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Before a panel of experts at this month’s Design Expo and Conference told contractors how to implement BIM on jobsites, they confessed their crimes.
The three BIM professionals held up a slide deck, complete with their “photographs,” detailing the mistakes they’ve made in their careers, including adding VDC too late, taking shortcuts in the model, and rejecting of a BIM exemption.
It just goes to show that even experts can stumble when deploying and using technology in the creation process.
With this mea culpa as a preface, the experts on the panel gave attendees three key points to consider when applying BIM in the field.
Communication is the basis
It is important to the entire BIM effort to ensure that all parties, from the owner to the general contractor to the subordinates, are on the same page. This includes talking to stakeholders who may be hesitant to adopt the technology.
“We want to get to a point where we feel comfortable around these conversations, like we’re not taking on too much risk,” said panelist Meghan Higgins, VDC manager at Baltimore-based Whiting-Turner.
BIM affects everyone, and execution must be a complete team effort, said panelist Jennifer Macks, director of design and construction and vice president of Providence, Rhode Island-based Gilbane Building Co.
“It’s an important conversation for us, to see how we can approach this holistically,” Macks stressed.
Then there’s the viewing process, which is different for everyone and can therefore cause problems.
“There’s a big drift in the way we communicate,” said Brian Skripac, DBIA’s director of VDC.
The panelists emphasized that clear and consistent communication between each party is essential for success.
Define the objectives and uses of BIM
When using technology, panelists said it’s important to make sure that what a contractor or designer asks for is what is ultimately provided.
Panelists pointed to LOD, or level of development, plans that scale in detail as construction representations become more complex. Scales range from conceptual design at LOD 100 to construction at LOD 500.
When reviewing the model, stakeholders should take this scale into account and ensure that the model is not too detailed or lacks specific details.
To solve these problems, it’s important to define how the models and program will be used early in the process, Higgins said. Getting the perspective of all stakeholders is invaluable.
“We need to be able to use the model for 2D PDF deliverables. It needs to be a living document,” Higgins continued.
These goals may include who is doing specifications on different parts of the model. If there are light fixtures, is the architect responsible for creating this asset in the plan, or the electrical engineer?
As responsibilities are established, you create assets only once. Trust the models and work collaboratively, the panelists said.
Know what you don’t know
Understanding the risk involved in using BIM is also critical to the process, the panelists said.
Macks noted that conflicts often arise from different contractual arrangements. He emphasized that it was important to have someone in the room who understands the contracts involved in BIM work, which can include not only the use of models, but also the sharing of models.
For example, without guidance, a contractor may unwittingly agree to do something they don’t do or cause other problems in the future.
In addition, it’s also important to know what the building owner wants from BIM, Macks said. Do they have a detailed list of requests? Don’t they have anything written? If you need more information, ask for it and make sure it’s necessary. Owners may not have expectations, Macks said, but they may also have important expectations for BIM that they didn’t tell the builder upfront.
“We want to design and build amazing spaces, and we want our homeowners to be able to use and maintain them,” Macks said.
Every project risk is different, just as every project, subcontractor and piece of dirt is different, Macks said. The conversation should not be a project to-do list item to be ticked off and completed, but an ongoing and informed dialogue with all parties involved.
At the end of the day, there is value in integrating technology, Skripac said. BIM affects everyone and the sophistication is growing.
“Now we’re creating these amazing things in models,” Macks said.
