B3 - Group C - Cristian Almendariz

In the past and even today many projects suffer great economic losses and schedule delays due to errors and omissions in the project.  Most errors and omissions in construction are due to the outdated software architects use.  Although AutoCAD is really good, it is too “basic” because as Christopher G. Hill says, “Only draws lines, circles and arcs which can be copied and pasted by the user”.  AutoCAD has no design capabilities or fundamental intelligence.  Furthermore, errors and omissions were complicated by the increasing trend of architects replacing designers who had a great knowledge of construction and using AutoCAD.  They were more likely to detect errors and omissions in construction prior construction.  Therefore, now architects produce construction documents that have a lot of errors regarding door and window schedules, errors in elevations, and other. 

            If used adequately, Revit has the potential of preventing such errors and omissions in projects.  Revit is based on parametric modeling built on top of a relational database.  As Christopher G. Hill says “you basically see what you get”.  After Autodesk purchased Revit, they have expanded it into Revit Architecture, Revit Structure, and Revit MEP.  It now has the ability to be able to put all these elements together and find errors, omissions, and conflicts between components.  For these reasons, the use of Revit can prevent significant economic loses and delays in a project.

            Revit and other BIM programs have a bright future in front of them.  A major contribution to its bright future is the fact that BIM programs like Revit are starting to be required in the construction industry.  Therefore, now architects, engineers, contractors, subcontractors, and owners are learning how to use BIM programs.  Additionally, BIM is opening the doors for the use of Integrated Project Delivery IPD contracts.  Charles Cook defines integrated project delivery as “a collaborative group of individuals and/or companies working toward a common goal, sharing skills and assets to deliver the complete project”.  In other words, IPD is a type of contract, which forces all parties (e.g. architects, engineers, consultants, etc.) to work and collaborate under a master contract.  It stops parties from working separately and makes them a team.  Either all the “team” succeeds or fails deleting fault blaming between parties.  BIM facilitates this type of contract because it allows all construction elements and components to be put together into a single “file” so that the program detects crashes and errors between them.  Additionally, it allows us to get a real 3D representation of how the project is going to look and we are able to visualize how changes will affect the final product. 

            As explained above, Revit and other BIM programs have a bright future.  As their use becomes standard in design and construction, it is going to bring a lot of advantages to the construction industry.  The main advantage relies on the prevention significant schedule delays and economic losses by of errors and omissions.  Additionally, as this technology further evolves and gets improved, projects are going to be able to be built much faster.  Moreover, these programs have the possibility of reducing or even deleting human labor at worksites by replacing it with machines or drones.  This can bring significant economic savings and a significantly faster construction.  Construction methods, materials, and practices can be significantly improved by the use of these technologies.  This opens the door to the possibility to construct any architectural design that is now believed structurally “impossible”.  Given the fast rate that technology is evolving, this future might be closer than what we think.

References

BIM and REVIT- The Way to the Future. N.p., 17 June 2013. Web. 26 Jan. 2016. <http://constructionlawva.com/bim-and-revit-way-to-future/>.

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

Alexis,

I think you made an excellent point by mentioning how BIM is now allowing project engineers quick access to existing conditions or progress on site.  I think this is a main future advantage for BIM programs because it opens the door for offsite project supervision.  Possibly, no longer will engineers, architects and other site supervision officials will be strictly required to be onsite.  They will be able to supervise a project from their home office.  Additionally, this might allow them to now be able to supervise multiple projects in the same time.   Additionally, even the owners can use this tool to visualize the construction of their project in real live.

William,

            I also believe BIM has the potential to revolutionize the construction industry but BIM’s evolution is dependent on the collaboration from other markets.  Imagine the great potential of BIM if it is merged with the Microsoft HoloLens technology, which has the ability to display a virtual reality.  All contractual parties, even owners will not be limited to see their projects in a flat screen, instead they will be able to see it in real life.  This brings design stage of a project to a whole new level.  As we know, it is different too see a project in a flat screen than when it is completed.  For this reason, many owners decide to make changes along construction.  In some instances they might require parts of the project to be redesign a rebuilt bringing economic and schedule losses.  This technology has the potential of moving these changes during the design stage and making sure the owner is satisfied with the design from the beginning.