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President's Message — A Look at
the Future-BIM Transforms the Industry
AGC releases contractors' guide to
building information modeling
By AGC President Harry Mashburn
Imagine technology that allows contractors,
architects and owners to virtually build hospitals, hotels,
bridges, offices buildings and more-without breaking ground.
Building information modeling does just that through computer
software models that simulate the construction and operation
of a facility.
The construction industry is going through
what many predict will be a significant transformation. BIM
is not only helping the industry catch up with technology
but also putting the contractors who use it ahead of their
competition.
AGC contractor J.H. Findorff & Son
Inc., Madison, Wis., uses BIM on projects because it offers
more accuracy, efficiency and cost savings. On a seemingly
simple project to construct a parking ramp, project modeling
alerted the design team that footings were at different levels.
Identifying this problem before construction progressed allowed
Findorff to put the footings at the same elevation and save
material costs.
The Tocci Bulding Corp., Woburn, Mass.,
has already saved countless hours and dollars by using BIM
on several of its significant projects. In a current hotel
project, more than 20 collisions between structural members,
plumbing pipes and electrical elements were caught in the
preconstruction phase, allowing the designers to change plans
and resolve the issues before they became real-life structural
conflicts.
"A big advantage to using BIM is
our ability to visualize and coordinate, which gives our team
the chance to find problems before we build," says AGC
member John Tocci of Tocci Building Corp.
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The Contractors' Guide
to BIM is available
at www.agc.org. |
"There are always new challenges,"
says Findorff's Tom Sweeney, describing the transition from
2D to 3D technology. "I think BIM is going to be one
of these change engines that really propels adept, technology-savvy
companies to gain more market share."
2D technology requires the user to manually
extract measurements and drawings into estimating packages
while 3D/BIM modeling incorporates all types of information
about the project-estimating, plumbing and other trades into
one program, reducing human error. In addition to saving time
and money, BIM takes contractors' performance to the next
level.
"With BIM and rendering tools, we
can now show clients the finished product earlier in the process,
allowing them to make preselections, again decreasing time
and saving money," Tocci says.
There are already several myths in the
industry about BIM. Sweeney believes that a common misconception
is that BIM costs the client more. "I think it will eventually
cost the client less," he says. "BIM will help so
much with productivity. We should get away from thinking about
the costs and think about the benefits."
Tocci says there is only one chance to
get a project right. "The idea of failing early and often
doesn't work for us," he says. "If we fail, we want
to only fail virtually, on our models, and find out before
it's built how it doesn't work."
The benefits of virtually constructing
a building enable contractors to manufacture the project,
push it to the point of failure and fix problems early, saving
money on scenarios that otherwise wouldn't have been anticipated.
AGC's Building Division, in cooperation
with AGC committees and contractors, has developed the Contractors'
Guide to BIM. AGC wants to save its members time and money
by helping them identify what BIM means to their companies
and to the industry. The guide will educate contractors about
BIM-including its benefits, tools and applications-and help
contractors initiate the BIM process.
AGC's Contractors' Guide to BIM was prepared
in large part by contractors who spent time trying to sort
out where to start. Their lessons are based on their experiences
and were used in developing the guide. Although the process
is evolving rapidly, the guide can serve as the basic framework
for how to get started. The Building Division unveiled the
Contractors' Guide to BIM at AGC's Midyear Meeting in San
Francisco. To get a copy, log onto www.agc.org.
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