Beyond Conventional Construction- BIM Software Part 2

BIM Coordination- Shop Drawings

One of the most promising areas of development as the building industry adapts to BIM offerings, is the link between building models and construction management, in particular shop drawings. Shop drawings will provide one of our most satisfying benefits, the opportunity to create accurate shop drawings using the building model that reflects direct manufacturer components and necessary fabrication systems. This has obvious benefits like, increasing construction accuracy, reducing construction management’s man-hours, cutting down on change orders, and reducing construction delays due to fabrication coordination. The industry currently has a limited connection between BIM and shop drawings as the BIM movement has just begun. We have seen a preliminary effort to link structural framing models to shop drawings with fair success. Actual procedures are far from developed, but you can count on their continual development within the entire AEC/O industry.

BIM Coordination- Area Analysis

One of the least understood benefits of BIM is the built-in area analysis features that are provided as a result of creating the building model. Regardless of the number of floors, the overall size, or mixed-use conditions within the building, area calculations can be performed at any stage of the project, whether that be preliminary or later during value engineering. This flexibility allows for design changes and automatic area calculation updating removing much of the human error that accompanies design changes.

BIM Coordination- Collision Detection

Collision Detection, also known as Conflict Analysis can be summed up as the process of determining when, where, and what types of systems or objects intersect each other. For example, collision detection commands within BIM software can find beam conflicts with pipe runs. BIM software typically has this ability built-in and improves productivity and quality in the project lifecycle of building construction. But, collision detection is only as good as the building model, and if your architects, engineers and consultants are using different software, your collision detection will prove shortsighted. When multiple BIM or Virtual 3D Modeling software is involved, there are a couple of proven software, allowing integration of all major modeling software vendors for complete file format interoperability. This kind of software is known as 3D/4D Design Review software. It is scalable, flexible and has a programmable interface allowing for customization to other third party software and databases. One is known as Innovaya’s Composer HYPERLINK "http://www.innovaya.com/prod_revit.htm" http://www.innovaya.com/prod_revit.htm and the other is known as JetStream by NavisWorks (Autodesk, Inc.) http://navisworks.com/en/jetstream. They both allow for complete project management, estimation, and collision detection. They also have multiple additional components that allow for additional services to provide common presentation.

BIM Coordination- Cost Estimation

Providing, the Construction Management Company is included in the sharing of the design models, Construction Estimators can pull preliminary model data early in the design process to provide material quantities to enable faster cost estimates, and saving potential building budget disasters. The preliminary design models will still require a fair amount of estimation work, though this work is lessened with each successive model, and with such information, comes the opportunity to control the design management process and provide the client with much needed support.

To simplify the process, consider the design model as a place holder for our building information. This information must be exported from the model and transferred into software designed to format the information into readable output. A few of these examples are as simple as Excel spreadsheets and Access databases, and as advanced as Sage’s Timberline in association with Innovaya’s Visual Estimation or with Innovaya’s Quantification alone.

BIM- Future

BIM- in the face of unpredictable construction dynamics, the effort to bring order to chaos is paramount. We have attempted for years to bring our 2D documents together with our custom spreadsheets and databases, but the information never really stacked up. BIM is the solution to an age old dilemma, how do we minimize effort and maximize product at the same time, and now we can add to that, how do we maintain control of the project with so many additional chefs are in the kitchen? By blending very smart virtual graphics software with information-packed smart objects, we create a very large database of design and product information, providing us with a very flexible design and management solution. We use technology to work for us, lessening our work load, and automatically coordinating our tedious tasks to enable us to do what we do best- design and manage our projects. We continue to add more and more technology to simplify our industry processes. But in the end, we have more consolidation within all industries and more changes to get used to. The Building Industry becomes a major conglomerates housing all the disciplines under a few roofs with the ability to do exactly what BIM can do now, provide everything an owner with a construction project is looking for, a Master Builder, a company tasked with the effort to build his building without the seemingly disorganized effort that falls upon his building projects today. It seems inevitable. The stronger our computers become, the stronger our software becomes, and with stronger software, comes greater opportunity for savings of man-hours due to coordinated graphics, collision detection, scheduling, management, etc. Some existing industry specific jobs will be lost as BIM envelopes their work, for instance, though BIM is in its infancy, the creation of shop drawing will no longer be necessary as architects and engineer’s BIM models become so accurate as to make shop drawings unnecessary. Or, cost estimating will no longer be a major part of a project as the BIM models will have quantified the building components and the data is a simple extraction to common construction management software solutions. This will be due in large part, because building component manufacturers will finally get on board by providing real-time support for all building designers by the creation of smart BIM models of their companies product lines. This will go a long way in the creation of accurate BIM models, when actual product and specification enter building models via real world information. Imagine, not construction documents as we know them today, but digital construction models with full 3D and 4D functionality including GPS coordination, will begin driving actual survey, management, design and engineering, permit, and construction processes. The entire design and construction process is simplified. As we look at our lives, no one can say that our responsibilities haven’t grown out of control and more difficult with each passing year. Well, the owner/client is also looking to simplify his work. As we look ahead at how BIM will simplify our efforts and create opportunities for our organizations to compete within the global market, our owner/clients are looking for the same benefits. These benefits will come to us as BIM proliferates within our industries. One digital model will bring simplicity and order. What will be gone is all the chaos. There is only one real question left. Who owns the BIM model? I believe, that is a question our courts aren’t prepared to answer, and is more than likely going to be handled by project contract. Don’t take this lightly, but one thing is for certain. He, who owns the model, owns the world.

Next week, Part 3 will include BIM Training, Resources, and Support.

Written by: Scott Ebert, BIM Industry Analyst

© Copyright 2008 Soft Innovations, Inc.

Beyond Conventional Construction- BIM Software Part 1

         Many of us have been practicing our craft for a long time. Some longer than others, but never-the-less we all continue to grow, refining our own abilities by testing new ideas and the methods for delivering those ideas to our peers and clients. Many of us have seen transitions in the tools we use, like when we switched from drawing our work by hand to using CAD. The change for most of us was difficult at best. Most of us had never worked with a computer before and the experience ushered in new systems of organization and production methods that often were made up as we went along. Instead of drawing on vellum or mylar, we began drawing in a digital world and using pretty much the same methods we did by hand. Beyond the necessity for all of us the learn to type and the ability of the software to allow us to copy, move, rotate, mirror or delete areas within a building and often to copy, rotate, mirror or delete the sheet or file itself, did we really see the difference between drawing by hand versus by CAD? CAD offers us little in coordination of our digitally drawn lines or sheets. For the most part, our CAD work has been accomplished in a 2D environment unable to offer much in the way of product or project coordination, and information sharing in vertical markets. Many of us have speculated our design efforts might eventually fall into a 3D environment, but we have to get past that whole 3D-2D issue to allow our imaginations to fly. The world is not flat! Considering this, many of us have spent our careers hoping for a solid design and management tool, and like a light at the end of the tunnel, we are just beginning to see the benefits of this new burgeoning tool.

BIM

          We have a new paradigm called BIM, which stands for Building Information Modeling. Consider this, when we think of CAD, we think of lines assembled together to look like a building, though lacking design or product information. When we think of BIM, we think of objects, rich with product information assembled to make up an actual building model you can see from any vantage point graphically or information scheduling. When building an actual wall or a BIM wall using studs and sheets of gypsum board, we have used real world objects with actual sizes, materials and shape. They both look the same as you view them in person or in a virtual environment, but the BIM wall is easy to change. In fact, it is a lot faster to change the construction or shape of a virtual wall in a BIM software than it is in a 2D CAD software since the BIM software’s wall is modeled in 3D and represents length, height, material and shape, while the 2D CAD software’s wall is simply a pair of lines with no vertical representation or system information attached to them. For instance, after creating a BIM wall in plan, we can switch to a 3D view, a plan, an elevation, or a section and visually see that wall and its related system information like the stud type, surface material, area, perimeter, and vertical information about the wall from these views, not to forget, we can also find this and more wall information within the BIM software’s schedules. If we change the length, height or make up of the wall, the information adjusts automatically as the change takes place. This scheduling can include all the materials used to finish the wall, right down to the wall trims. Generally speaking, most BIM software is able to schedule information like object material and finishes, sizes, construction assembly codes, keynotes, manufacturer, model numbers, website url’s, type costs, as well as custom parameters we can create ourselves. What is important about this information is it is available within all objects and all this information is live, meaning as a new wall type is added to a plan, the wall is added automatically to the wall schedule. The information does not have to be coordinated manually between the plan’s walls, tags and the wall schedule on differing sheets as the BIM software has already coordinated it. If the wall type is changed in the plans, again the schedules are automatically updated without prompting or any additional effort on your part. Wouldn’t it be nice to create an area plan that adjusts the smart area boundary lines within a wall based on how the space on either side of a wall is used? It is comforting when our software allows us to visually see a design that in a 2D environment would not be possible. The strengths and limitations of what can be coordinated exist on a per software basis, though BIM software offers few limitations in object coordination.

BIM- Collaboration

          BIM software, allows us to create a virtual model of our building, adding the ability to review the design as we work and benefit by visually catching design mistakes common to us when using 2D CAD software. Often, the BIM software itself prevents us from making simple mistakes, as it is aware of the associated relationships between various types of objects and systems within the model and comments on our work as we create design conditions the software considers unworkable. The ultimate power of BIM lies in its ability to pass all the information within the design model through to other industry disciplines. At first, this seems as simple as coordination of Construction Management, Architectural Design, Structural, MEP, and Interior Design team members. In fact, at this point, one would have to ask, has anything really changed in our organization to coordinate a project. But, as we pass our model to all of our team members, we are providing them with all the virtual information we have and not just a plan or elevation of particular areas within our design. This virtual model enables everyone to coordinate visually and through software controls, all possible conflicts between our design, structural and MEP systems. For instance, as we renovate the interior space of an aging building, everyone involved can either visually, or through associated documentation called Metadata, verify as-built information like head room considerations and structural elements when adding a new ceiling under an existing floor assembly. We don’t have to guess or assume that any one condition in the building allows for clearance for new systems. We actually see the clearances and in a variety of views as we require to understand the condition, not simply what a software wishes to show us. That is true coordination. As we are developing our BIM models, we can pass our models on to other Horizontal industries like, Marketing, Facilities Management, and Lease Management. All the design information you and others have entered can be scheduled within the BIM software or exported to spreadsheets and databases for further building clarification as required by additional design firms, developers, contractors, and specification writers. Our models live on and all the information collected by each discipline is available to our clients for further processing. This Collaboration is another key benefit in the use of BIM within the AEC/O industry. The concept of collaboration is a simple one of sharing information or resources. In short, as the building model begins development by the architectural design team, the architectural model is passed back and forth with the engineering teams to create their discipline specific building models and enable coordination. It is at this early design stage that design and construction managers can prevent serious preliminary project blunders like designing over budget or building beyond construction schedules. Construction managers can evaluate early design models to confirm construction types and methods. In addition to providing faster cost estimates and real project design information, comes the opportunity to control the design management process and provide the client with much needed project coordination and support.

We do have a long standing glitch in our industry that will have to be ironed out. Trade arguments in the AEC/O industry similar to the AGC (Associated General Contractors) and AIA (American Institute of Architects) over responsibility ownership during construction projects and the AGC’s member’s unanimous vote against A201 endorsement for the General Terms and Conditions Document. Information technologies and specifically BIM (building information modeling) are driving AEC/O changes in risks, roles, rights, and responsibilities across the whole building project delivery system, including building lifecycles. And it is the roles, risks, rights, and responsibilities that are at the heart of any contract and contract-related document. We have even see a new united front named ConsensusDOCS spring up to provide an owners, contractors, subcontractors, designers, and associated vendors agreed upon standard contract that is fair to all parties, though architects and engineers have not officially weighed in on these new contracts. We will continue to see arguments like these as long as the industry remains divided, but contract coordination is vital to our industry’s long term success. It is to our advantage that the vary topic of BIM provides us with an easy coordination of all project information and contracts are just the tip of the iceberg.

In Part II, we will discuss BIM Coordination and BIM Future.

Written by: Scott Ebert, BIM Industry Analyst, Janurary 22, 2008

© Copyright 2008 Soft Innovations, Inc.