B2 - Group C - Andy Dinh - BIM for Owners and Facility Managers (Chapter 4)

BIM software can offer many benefits to owners and facility managers to receive better overall higher quality buildings. The use of BIM can also provide buildings with better performance within their systems. Buildings will have different functions for different owners and managers, but BIM with its continual development allows for a wide range of building planning. With different people being able to collaborate on the same BIM model, it allows for better communication of ideas with less errors. With this reduction, project time and cost can also be reduced. BIM certainly is not for everyone, and it will take time for those who are new to it to learn, but the development of software and technology has certainly made it easier than it has been in the past. BIM can provide many benefits to building program through such areas as:

Performance of buildings: Use of lighting and energy based programs through BIM, building performance can increase overall with better accuracy through these programs. This will help in reducing costs overall through building efficiency and with better turn over time for projects.

Project Management: All the ideas and designs of the buildings are just as important as the building itself. As an owner or manager, having a small understanding of BIM technology can help communicate ideas between you and the designers. Better communication within projects can lead to shorten project schedules and a reduction in errors by knowing which owner and local code requirements to follow.

Reduction of costs: Money always plays a big part into any project. Projects can be stalled if not enough financial backing is provided. With more reliable cost estimates, owners can get better feedback on the design of the building which can allow for allocation of resources needed in other departments. Providing earlier feedback in the project's lifetime is very beneficial as well when decision making is needed on what is to be provided.

Information streamlining: As stated a few times above, communication is a pretty big factor. It is not just about communication between designers and constructors, but it is also as important to relay information to the owner or facility manager. This allows for the owners or managers to play a bigger role within the building industry, rather than being left to just handling typical problems like delays and quality issues. There are even tools specifically geared towards owners and facility managers to gather the information they are looking for.

References:

http://osp.mans.edu.eg/elbeltagi/Fac%202%20bim%20facility.pdf

http://www.mpwengineering.com/bim-benefits-for-owners/

http://damassets.autodesk.net/content/dam/autodesk/www/solutions/bim/BIM_for_Owners.pdf

Comments:

Hayley Selden (link) - It was an interesting take to read about how BIM is for others involved in the building concept. There are definitely different advantages for contractors and owners through BIM software, especially through implementation. Owners know what they want out of a building versus contractors knowing what is possible to be built. Communication of these ideas and restrictions helps a project move along much more smoothly.

Maissoun Ksara (link) - Knowing how much parametric modeling has developed certainly puts a perspective on things. I like being able to see how modeling has developed over the years, allowing for more complex creations. Your listing of the pros and cons certainly highlights the advantages of such modeling techniques, and how beneficial it can be. Seeing how popular Revit has been among the industry (at least in my experience) really does show how much it has come along to help contractors.

Nick Pawlikowski (link) - Before this class, I had never really heard of the word interoperability. Things can be assumed of it based on what is within the word, but reading your post helped me gain a lot better insight as to what it stands for. Having the ability to give data across to others to work on a joint task is very useful, especially in our class with a focus in construction and buildings. The different formats companies have to work around with and how complex is has gotten with the development of newer software and technology does provide a challenge. Having the answer in using building model repositories is smart and hopefully this helps in reducing further issues that interoperability still has.