05/10/2026
Praveen Salinda saw a problem in the construction industry. Projects were producing huge amounts of data, but understanding what was really happening on a project was not always easy. That simple observation became the starting point for Smartbim Innovations, a Sri Lankan construction-tech startup.
With more than a decade of experience as a Quantity Surveyor and BIM/VDC professional, Praveen had spent years inside construction projects. He saw how drawings, quantities, progress updates, site information and reports were created and updated throughout a project. Yet despite all that information, getting a clear picture of what was really happening could still require significant manual effort.
He began asking whether technology could do more than simply store project information. Could it help turn that information into something people could actually use to make better decisions?
That question became the starting point for SmartBIM.
But turning an industry problem into a technology startup was far from straightforward. Praveen was not a software engineer. He had to bridge two worlds: deep construction knowledge and technology entrepreneurship.
Funding challenges, rejection and self-doubt became part of the early journey. But instead of abandoning the idea, he continued refining it and building around a problem he understood firsthand.
The result was SmartBIM, a platform designed to bring greater visibility and intelligence into construction project monitoring.
The startup has since moved beyond the idea stage. SmartBIM says it has been implemented across six projects covering more than one million square feet, has been operating for more than three years, and has achieved up to 78% reduction in project reporting time.
But the startup's story is now entering another chapter.
SmartBIM is expanding toward a B2C model, bringing construction progress visibility to homeowners.
For developers and project teams, monitoring construction is part of the job. For a homeowner, however, the project may represent years of savings and a deeply personal dream.
SmartBIM's next opportunity is therefore bigger than simply helping professionals monitor projects. It is about making the journey of building a home more visible to the person whose dream is taking shape on the site.
What began as a problem observed inside Sri Lanka's construction industry is evolving into a technology startup with ambitions to change who gets to see, understand and monitor a construction project.
The story of SmartBIM is no longer just about digitising construction. It is about making construction visible.
