Brennan Connolly - B2 Blog Post

Why BIM Technology is Important for Owners and Facility Managers

             

BIM, or Building Information Modeling, is in the process of revolutionizing the way that buildings and structures are built. Done properly, BIM models can contain more useful knowledge than any other method of design. But how does the type of design impact the thought process for the owner of the building? Well, the owner plays a key role in deciding how they want certain areas of the project to look or feel. They also decide what the main and secondary functions of the building should be. BIM makes information about the building design easy to visualize so that the owner can make changes before construction begins. Pictured below, you can see Figure 1 which is a table taken from the referenced text that describes the benefits of BIM to owners and provides relevant case-studies of each benefit.

The owners number one concern in most cases is cost. They decide whether you design for the highest quality LED lights and most efficient HVAC system or the “value engineered” systems. Incorporating BIM into the design process will allow the owner to analyze what the building might cost if it were built to that design and make changes if need be. If BIM were not chosen on a project the owner might not figure out if the project is too expensive until the construction is already in progress. The design team can also provide energy efficient suggestions to the owner if that is something that he is concerned about.  

To conclude this post, owners and BIM have a very important relationship with each other in the building process. If an owner is familiar, and supports the use of BIM on his project, the project is more likely to be built much more efficiently. The design team and the owner can make key decisions about the building while it is still in design which leads to fewer mistakes in construction and more accurate cost estimates. The construction schedule will also be more accurate as there will be minimal changes to the project during construction. 

 

Figure 1: BIM Impacts on Owners

References

Eastman, C. M. (2011). BIM Handbook : A Guide to Building Information Modeling for Owners, Managers, Designers, Engineers and Contractors. Hoboken: Wiley.

Responses

Joe Dressel: I focused my post on the owners and not so much the facility manager. I wasn't familiar with the impact that BIM could have on them, but I see you included them in your post and it's definitely a excellent prediction that BIM could help them maintain the building through the use of parts schedules. If the facility manager can have a list of parts and how long their average useful lifetime is, he can keep an updated scheudle as to when parts need to be replaced and maintain the building much more efficiently.

Peter: One of the most unspoken potential benefits of BIM is going to be secondary analyses that can help designers look at the actual cost of the building. Right now we estimate costs using RSMeans but that be heavily improved if incorporated into BIM.IF a project could be estimated real-time, then designers will be able to demonstrate how much a certain piece of equipment or a certain material will affect the end total cost for the owner.

Taryn: The impact of families in BIM is remarkable to read about. Your post highlights the benefits that they will have very simply. The easier it is for the design team to finalize designs, the quicker and easier it will be for buildings to be built. If designers can have families of all the equipment/furniture/fixtures that they deal with, then designs will be much easier to produce.