BIM for Construction Industry

         BIM has its advantages in a design-build firm as it can help in the beginning designing process as it can facilitate in building the model and sharing between all the team members.  With its advantages, BIM also has its disadvantages because it is limited to its productivity when designers work with 2D or 3D CAD tools.  If so, “much of the value that BIM brings to the project is lost”.  By using BIM tools from the beginning of the designing process, models that are provided by the architects can then be used by contractors to develop accurate and time-efficient estimating, scheduling, fabrication, and other functions for construction.
 

Now a days, BIM tools today include detailed building information like the graphics of a 3D model and temporary components to represent equipment that are essential to the planning of the project. Future BIM implementations should support specification information linked with each building component, analysis data such as structural loads that can serve as proof for performance levels and requirements, and finally design and construction status for each component in order to understand and observe the progress.  With the use of all of the mentioned BIM tools in a project, this can ultimately be very useful because during project completion, the handover process to the owner will be facilitated as all the information of the project from the beginning through the end will be provided.

As I was reading some of my classmates’ posts that covered other chapters in the BIM Handbook, I learned about some other aspects of BIM, including Interoperability.  John Scanlon expresses that “we as a building society should focus on how well we can transfer data from one aspect of the building phase to another” and uses as an example “cost to design to construction to occupancy”.  That is how he defines interoperability and I could not agree with his definition and its importance in building systems more. In order for BIM to succeed in the construction industry, we need to find an efficient way in which interoperability can be achieved.

Source:
Eastman, Chuck, Paul Teicholz, Rafael Sacks, and Kathleen Liston. "Chapter 6 BIM for the Construction Industry." BIM Handbook. N.p.: John Wiley & Sons, 2008. 207-42.Online Library Wiley. Web. 22 Jan. 2013. <http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9780470261309.ch6/pdf>.