quickly adapting to the new platform.
Functionality retained
BricsCAD provided all the capabilities of the previous CAD software, with no loss of functionality reported.
Positive user feedback
Engineers found BricsCAD’s performance equal to or better than the previous solution.
“When we were presented with the opportunity to cross over to BricsCAD from our current CAD provider, it was a really easy decision for us to make, and I think it would be for any engineering business. The return on investment was fantastic. The flexibility in licensing really suited our business model, and the deployment was seamless,” concluded Ward.
To see why BricsCAD is the true CAD alternative and how it can support your company’s success, download a free trial today.
Australia
Civil & Surveying
ADG Engineers
- adgce.com
