BIM is mainly computer program oriented information system that require users to have basic computer programming skill. Older generations in construction, engineering, and architecture business are slowly adopting this new computer eras to stay in business. Although young engineers are adopting new programs faster, many of them are not used to BIM programming. For them to get used to it, it take a time and money. This convenient computer program is not so convenient to learn.
Another major problem would be the computer errors. The error in model could be not seen to designer or rendering person. Because of complex detail drawings or working in smaller scale view for faster rendering, these problems could cause bigger problems during the construction. Especially, when many people get to work on the same file, it has better chance to make errors when they race against deadline.
Other possible disadvantage changing stage of amount of effort put in. BIM lets designer to put more effort in the conceptual design and detail designing rather than toward construction which is typical without BIM program. BIM has ability to update easily when the changes or adjustments are in the BIM's capacity. This could be dangerous when the change of the project gets bigger due to unexpected event or change. If the designer has to re-design the whole thing because of sudden event like bad economy, change of materials, updating for new building code, or unexpected natural disaster. Since BIM requires so much effort into detail designing, sudden change of concept could waste all the effort that was put in before. It's rare, but possible and critical.
Like Mike said, BIM could save so much money in this business. It also is efficient for everyone including Architecture/Engineering/Construction. Would that necessarily improve buildings? It definitely is a good investment, but it could rather waste more money without considerable investment strategies. Moore's law says, every 18 month, computers are getting twice as faster and as smaller. All these are possible because technology growth always has been everyone's interest. If any events occur to distract the growth of technology like wars, cyber attacks, or even new era of computers which requires totally different coding than current computer coding, it could slow down the process that current problem will not be solved for along time.
David's post also mention how ineffective BIM is to learn. Studies from Illinois State University showed that only few people were successfully manage to learn BIM and use them as it supposed to. Rest had very slow progress. It is important to educate people when they are young in college. That's why many companies looking for young engineers. Making all the employees to study new thing would be beneficial as long as they accept them. Because, many people already knows that this newest technology won't be new anymore in few years.
So, is BIM worth a time and money? This debate has been going on quiet a bit while majority of people decide to watch where it goes rather than taking the challenge. There are many studies and information out there to find out what's good and bad about BIM. It is up to the user to decide based on user or a company's characteristics and analysis. At the end of Tyler's blog, BIM could be much more efficient and easier once it's mastered. People should make their own decisions rather than following the trend or merely listening to professional comments.
Al-Mannai 2008 Challenges of Building Information Modeling In a
Mike Wright 2014 BIM will improve building
David Barbalace 2014 Week 4 - BIM makes the Engineer's Work Easier vs. It makes the Engineer's work Harder
Tylor Woyshner 2014 Week 4 Blog Post - BIM vs. Drafting (CAD)
I like your the way you talk about the disadvantages about BIM. You applied what you have learned from school to support your ideas. And I agree with you that the older generation are slowly adopting this software, but anyway, it's just about time. In the future, the trend is that people will use BIM just like they are using 2D drawings right now. Also I disagree about the re-design, my personal thought is BIM should take less time than traditional work even if the whole job will be re-design.
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