BIM and who is responsible for the cost of the results of BIM

I sat in a meeting with an Owner Representative and the Construction Manager (our Client) going over a change request. The project delivery method was acquired and executed as a Plan and Spec. The RFP had a BIM requirement, a scaled down version, but BIM none the less.

?My change request was for the results of BIM. The Owners representative stated looking at the CM and myself, "We paid for BIM". We delivered a fully developed BIM model. I pointed out that the change was the results of the BIM model, BIM doesn't mean I cover all the missing scope or added scope for lack of coordination for free, and we had executed BIM.

Some owners, clients, and construction managers assume that BIM means that the subcontractors will cover all added cost generated from BIM. I am not real sure where the breakdown in communication came in. When you prepare any estimate including plan and spec, every piece/part of material is taken off, this in turn generates all the labor, materials, OH, BIM, margins the cost of the job. In another delivery method, such as Design Build, Design Assist, we might take on a more subjective roll in our price model, qualifying the estimate. As an example we might say 8” pipe, however the EOR could come back and say 10” pipe, we might have another area we said 10” pipe and the EOR says 6 “pipe, in this type of project delivery, constant estimate updates are critical, it’s the check and balance.

You can view the link of how I develop a qualified schematic design budget. This is the pipe and plumbing for a project, very fragmented and unknown, I create this from the fragmented data, and this is my interpretation. All of these systems are on layers, which we can put into estimating programs, along with assemblies and create fairly accurate budgets..?Rutgers Innovation Hub

In the plan and spec world we are at the mercy of the A/E teams for accurate information, we receive plan view drawings, we are not confirming it’ll work or it’ll fit as designed. It really can be summed up that the A/E teams by way of a subcontractor executing BIM is saying finish the design on our behalf. There is a distinct difference in scopes of work between BIM and resulting cost of the output of BIM. We (mechanical contractors) have always created shop drawings so we can fabricate off machinery in our fabrication shops. BIM was taken a few steps further in a full project coordination model.

I spent a lot of years really drilling to the bottom of actual cost, from putting data loggers on welding machines, putting systems in place that allow Operations / Project Managers to find out why they aren’t meeting daily goals. If your estimating metrics are aligned with your productivity and material cost, then it’s as simple as running your shop drawings back through the estimating program to create an actual construction budget and update your financials. I think this is an eye-opening experience for many people.

Contractors lose money on projects or have margin erosion due to their own lack of tracking metrics both in materials and labor, maybe it’s not the original estimate, field personnel, operations group or the client’s inability to run the job. It could be that you started out at a deficit and designed your own losses in the BIM model. Lots of culprits why jobs go bad, this is a good place to start looking.