B2 - Group C - Cristian Almendariz

As the book “BIM Handbook” chapter 4 “BIM for owners and Facility Managers” says, BIM is an important resource that has the potential of being used in construction by owners and facility managers [2]. 

The book Successful Contract Administration by Charles Cook defines BIM as “computer rendering technology of 3-Dimensional imaging of a project, allowing each space to be viewed from different angles, and identifying where installation of different equipment and materials interfere with other objects in the structure.  The 4^th Dimension of Building information modeling is considered schedule, and the 5^th dimension is cost" [1].  Previously, BIM has constantly being used in the automobile and aeronautic industry but now it is growing its popularity in construction.  Before, 2D drawings and constant project walkthroughs were typical ways to view and control the progress of projects.  It was quite common that different design elements (e.g. HCAV, structural, lighting) would collide between each other and people would not be able to notice these errors before they were being put in place at the worksite. Nowadays, programs like autodesk Revit, archiCAD, and other BIM programs are being used by both engineers and architects to integrate and visualize a project prior, during, and after construction [2]. 

As the book says, BIM has the potential of being of huge help for owners and facility managers.  Owners could be significantly benefited with BIM by being able to: Visualize a project before construction.  Know an approximate and more accurate cost for the project.  Prevent economic losses related to errors in the design. Have a more efficient and faster schedule for construction.  Have a better control of the project progress. Be able to visualize changes in the project and see how they will affect it economically and in its schedule.  Facility managers could be benefited by BIM because they would be able to manage and control a building after construction more efficiently.  In order to do so, they would need all the project design elements to be integrated into a management program.  Unfortunately, BIM in construction is in its early stages and it needs a lot of work in order to be able to integrate different elements of a project to a single program [2].

As BIM programs continue to improve and gain more popularity, both owners and facility managers interest toward BIM will increase as well.  Owners are starting to require BIM as requisite for bidders and this trend is likely to increase.  As previously said, BIM is in its early stages and owners could play a significant role in the integration of different project elements to a single program.  Owners should encourage the communication and collaboration between all project designers and constructors to make the integration easier, better, and faster [2]. 

BIM programs as well as their use and popularity is making significant progress in the United States and other developed countries but is absent in developing countries.  For instance, I worked my last three coops back home in Ecuador and I have not seen BIM being integrated in construction.  BIM is just emerging and some industries like HVAC and structural design are now starting to use it but again it’s on early stages.  In all the construction projects I worked in, I have seen that the collision between different elements is quite common and they are unseen until construction.  Most of them have a significant economic and schedule impact on the project.  Nowadays, construction in developing countries is a happening more often.  For this reason, BIM is the key to success for all this countries and as previously said owners could play an important role to make this happen.  

References

[1] Cook, Charles W. Successful Contract Administration: For Constructors and Design Professionals. New York: Routledge, 2014. Print.

[2] Eastman, C. "Chapter 4: BIM for Owners and Facility Managers." BIM Handbook: A Guide to Building Information Modeling for Owners, Managers, Engineers and Contractors. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons, 2011. 151-92. Drexel Library. Web. 17 Jan. 2016.

http://web.a.ebscohost.com.ezproxy2.library.drexel.edu/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmtfXzM2NDIzOV9fQU41?sid=3778434c-899b-4444-819f-3ad1f97cec02@sessionmgr4001&vid=0&format=EB&lpid=lp_151&rid=0

Responses

Midrul,

As you said the advantages that BIM offers are only possible with investment of companies and owners, to educate, purchase and develop this BIM programs to a new levels.  I think that owners could play a significant role by encouraging the use of BIM by making it a bid requirement.  Moreover, facility managers job could be significantly eased and improved by the integration of all the design elements into a single BIM program.   But once again this is only possible if owners make BIM a bid requirement and they encourage the collaboration and contribution of all designers and constructors of the project.

Alexis,

You made an excellent point by mentioning how BIM can ease and improve the maintenance of a building.  As I read somewhere in chapter 4 of the book Bim handbook, some programs are even able to integrate the manuals for equipment installed in the project.  BIM for the management of facilities still needs too evolve but its potential capabilities are impressive.  Image how great will it be to be able have the entire project into a single management BIM program and it being able to alert you when a certain fan, compressor, or single screw driver needs fix or replacement.  It is really important that these management BIM programs allow easy editing of the facility for possible changes or extensions of the project. 

Faisal,

I think you made a key point by mentioning that the construction industry is known for late project delivery, not meeting client expectations, and going over the budget.  This is more likely in developing countries like my home country, Ecuador because it is still stuck in the past and BIM practically not used at all.  Errors and collision between systems were quite common in the projects in worked in my coops, and most of the time they were unseen until construction.  These not only had economic and schedule impacts on the project, but the owner or final client would be highly upset.  BIM has the potential of preventing this problems and revolutionizing the construction industry completely.