BIM Busters: BIM is what the others have to do

I encounter this idea of BIM being something others have to do or that BIM does not impact me. In my experience, it's completely wrong and an excuse not to change and leave your comfort zone!?

The two most prominent examples are :

1. During the BIM Manager training with a mixed class. The planners say we could do BIM, but the construction companies can't use the data anyway. So why should we start? The construction guys tell us we are ready but don't get models. Interesting.
2. Engineers telling me the data quality is so bad that the models are not helpful. Why bother? Why should we even start looking at the models?

Of course when you expect that with the first model you receive all your problems are magically solved and you can automate your task from one day to the other, it's going from one extreme to the other. But there are some grey areas in between. That's why I collected some simple steps for the different trades to lower the entry barrier and start using models. Once you start, the next steps can follow.

Steps for the one-time private client

The one-time client doesn't need to know anything about BIM. When planers show them a model, they should ask how they could look at it. Or they install a free BIM Viewer like BIM-Vision or BIMcollabZOOM, ask for the model, and ask the planners to prepare views for the different topics - E.g. Top views of the different floors, the staircase, the floor material overview, and so on.?

Steps for the professional client

When preparing a tender, the professional client should ask how I can check all the requirements I communicate. Often these are 1000s of pages with a mix of actual requirements, norms, experiences of old projects, and just opinions. Often the documents exist so that in case of litigation, the client rep can say, I told you so. But does this help the project? Would it not be better to set the project up, so that there is no litigation? The best thing would be to go through these documents and develop a quality assurance workflow for every identified requirement - a Sisyphus job. The second best one is to ask yourself what are the most significant risks and what you could do to manage them. Choose these topics and start designing the quality assurance workflow with repeatability in mind. Once it is easy to do this manually, think about how to do it monthly in one project or scale it up to all the organization's projects.?E.g. A risk is, that I don't get the space I need and that some late design changes impact the usefulness of the building. I know of buildings where the toilet was forgotten, where the entry to an area was through other tenants, where you had to change the business case because the bathrooms got too small for the intended standard. So it happens and it happens surprisingly often, people just talk about it after a couple of beers. I simple step could be to automatically check the actual design against a list with minimal square meters for the rooms. To do that, you just need to ask for an IfcSpace with a room type name. Define the need and when design the quality assurance workflows.

Steps for planners with their own model

I assume the draftspeople already model. That's often the case. But the project manager often does not know how to interact with the model.?

So the first step would be to sit next to a drafts person to review specific topics (an excellent opportunity to develop people). The second step is asking them for an IFC export and some support to create predefined rulesets for review. E.g., the free version of BIMcollab is a great way to start. As a structural engineer, a ruleset could be to show all the load-bearing elements. What will happen is that project managers develop the skill to interact with models and that a modeling standard is reinforced. Just imagine you have to change these rules in every project repeatedly. It's much easier to set them up once and interact quickly with the models.?So three things happen:

1. The drafts/modelers have more time modeling and solving problems because they have to create fewer plans for review.
2. The project manager learns to interact with the model. That makes his/her work easier, shows respect for the modelers' work and they can better share their experience.
3. The project manager gets interested in data quality so that the work is more efficient.

Steps for the construction company?& consultancies that don't model

Ask for a model to understand the project better. Often it won't be perfect, but at least you can grasp the project and the specialties easier. A Swiss construction company did this and told me they usually get a model. Once you are comfortable interacting with the model, identify a use case and think about Workflow automatization and what the requirements on the input would have to be. But start with asking for a model.?When somebody does not want to share the model, explain to them what you want to do with it and tell them (politely) that you work in a team and it's not the best start to withhold information.

Steps for Facility managers

Ask to get a table with all the space numbers, space names, areas, floor materials, and a corresponding model and plan a few months before the handover. Use this to set up your FM platform or use this data to make the tender for the cleaning company.?

The general framework

I hope you do see the pattern.?

1. Start by identifying value for yourself
2. Ask for data so that you can work.?
3. Formalize and standardize so that you can become more efficient through scaleable company-wide workflows.

Do you know other low-hanging fruits?and good starting points?