BIM’s Time-Saving Business Benefits

By Stewart Carroll

Although BIM users have different takes, the author writes that the technology’s efficiencies across multi-disciplinary platforms are well worth purchasing.

Stewart Carroll is chief operating officer of Dallas-based Beck Technology, developers of DProfiler BIM software.

Time is a constant challenge; there never seems to be enough of it and it flies by without our consent. Successful builders, designers and constructors understand all too well the importance of time and how its use   impacts their corporations’ and their clients’ bottom lines. Addressing this ever-present problem are the inherent time-saving benefits of building information modeling (BIM), the model-based technology linked to a database of project cost information.

Much of the BIM related time savings result from improved productivity, a byproduct of easy retrieval of information. Compound this with BIM’s ability to capture accurate cost estimates at an early stage and the savings quickly add up. For far too long, wasted expenditures have plagued the AEC industry, a fact not lost on the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology in 2004 when it issued a report entitled, “Cost Analysis of Inadequate Interoperability in the U.S. Capital Facilities Industry.” One of the report’s conclusions was that, as a conservative estimate, $15.8 billion is lost annually by the U.S. capital facilities industry resulting from inadequate interoperability. This was due to “the highly fragmented nature of the industry, the industry’s continued paper-based business practices, a lack of standardization, and inconsistent technology adoption among stakeholders.”

Enter today’s advanced BIM solution to waste and inefficiency in building design and construction. Although BIM users have had different takes on what BIM applications can do for their firms and their clients, one thing is consistently said of the technology: The efficiencies gained across multi-disciplinary platforms are well worth purchasing. And this attitude goes beyond targeting specific needs of data production, management and information exchange. A large part of the efficiency gained is in upfront assessment and feasibility.

These failures frequently lead to cost overruns, many associated with the planning stage. At that stage the project’s scope and cost is defined, and if done accurately at the go/no-go point, the decision to commit to moving forward can be accomplished with confidence. Often the initial budget is exceeded as a project evolves. Breaking the budget is especially problematic for government projects, according to Dr. Douglas Gransberg, associate professor of Construction Science at the University of Oklahoma.

"That early number is important, no matter what you’re building,” says Gransberg, who spent 20 years in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. “In public works, early estimates are what you get your funding from. You go to Congress with these estimates in hand, and it’s the same for state governments if, say, you’re the department of transportation and you’re asking for money for a bridge that you think is going to cost $100 million. The funds are allocated, and from then on you’re in design-to-budget mode.”

Both micro and macro BIM software applications are available on the market today. Micro BIM focuses on providing accurate designs and drawings for a building, addressing the downstream process of coordination and constructability. Macro BIM also utilizes 3D and 2D model information, but uses this information to provide a holistic view of a building project and helps determine project feasibility with greater precision.

Some professionals who are using BIM report increased productivity levels of 30-40 percent. Such on-the-ground reports have attracted the likes of the NIBS (National Institute of Building Sciences), which is developing a national BIM standard. Even the AIA has created a group to investigate the technology.

Indeed, today’s BIM has radically transformed the way designs are created, communicated and constructed. The technology is much more than CAD on steroids. Users note that the latest BIM applications greatly increase the ability to control and manipulate data and information in an unprecedented way and in an interoperable format.

The technology enables the use of data models that combine room and component information with geometry and graphics, including component-specific working methods. Provision of relevant data is thus available to all those participating in building design, construction and management.