In This Chapter

Looking at cost

Considering how much detail you actually need

Understanding who really benefits

A lot of misconceptions and hype exist around the subject of BIM, with people often overinflating their understanding and knowledge. In this chapter, we cut through the BIM hogwash and dispel ten or so common myths.

Isn’t BIM Just Trendy CAD?

BIM is a process that’s enabled by technology. You can’t buy it in a box, it’s not a software solution, and it’s something that you can’t do in isolation. Although 3D CAD provides huge benefits over traditional 2D CAD, to fully consider the real benefits of BIM you should coordinate the 3D model with information from other areas, such as the master specification.

The information model is actually a combination of several things and not just 3D geometry. Information models such as the project information model (PIM) and asset information model (AIM) (refer to Chapter 8) contain graphical information such as geometry; however, these models also contain nongraphical data such as performance properties as well as links to associated documentation such as specifications. The shift from CAD to BIM fundamentally meant creating models rather than drawings and working in a collaborative way.

Is BIM Just for Big Companies, Skyscrapers, and Government Projects?

BIM isn’t just the preserve of the big. Quite the contrary. Smaller organizations have perhaps the most to benefit from the efficiency gains that BIM brings, meaning that they can punch well above their weight or bat above their average. Small and large organizations both face the same financial costs, albeit on different scales. Unfortunately, many publications on BIM show a skyscraper on the front cover when BIM is equally applicable to small-scale projects.

Small doesn’t always mean simple. The size of the project has no bearing on the complexity of the build, and a large industrial building could be simpler to design and construct than a small retail unit in the city center. And so this brings us to the final part of this particular myth: BIM is only for government projects. Although governments such as those in the UK are mandating BIM more and more, private sector clients and contractors are realizing the benefits that it brings and are also mandating BIM on their projects.

Is BIM a Fad and a Recent Technology Development?

The concept of coordinated design to eliminate waste and increase cost savings certainly isn’t new. In the UK, costs savings have been based on research by the UK Building Research Establishment (BRE) in the ’70s and ’80s. Even the potential of automated code checking for clash detection began as far back as 1966, when SJ Fenves discussed tabular decision logic for structural design in the Journal of the Structural Division.

There has been some debate as to where the term Building Information Model actually came from. Some say that it was Charles Eastman at Georgia Tech who first coined the term, Autodesk’s Phil Bernstein who first used the term building information modeling, and Jerry Laiserin who then populated the term. The first implementation of BIM software is often attributed to the virtual building concept by Graphisoft’s ArchiCAD in 1987.

Isn’t BIM Expensive?

Yes, you may incur more upfront costs when implementing BIM compared to other traditional processes; however, that said the longer-term benefits and rewards counteract any loss. Although BIM isn’t technology, software, hardware, and IT infrastructure play important roles, as too does training associated with implementing new technology, which also comes at a price.

When thinking about selecting your digital tools of the trade, think of them as a work horse. The cost of BIM doesn’t have to be in dollars and cents. As we explore in Chapter 21, many software solutions and tools are available for free, as are sources of help, training, and support.

Does BIM Adoption Affect Productivity?

Adopting new ways of working is going to take a little time, which is no different to when construction professionals decided to put down the pen and pick up a mouse and embrace computers and CAD. BIM isn’t easy, but if you stick with it, you’ll become more productive in the long run.

When adopting BIM and new ways of working, make sure you give yourself enough time and take one step at a time. Trying to create a coordinated 3D model for the first time on a Friday afternoon when you need to get information to the contractor perhaps isn’t the ideal solution. Can you imagine swapping your computer for a typewriter? No, neither can we.

How Detailed Does the Geometry Need to Be?

Getting carried away modeling every nut and bolt is easy. Generally, the construction industry uses BIM to imply a product and not manufacture it, and excessive geometry just slows down the model. That’s not to say that it can’t support manufacture and fabrication, just be sure what level of information the client has asked for. You need just enough information so that the project team can specify and choose the construction products, and the level of that information increases during the project lifecycle. For example, at a concept stage you can show objects by way of a bounding box, which is essentially a 3D rectangle that represents the object as a stage when its shape and detail have yet to be determined. The box can also show any space or clearance requirements. Consider a chair. (Most CAD standards and manuals like to show a chair for some reason or another.) At an early stage the design team requires just its rough dimensions. As you progress to a design stage, the client may not know what type of chair he wants, so you don’t spend time modeling arms, wheels, and other procrastinating details.

The NBS Digital toolkit defines the level of detail required as a minimum for some 6,000 objects at different stages of a project lifecycle.

Do Clients Know What to Do with All the Data?

Often clients ask for their project to be in BIM without really knowing what it is or the benefits that it can bring. Initiatives such as soft landings (which we refer to in Chapter 9) make sure that the client and facilities management teams are brought in early in the process to fully understand their requirements. Soft landings also makes sure that the project team understands what data the client requires and how he’s going to use it.

Unfortunately, you don’t have the luxury of a crystal ball. However, a client with open-source, structured data can use this in other processes and software, or use the data at a later date if and when the client makes any alterations or modifications.

Do the Design and Construction Teams Only Benefit BIM?

The client can take advantages of BIM by exploiting the information in the model during the design phase to optimize the best possible asset. The cost of designing and constructing an asset pales into insignificance compared to the operational costs over the asset’s lifetime. So being able to see where operational costs lie through consistent, structured digital-asset data in order to make post-occupational decisions is a massive benefit. Of course not all clients are interested in the long-term costs of a building; perhaps developer clients are more concerned with letting or selling an asset after it’s built.

Measuring BIM benefits and costs consistently and apportioning who gets what benefit and why is difficult. The reality is that everyone in the supply chain benefits when using BIM in a collaborative way.

Do You Need to Push the Detailed Design Forward in the Program?

Today, clients aren’t only procuring a physical asset, but they’re also procuring information, typically in a digital format. The principles of design development haven’t fundamentally changed to harness many of the benefits of BIM. However, a far greater need exists for common, aligned geometric and information outputs. For example, without this coordination the project team and client simply can’t achieve quantification, energy analysis, and many of the other BIM uses. However, just because you can model a window and detail hinges and sills from day one doesn’t mean that you do; rather, the amount and level of detail increases as you progress through the project lifecycle in the same way it always has.