Five simple tips for using BIM in a construction project.

Do we live in a 3D world, designed by people with special skills ? The process of making their ideas real, construction is characterized by cost overruns and schedule busts. We need to appreciate the problems of this industry to be able to improve on them and be honest while we face any construction project with any BIM technology in hand.

Building Information Modelling (BIM) allows making informed decisions early in the design and construction process. Its no longer a debatable subject that BIM is neither a software , nor a propitiatory item, its a define process to share project data & information. Companies that utilize Building Information Modelling (BIM) have reported benefits for scheduling, estimation and risk analysis, more collaborative processes and better facility management. But if you have a clever approach to BIM, then plan properly to skip unwanted surprises. Have a simple BEP ( BIM Execution Plan) match to project specific need. Those who use any BIM supported technology tool will agree with the fact that , it allows making informed decisions early in the design and construction process. Accurate, constructible models bring the opportunity to try out options & solutions in advance before erecting the structure on site. Digital prototyping is now a reality even in construction design. This means that the owners & contractors can manage the risk of unforeseen costs & loss of time.

So I put together 5 simple tips which may already known to the BIM universe:-

• Collaborate throughout the workflow. At the end of the day, a construction project is all about collaboration within your team and all project parties working together. When collaboration is good, everyone understands what other project parties work means to them, and stays updated about the changes. Those technology which supports the BIM workflow, has gathered compliments for improve communication between construction disciplines, and thus leveraging better quality deliverable.
• Make everybody understand the project in simple terms. When you can see the minute details of structure in the 3D model, you do not need to guess what others think. An appropriate BIM supporting tools help all project parties to visualize and communicate and thus understand the design intent very clearly. When project parties can understand and review the design easily, they can guarantee its accuracy and completeness. Can we avoid mind-set " why I should share my 3D model with others?"
• Keep your BIM supporting tools open. No single tool will solve every problem in the execution process & suit every phases of the construction workflow. We need to work with others by open mind. To achieve functional workflow, linking your prefer BIM supporting software to other industry software solutions is a necessity. With open BIM concept in mind, you can choose the best combination of solutions and partners, regardless any specific propagated BIM supporting software others use or recommend you to use. Take an informed decision based on your need only.
• Produce and read the model information digitally. Information has been produced digitally since the arrival of CAD, but reading the same has been manual labour work. Currently, intelligent as-built models contains all needed building information and integrating the same with advanced open BIM platform can help not only to manage the fab shop floor but also same time bring the BIM to Field in to reality. This saves huge manual man-hours cost and reduce errors. In the longer run, such effective technology platform can also steer the machinery on construction sites (M2M) and bring automatism in supply chain process.
• Drawing is hard & 3D isn’t universally appreciated. Buildings are spatial, but they are represented in drawings. The translation from 3D to 2D (and back again) is hard. No two building projects are ever exactly the same. Local variations in climate, supply chain, regulation and any offset of hundreds of other variables conspire to make even seemingly identical buildings unique in execution. People with a design education, the ability to represent space in drawing form is second nature. But to those not trained to do so, drawing is still mysterious and hard to understand. Everyone in our population is taught to read, write and solve math problems. Only a subset of people are taught to think spatially. Adopt a simple easy to use drawing platform which takes care 2D & 3D.

A good BIM technology integration platform allows us to do all the above-mentioned activities. It takes care details to the smallest bolt, works with all materials, integrates with machinery and interfaces with other software solutions without any data loss, while making the workflows smoother and more efficient and improve our quality delivery. Make it simple and easy, it will add value to the project.

With my past decade years experience in the BIM technology field and with few live construction challenges faced in recent times, I thought to pen down my thoughts, which may be in alignment with few of my industry friends & colleagues. Any comments / feedback are welcome.