Chapter 4: BIM for Owners and Facility Managers.

Chapter 4: BIM for Owners and Facility Managers.

After read chapter 4, I found out that BIM is not only important to designer, but also very important to owners as well. One most important reason is BIM can give owner more accurate and reliable cost estimates and also reduce the financial risk. When contractors bid a project, the owners could estimate reliable numbers with conceptual BIM. It gives the owners more knowledge about the building, and they can understand and control their budget.

BIM is not only design software; it can also help with estimate and quantity takeoff. By linking the design model with estimate processes, the project team can speed up the quantity takeoff and overall estimating process and get faster feedback on proposed design changes (Page 164). Owners can use this advantage to figure out the actual quantities and check with contractors and subcontractors. It helps the owners to select the best bid with best quality from the contractors.

But adopting BIM will not necessarily lead the project success, a good team and excellent management are also been the key factor for success.

By understand the BIM, owners can change deliverable requirements and modify contracts. Owners can choose specific requirements pertain to 3D format. But in order to meet the requirements between BIM application area and the scope of work in the building. These requirements, however, are often difficult to meet without some modification to the fee structure and relationship between project participants or without the use of incentive plans that define the workflow and digital hand-offs between disciplines (Page 183). So that‘s why 2-D project provide the ability to meet these requirement without some modifications and incentive plans. A lot owner is still using the traditional method to deliver their job. But in the future, as market grows and modifications apply, BIM will be the majority method to achieve its maximum advantage for owners.

Comments:

Yoon:

   I agree with you about many older generations refuse to adapt new technology. This is because they think traditional way is easier to finish a job, but they did not realize the advantage of using BIM could make them more effective. On the other hand, as long as more companies start to use it, the market will grow. Finally, BIM will be the traditional way for owners. 

Reference: BIM Handbook: A Guide to Building Information Modeling for Owners, Mangers, Designers, Engineers, and Contractors.