B2 - Singh, Prahlad

BIM technology has tremendously improved over a very short time interval. It is a very beneficial designing program for designers and engineers in many numerous fields. Through the assigned reading on the sixth chapter of the BIM Handbook by Charles Eastman, it was very interesting to learn how this source of technology helps contractors implement in their projects by saving time and money. BIM is a very helpful tool for contractors to promote their piece of work to owners during the bidding stage. When contractors are being provided with the scope of work from owners, BIM is going to be a very helpful tool to estimate the cost. In the particular chapter, it is shown how the contractors use BIM, for example:

• Constructability analysis and clash detection
• Cost estimation
• Quantity take offs
• Construction analysis and planning

In particular the contractors who work for larger firms use BIM to obtain construction planning and scheduling, cost control, accounting, procurement, marketing and so on. BIM is still not too user friendly for contractors but is slowly improving its functionality to assist all factions that use the software. Contractors have seen BIM evolve into a more user friendly and time saving tool as the newer versions of BIM and the process involve tools such as:

• Detailed Building Information – A list that provides all the components of the building, thus saving time for the contractor to go back and forth the list to check and perform estimates and quantity take offs.
• Temporary Components – This provides information regarding equipment and other temporary components that are essential for scheduling, sequence and planning.
• Design and construction status – This tracks the progress of components that are relative to design, installation and testing.

The above BIM flowchart depicts where the contractor builds the model from 2D drawings and uses it for cost estimates and etc.

The chapter discusses mainly how BIM is a very useful software and can be utilized by most of the parties involved in a project (engineers, subcontractor, architects, etc.) and that it helps them share all of the information, and as a result help expedite the construction process.

Source:

Chuck Eastman et al., BIM Handbook: A Guide to Building Information Modeling for Owners, Managers, Designers, Engineers and Contractors (Wiley, 2011)

Comments to others

Ray: You discussed the benefits of the BIM software with regards to Architects and Engineers. Walking through the major aspects of the software like simulations and analysis, showing just how advanced the software really is. You also mentioned how it is used more prominently by firms to generate schedules and contracts more specifically.

Nick Pawlikowski: Having no previous knowledge about Interoperability, this was an very educative read. You laid it out for a newcomer to the topic really well. I like the way you spoke about the diversity of the industry and it was very eye opening for me. The figure helped further explain the bigger picture to me.

Alsaleem: You discussed and very correctly pointed out the pros and cons of the software with regards to the owners and managers. I liked the way you incorporated the fact that the software helps show in detail the energy usage etc to the owners/managers as they would be extremely interested in how their building is functioning and where they can reduce/cut costs. On the other hand the lack of experts point I was not fully on board with as even though there is a lack, this shouldn’t stop the availability of it being easily accessible for the owners