Building information Modeling, or BIM, has many positive
effects. The article last week pointed out that it reduces the need to repeat
work, increases the ease of collaboration, points out conflicts, and can aid
evaluating designs through energy, cost, and circulation simulation add-ons.
In class, Huw showed us a lot of newer (and developing) BIM
technology. Currently, the only information transmen have access needs to be on
“construction documents” – 2D plan sheets. In the future Bentley’s modeling
system will let the user see the proposed 3D model of the space in front of
them. It will also show them the section drawing of a wall they are working on.
This can greatly improve a tradesmen’s understanding of what he is working on,
improving accuracy and allowing him to observe how his system interacts with
others and make suggestions. While contractors have been eager to adopt BIM
technology, this will probably encourage them even more. The tradesman could
also verify the equipment he installed, which would be very useful to building
operators as well. Maintenance personnel could simple pull out a surface device
and see exactly where their part of interest is located. Huw also pointed out
that Yelp can point out where local restaurants are and display reviews,
pricing, hours, and distance to each restaurant. This could be coupled with a
model to show where the different junction boxes are and which lines go into
them. This information could help the electrician to troubleshoot and fix the
problem much faster.
McGraw Hill Construction wrote an interesting report in 2014
examining the value of BIM for owners. They found that 85% of owners in the UK
felt that few problems occurred during construction because of BIM (The UK has
higher BIM usage than the US). This is most likely because of the collaboration
that BIM enables and fault-finding software that most systems include. 72% also
believe BIM improves control of construction costs, which is somethings most
owners appreciate. These reductions are probably due to fewer design errors as
well as allowing contractors to effectively plan and schedule the project.
Importantly 98% of owners said BIM visualizations allowed a better
understanding of the design. This is significant because owners are who pay the
engineers and architects. It does not matter who has the best design, it
matters who can communicate that the owner will like their design. BIM makes making
3D, schematic, and other visualizations easy, these visualizations give owners
a better understanding of the design. Owners also appreciate BIM because it
makes post-construction operation significantly easier. 78% perceive value in
utilizing BIM for facilities management.
James, Reducing construction problems is arguably the largest benefit of BIM, at least in terms of cost. The cost of fixing an increases directly with point in the process. Errors occurred during the concept phase can be easily and cheaply fixed, whereas fixing a construction error is difficult to undo, can be time consuming, and have a high cost due to added labor, transportation, and potentially additional fabrication. Working in construction on my previous coop and encountering fabrication errors—not design errors—I wonder if BIM can be used by fabricators to compliment traditional shop drawings and yield to even further errors and reduced cost. You reference didn’t seem to mention that, do you think it could be useful there?
ReplyDeleteJames, I liked that you included some statistics about the advantages of BIM usage. Seeing those numbers helps to drive home the fact that BIM is very helpful in the design and construction process. It’s one thing to say that BIM is successful, but it’s better to include numbers to back it up. I also liked that you touched a little bit on the future. Already so many advances have been made with BIM and there are still many more things that BIM should be capable of in the future.
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