ZBlog by Ziggurat Systems

06 May 2010

The value of building Information modeling (BIM) in the U.S. building Industry

Written by Yariv Kafri

Summary of benefits based on survey results:

• 41% of the respondents realized an increase in overall project profitability
• 73% found an increase in profitability and only 3% stated a decrease,
• Majority of the respondents (55%) said BIM helped cut project costs, with 50% indicating project costs were reduced by up to 50%.
• 58% of the surveyed industry professionals found that overall project duration was reduced by up to 50%.
• 48% of the respondents think that the detailed design phase takes less time with BIM.
• One of the major benefits of BIM is coordinated design drawings
• quality of the documents produced is improved substantially …fewer errors and omissions and the use of BIM increases accuracy of documents
• These improvements are realized as benefits in the construction phase as well as in overall project costs.
• 47% think that the bid preparation phase takes less time.
• A reduction of duration at most stages…the most substantial one is in the construction phase, with approximately 58% of respondents reporting a reduction in duration.
• Comments provided also support that the construction phase takes less time due to the coordinated documents with fewer errors and omissions.
• Ratio of dollar amounts of approved change orders, claims and disputes, and correcting errors and omissions to overall project costs. Overwhelmingly, each of these expenses cost less than 0.5% of the total project cost, according to the respondents.

Key facts:

The building industry is the largest industry in the world (Department of Commerce 2007), with distinguishing characteristics such as:

• Highly fragmented organizations (Department of Commerce 2002),
• Unique projects, relatively short period of production,
• Outdoor and unstructured working conditions and labor-intensive activities.

 

Successful completion of building projects requires collaboration of numerous multidisciplinary and sometimes geographically separated team members. Continuous, accurate, and real-time information sharing among project participants is key to resolving conflicts, speeding up solutions, and keeping projects on time and on budget. However, poor interoperability and data management costs the building industry approximately $15.8 billion a year, or approximately 3-4% of the total industry turnover (Gallaher et al. 2004). Building information modeling (BIM), is seen as an enabler that may help the building industry to improve its productivity.

 

Case Studies:

There are numerous case studies (Khanzode et al. 2008, Eastman et al. 2008, Khemlani 2004, Kymmell 2008, Gerber 2007, Kam et al. 2003) that provide anecdotal evidence to support the idea that the use of BIM makes the building process more efficient and effective. They present the following benefits:

• Accurate and consistent drawing sets,
• Early collaboration,
• Synchronized design and construction planning,
• Clash detection,
• Model-driven fabrication and
• Greater use of prefabricated components,
• Support of lean construction techniques, and
• Streamlined supply chain management. H

 

Survey Findings:

Most of the respondents worked for architecture and engineering firms. Ninety-nine percent of the Respondents were based in the U.S., in 27 different states.  

Project Profiles:

Current BIM usage is focused on a variety of building types. The findings don’t suggest that BIM solutions

are more applicable to one type of building than another. By value, these projects primarily fell into the less than $20 million range (45%), followed by more than $100 million (29%) based on the survey data. Based on the comments provided by the respondents, BIM is more suitable for larger projects.

Although the traditional design-bid-build delivery system is still the most widely used delivery system for these projects, it is interesting to note that many of the projects are delivered under more recent and collaborative delivery methods, including design-build, integrated project delivery (IPD), performance-based contracts, and project alliancing. IPD is cited by the respondents as the most effective project delivery method in facilitating the use of BIM for construction projects. IPD attempts to create the collaborative atmosphere required for the most comprehensive use of BIM by aligning the goals of all team members and incentivizing them to work closely together throughout all phases of a project (AIA 2007). The coupling of BIM with IPD enables a level of collaboration that not only improves efficiency and reduces errors but also enables exploration of alternative approaches and expansions of market Opportunities (Middlebrooks 2008).

Adoption of BIM:

Which tasks they used BIM for on the chosen project?

• Visualization (rendering, 3D presentations, model walk-through, etc.),
• Clash detection, and
• Building design

Were the top three tasks BIM is used for, with roughly equal rates of use.

 

Architecture firms use BIM heavily for design-related functions such as building design, visualization, and programming/massing studies.

 

Contractors’ top three BIM use areas were

• Clash detection,
• Visualization, and
• Creation of as-built models.

Exploration of a building as an assembly of architectural objects and sub-assemblies was also among the top five uses of BIM software overall.

 

Contractors are getting more experienced in BIM faster than any other group, as more users discover the value of BIM beyond the design process.  

Costs:

The survey investigated tangible costs associated with outsourcing of BIM tasks, staff and space requirements, and hardware, software, and training. While these costs are certainly not the only factors contributing to the perceived value, they are among the easier ones to find and quantify. Contractors and construction managers were more likely to outsource BIM work than architects and engineers.

Training is a critical investment for successful BIM implementations, as training issues have been the greatest hurdles on the path to BIM adoption (McGrawHill 2009). Based on the survey findings, respondents have recognized this issue and firms are providing training to their BIM users.

 

Benefits:

How use of BIM affects project profitability?.

Around 41% of the respondents realized an increase in overall project profitability with the use of BIM

The results support this argument—of the respondents who are implementing BIM on 100% of their projects, 73% found an increase in profitability and only 3% stated a decrease, an anomaly one would expect given the uniqueness factor within the building industry. The initial model setup is time-consuming because the software forces the design to be modeled early on, translating into a disproportional

time spent in schematics and early design stages compared to the standard process in drafting software.  

The reduction of both project duration and associated costs contributes in some part to project profitability. A majority of the respondents (55%) said BIM helped cut project costs, with 50% indicating project costs were reduced by up to 50%. 58% of the surveyed industry professionals found that overall project duration was reduced by up to 50%. This is quite substantial when you put it in terms of how long projects can take and their costs. If a project takes four years from conceptual design to occupancy and you reduce that time frame by a quarter, you save an entire 12 months; if it is reduced by 50%, you save two years. While these are numbers at the higher end of the surveyed spectrum, even the mid-range is remarkable—at a 12.5% reduction, there is a saving of 6 months.

When project phase durations are analyzed, schematic and conceptual design phases take slightly longer when BIM is used, while the duration of the detailed design phase is reduced. Overall, 48% of the  respondents think that the detailed design phase takes less time with BIM.

 

One of the major benefits of BIM is coordinated design drawings; any change done to the model is propagated at the database, therefore there is no need to update drawings individually. There was a

consensus that the quality of the documents produced is improved substantially when BIM is used. There are fewer errors and omissions and the use of BIM increases accuracy of documents. Respondents also agreed that these improvements are realized as benefits in the construction phase as well as in overall project costs. There is a substantial difference in the value added to the project in the way of presenting design options, design visualization, quantity takeoff, and discipline coordination. 47% think that the

bid preparation phase takes less time. Though there is a reduction of duration at most stages, the most substantial one is in the construction phase, with approximately 58% of respondents reporting a reduction in duration. Comments provided also support that the construction phase takes less time due to the coordinated documents with fewer errors and omissions. Each one of these small or large reductions adds up to an overall reduction that is noticeable and impacts return on investment. The survey results suggest that time reduction is possible for all types of project team members and at all phases of the project.

 

The survey also examined the ratio of dollar amounts of approved change orders, claims and disputes, and correcting errors and omissions to overall project costs. Overwhelmingly, each of these expenses cost less than 0.5% of the total project cost, according to the respondents.