BIM Strategy- Why Everything, or Nothing Ever, Changes!

BIM is the life-cycle modeling and management of the built environment supported by digital technology.  Forget the 3D visualization distraction for a moment and let’s focus on the important component of the BIM acronym; the “I” for information.

INTRODUCTION

As we all know from a quote commonly attributed to Peter Drucker… and I paraphrase ‘You can’t manage what you don’t measure’.   Most, if not all failures to implement BIM and/or facility life-cycle management are likely traceable to the fundamental failure to gather the requisite accurate and transparent information required  in order to make informed decisions.  (Note: I use the terms “facility” or “facilities” to include any built structure.)
First, a few clarifications and items to help frame this discussion:

1.  BIM definition: “BIM is the life-cycle modeling and management of the built environment supported by digital technology.”
2. While BIM can be applied to any situation, the focus of this discussion is upon – multi-facility portfolios, with extensive capital reinvestment, renovation, repair, maintenance, and sustainability requirements/projects.
3. We are all faced with a significantly altered economic and environmental landscape: more to do, limited capital/cost cuts, more accountability and transparency, and the need to reduce our “carbon footprint”.
4. Success in today’s world requires moving from a reactionary and needs-satisfaction mode to longer term strategies with associated options.  This is  a major shift in thinking for many, but especially for our business or “for-profit sectors”.
5. Robust, proven processes with associated accurate transparent, and actionable information in support of fact-based decision-marking  are drivers for success.
6. Creation of a business-based capital reinvestment  and asset management framework and decision-making capability are central requirements.
7. Accurate, timely information is required for sound decision-making.
8. Decisions regarding reinvestment into the built should be made in concert with the attainment and support of an organization’s mission.
9. Technology is a tool to enable lower cost implementation of strategies and processes.  Technology’s role is to assure consistent, cost-efficient application of embedded business process, enabling faster deployment, automation of routine or complex mathematical processes, and associated decision-making and reporting capabilities.

BIM’s SLOW START

Okay, so know let’s look a bit more about  why BIM is not fully understood, nor being rapidly accepted across the Architecture, Engineering, Construction, Owner, Operations/Facility Management sector(s).

1. Many, if not most organizations lack robust, consistent, and transparent planning policies and overall life-cycle management processes.
2. Existing processes and construction delivery methods are largely antagonistic  and outdated, with divergent goals for involved parties.
3. Stove-piped mandates with many players, and unused or misunderstood information.
4. Lack of clear direction and leadership focus, process management, and desired, quantitative outcomes.
5. Lack of appropriate tools to assist the life-cycle management process, inclusive of appropriate data validation and standardization.
6. The appropriate use of consultants, especially in the areas of “change management”.
7. Lack of understanding and adopting of newer and more efficient construction delivery methods (Integrated Project Delivery – IPD, Job Order Contracting – JOC), contracts, and supporting technology tools.

All aspects of BIM/faclity life-cycle managment, it’s organization, purpose, policies, assumptions, mandates, methods and scope must be discussed, agreed upon, and re-evaluated on a continuous, cyclical basis.  It’s important that process ownership resides with everyone in the organization with appropriate expertise applied and shared from multiple knowledge-domains.   Furthermore, that direct involvement and support of decision-makers and appropriate involvement of consultants and/or outsourcing is available.

BIM/life-cycle facility management requires fundamental changes in business practices.  Unfortuantely, change management is a tremendous chasm to bridge, and achieving any significant success using internal resource only is unlikely.  Just a few of the areas associated with implementing a BIM strategy are shown below.

BIM Process Framework

Anticipated outcomes must be linked to ALL decisions in terms of anticipated financial, functional and/or conditional improvements.

TECHNOLOGY
Proprietary (e.g., Excel) and COTS tools for are used for various aspects of facility life-cycle management – strategic planning, capital planning and management/financial modeling, construction delivery, maintenance management, spaces planning/untilization, building automation/security, project management, etc.  Relatively limited effort, focus, associated or investment is typically applied in consideration of integrating and rationalizing these various systems in terms of the validation and standardization of information across multiple knowledge domains.    The piecemeal/ad-hoc approach is a symptom of process and cultural issues with an organization and/or lack of attention to change management.   For example, a common  “excuse” relative to this issue of integrating disparate technologies and processes is that the involved technology is” incompatible”.    In today’s world, virtually any technology using current technology can communicate with another.  The real issues reside in the people and process that create the information.  The inherent “fear of change” and traditional lack of collaboration among various professional discipline are the fundamental issues to be address.   A good example is the continued use of proprietary spreadsheets for cost estimating and other somewhat complex domains.  The use of spreadsheets is well beyond their technologies ability.  Spreadsheets are single user and non-collaborative, have no concept of hierarchy, nor full audit capability.  In short, spreadsheets are inefficient and costly to maintain at best, and are costly relative to information reuse or updating.  Spreadsheet use cost estimating and cost control for facility portfolios is unfortunately both pervasive and untenable.

Similarly CAD-centric visualization tools, such as Revit and AutoCad [from Autodesk], SketchUp (graphical design), Archicad, Bentley, etc. are excellent data visualization tools however, should not be confused as a turnkey BIM life-cycle management solutions.   Relational database centric systems offer enhances data management, however, do not afford the flexibility of spreadsheets.  Newer cloud-based technologies and associated offer higher degrees of collaboration, transparency, and flexibility.

Sample Technology Timeline

THE IMPORTANCE OF CHANGE MANAGEMENT

Any attempt at life-cycle facility management – BIM will have little or no value unless based upon a collaborative evaluation of current and planned operations, conditions, and priorities.   The objective of BIM is to cost-effectivey meet infrastructure requirements in support of an organizations mission, and to mitigate any preventative and unplanned disruptions to operations and/or compromises the financial position of the organization.  This includes an asset management decision support capability the bases capital reinvestment upon financial and functional returns.  All projects compete for organizational resources and objective criteria must be established to enable maximum utilization of these finite resources.  Informed, goal focused decision support capability is a definitive source of opportunity for efficiency/productivity gains.

Cost awareness across the organization is an important starting point. Everyone in an organization must realize that capital reinvestment decisions are inter-related and impact long term operational expenses.
While uncertainty will certainly be present to some extent, virtually any facility life-cycle project or task can be modeled for decision-makers, and modeled over several timelines… 5 yr, 10yr, 50yr. etc.  The mindset that performance and process improvement is ongoing vs. static must be adopted.  This accounts for associate organizational “growth” or “shrinkage”, trends, regulatory impacts, etc.  The overall goal is to maximize any ability to adapt, renew, renovate, recycle, reuse, and/or grow/shrink physical resources.

WHO IS INVOLVED?

“Everyone impacted by decisions made” is the short answer, including but not limited to  Owners, Architects, Planners, Contractors, Sub-Contractors, Business Product Manufacturers, Technology Providers, Consultants, Building Users, Oversight Groups.   From an Owner perspective, involved parties would include; Senior Management/HQ, Local Management, Planners, Capital Planners, Finance, Procurement, Project Managers, Building Users,

ANTICIPATED OUTCOMES

So, assuming one proceeds down the BIM life-cycle facility path, what are the reasonable expectations?  First, it’s important to understand that a phased approach is likely the best approach.   Think of BIM as a large pie, one that you are going to put together a piece at a time.   That said, you need the to be aware of the list of ingredients and how and when to put the ingredients together.

Secondly, BIM / life-cycle facility management is verb, a process, not a one time thing… like a project.  It’s primary gold is to improve upon the efficiency of impacts of the built environment, helping decision-makers compare and better select among available capital reinvestment alternatives.  All decisions should consider space, equipments, physical and functional conditions, current construction cost estimates and operational cost estimates over defined periods of time.  An ROI, Return-on-Investment business analysis is mandatory for all projects, inclusive of due consideration of any associated potential risks to the organization’s mission.  So called , “lean practices” are an important objective, as are simple to use decision support and monitoring tools such as “dashboards” and associated key performance indicators (KPIs).
Ongoing facility portfolio reassessment based on a routine and consistently conducted functional and physcial facility assessments associated with appropriate standardized and well vetted reference cost databases, cost models, and other tools such as GIS and BAS.

Efficient facility construction, renovation, repair, and sustainability process management methods such as IPD [integrated project delivery] and JOC [Job Order Contracting], which involve all stakeholders collaboratively from project concept and design, through construction and warranty periods are core components of BIM/facility-life cycle management.

Collaborative, Efficient Project Delivery Methods

Thus in summary, anyone involved in BIM, particularly owners would do well to establish clear leadership and organizational ownership of the associated business processes at all levels in the organization ( local, regional, and HQ) as well as defined inter-relationships and expectations of all collaborative partners (Architects, Engineers, Contractors, Consultants, Technology Providers, etc.).  Organizations also must
clearly articulate all associated business processes and workflows, and mandate their use, as well as the fact that all decisions must be outcome-based.  Full training and support must be available as all levels, including access to all requisite tools, software, information, etc.

Successful BIM Strategy = Focus upon Change Management, or Why is BIM failing?

Source of Quotations: Dawn Naney, Clay Goser and Marcelo Azambuja – “Accelerating the Adoption of Lean Thinking in the Construction Industry” on the topic of adopting lean management theory within the construction industry.

For BIM to succeed will require a fundamental changes in how the AEC industry (architecture, engineering, construction) industry does business.   Integrated Project Delivery – IPD, Job Order Contracting, and similar LEAN construction methods will need be become mainstream.   In the interim, BIM will be relegated to 3d visualization and an organic growth output of 2D CAD, vs. the process of efficiently managing the built environment supported by digital technology.

The entire design and construction industry needs to rethink Lean in terms of overhauling entire project delivery models. Once it is accepted that the change is not a singular independent piece of a larger system, but an entire system of systems, teams can realign expectations not just around potential benefits, but the level of comfort (or discomfort) that will be required to transform an industry for the purpose of real strategic advantage.

By examining Gartner’s five phases of adoption, one can identify interesting similarities to the construction industry’s acceptance of lean practices, organizational process change, and the ability to inform strategies to increase the speed of adoption. Our findings suggest that organizations can decrease time spent in the “Trough of Disillusionment” and accelerate the successful adoption of new process strategies such as Lean Thinking and Integrated Project Delivery and new technologies such as Building Information Modeling and collaborative tools through focused alignment and engagement.

The key to the successful adoption of an innovative change is to ensure that the amount of time spent between entering the Trough of Disillusionment and the climb up the Slope of Enlightenment remains as short as possible. By reducing this period, industry moves faster in acceptance of perceived benefits and best practices are codified quickly. The Trough of Disillusionment also explains why technologies often fail. They never make it out of this stage and the technology is abandoned or replaced (Fenn and Raskino 2008).

Many conclusions can be drawn from Lean Construction’s (BIM’s) adoption lifecycle. The first is that Lean Construction is a discontinuous innovation that requires a fundamental change to the way one conducts business. While Lean philosophy is not new to business and reduction of waste (non-value added activity) is firmly rooted in sixty years of development as illustrated in the Toyota Production System, it is relatively new to design and construction. The implementation of practices such as the Last Planner System, Set Based Design, Integrated Project Delivery, and Building Information Modeling, require a change in business practice.

Finally, we have not created the “perfect storm” to accelerate adoption by selling Lean as a philosophy not a tool. The Early Majority is still looking for the clear definition (for examples, see Alves et al. 2010) and/or the checklist (“do this and you are Lean”). After 20 years of distributing the message, why haven’t (construction industry) people flocked to proven methodologies that have transformed manufacturing and other industries?

If industry is to adopt Lean Thinking in construction, it needs to create a desire for stakeholders to participate differently to mitigate this risk. It needs to create a project delivery model that is rooted in the Lean principles and not just in the adoption of Lean tools.

Lean Construction (BIM) while an important innovation with great potential and benefit as an idea, alone is not enough to tip the scales towards socialized adoption. We need to understand the barriers to that adoption in order to develop strategies to remove them. Understanding that the Design and Construction industry is huge and accepting that as an industry it is relatively conservative when it comes to change adoption and has grown to the present organizational models over a long period, one draws several parallels from other industries and areas of study.

Key influencers must champion new ideas and have a message that is simple and compelling. In addition, there must be a contextual environment that promotes the change. When an environment deems a change as “optional” with no consequences, group dynamic will allow others to bear the responsibility for the change to the point where nobody will be responsible for the change.

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Why BIM is failing.

3D visualization is not BIM.  BIM is the process of efficient life-cycle management supported by digital technology.  Until appropriate process and technologies are deployed BIM will not become mainstream and the architecture, engineering, construction, and building operations/facility management sectors will continue their trend of low productivity and waste.

The fact that construction delivery methods, associated procurement and contractual methods, and the existing culture of the “construction industry” are the sources of many if not most of its problems has been well know for quite some time.    More specifically, it is the endemic lack of collaboration, communication, and long term relationships built upon performance and trust are the fundamental cracks in the foundation of the AECO (architecture, engineering, construction., operations) sector.  Over twenty years ago, innovative construction delivery methods such as JOB ORDER CONTRACTING (JOC), a form of INTEGRATED PROJECT DELIVERY (IPD) came into being and have been practiced successfully for decades.  However, both JOC and IPD have failed to become mainstream.  JOC only now beginning to accelerate in its use due to the availability of easy-to-use technology to enable rapid and consistent deployment.  BIM requires a more robust linkage (as is the case with JOC) between construction delivery and life-cycle management process and technology, to achieve a similar gain in momentum.

Various reports, white papers, have been written on the subject (see below), all of which describe the AECOO sector as  ‘ineffective’, ‘adversarial’, ‘fragmented’, ‘incapable of delivering for its customers’ and ‘lacking respect for its employees’.  All call upon collaboration and partnering by all built-environment stakeholders as a requirement for efficient management practices.

Transparency, openness, co-operation, trust, honesty, commitment and mutual understanding among team members where all common terms in these prior reports, and are fundamental to JOB ORDER CONTRACTING.  As specifically noted in the Latham Report,

“Partnering includes the concepts of teamwork between supplier and client, and of total continuous improvement. It requires openness between the parties, ready acceptance of new ideas, trust and perceived mutual benefit…. We are confident that partnering can bring significant benefits by improving quality and timeliness of completion whilst reducing costs.” (para 6.45, p. 62)^[2]

“Partnering arrangements are also beneficial between firms…. Such arrangements should have the principal objective of improving performance and reducing costs for clients. They should not become ‘cosy’. The construction process exists to satisfy the client. Good relationships based on mutual trust benefit clients.” (para 6.46, p. 62)

Job Order Contracting is a form of IPD targeting renovation, repair, sustainability and minor new construction.  Details of this efficient project delivery method and supporting digital technologies can be found in the references below.  

46453858-Asset-Lifecyle-Model[1]

1. Ward, Don and Crane, Alan (2003) “The story so far” in Jones, David, Savage, David and Westgate Rona, Partnering and Collaborative Working (Informa Professional, London), pp. 1-26.
2. Latham, M. (1994), Constructing the Team, London: HMSO.
3. Bennett, J. and Jayes, S. (1995) Trusting the Team, Reading: Centre for Strategic Studies in Construction, The University of Reading, with the partnering task force of the Reading Construction Forum.
4. Construction Strategy, Cabinet Office –
   http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/resource-library/government-construction-strategy
   (accessed 30 January 2012)
5. JOC White Paper –
6. A Primer for Job Order Contracting

BIM Strategy for the Built Environment

Goals

1. Link built environment to organizational mission and efficiently manage all physical and functional aspects.

2. Move from being 80% Reactive 20% Preventative to 80% Preventative 20% Reactive (or less)… and reduce overall cost and environmental impact.

Key Considerations for a Successful BIM Strategy

1. Organizational Resources
2. Economic Fit
3. Cultural Fit – Collaboration, Communication, and Transparency are REQUIRED, Involve all Shareholders (Owners (senior management, FM, capital planning, procurement, building users…), AE’s, Contractors, BPMs (business product manufacturers),  Oversight Groups, Community …)
4. Phasing – Impossible to Implement BIM all a once
5. Identify and Rank Problems and Opportunities – Inventory, Physical and Functional Conditions, Deficiencies and Costs and Associated Impacts vs. Time
6. Generate and Assess Alternatives – Corrections
7. Develop Implementation Plan
8. Implement Projects – Integrated Project Delivery (Job Order Contracting – JOC – renovation, repair, sustainability, minor new construction, IPD – new construction)
9. Ongoing Management and Reassessment – Continuous Improvement / LEAN
10. Always remember – “You can’t manage what you don’t measure”.

BIM Definition(s):

‘Building Information Modelling (BIM) is digital representation of physical and functional characteristics of a facility creating a shared knowledge resource for information about it forming a reliable basis for decisions during its life cycle, from earliest conception to demolition.”

“BIM provides a common environment for all information defining a building, facility or asset, together with its common parts and activities.This includes building shape, design and construction time, costs, physical performance, logistics and more. More importantly, the information relates to the intended objects (components) and processes, rather than relating to the appearance and presentation of documents and drawings.More traditional 2D or 3D drawings may well be outputs of BIM, however, instead of generating in the conventional way ie. as individual drawings, could all be produced directly from the model as a “view” of the required information.” – RICS

“Building information modeling (BIM) is a process involving the generation and management of digital representations of physical and functional characteristics of a facility. The resulting building information models become shared knowledge resources to support decision-making about a facility from earliest conceptual stages, through design and construction, through its operational life and eventual demolition.” – Wikipedia 12/25/2011

“The future of BIM modeling is to expand the information model to include more of the life cycle phases (ie: real property commerce, maintenance and operations, environmental simulation, etc.), to standardize life cycle process definitions and associated exchanges of information, and to standardize information content so that meanings and granularity are clear and consistent.” – NIBS, 6/25/2012

“Building Information Modeling (BIM) is the process of generating and managing building data during its life cycle^[1]. Typically it uses three-dimensional, real-time, dynamic building modeling software to increase productivity in building design and construction.^[2] The process produces the Building Information Model (also abbreviated BIM), which encompasses building geometry, spatial relationships, geographic information, and quantities and properties of building components.” – Free Dictionary, 6/25/2011

“Building Information Modelling (BIM) is the process of generating and managing data about the building, during its life cycle. Typically BIM uses three-dimensional, real-time, dynamic building modelling software to increase productivity in the design and construction stages. ” – NBS, 6/25/2012

“A Building Information Model (BIM) is a digital representation of physical and functional characteristics of a facility. As such it serves as ashared knowledge resource for information about a facility forming a reliable basis for decisions during its life-cycle from inception onward. A basic premise of BIM is collaboration by different stakeholders at different phases of the life cycle of a facility to insert, extract, update or modify information in the BIM process to support and reflect the roles of that stakeholder. The BIM is a shared digital representation founded on open standards for interoperability.” – NIBS, buildingSMART, NIBS, 2006

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BIM Just Isn’t Happenning

Read the below.  Several arguments can be made as to why BIM is not gaining any real traction -
- Lack of confidence that BIM as an ongoing  program will succeed.
- Costs are considered too high
- Too technical
- Anticipated loss of control
- Limited understanding of all BIM-related knowledge domains and associted technologies
- No preceived personal benefit
– Human resource problems

For BIM take hold… “big BIM” that is ( efficient facility life-cycle management supported by digital technology), will require a virtual CULTURAL REVOLUTION across the Architecture, Engineering, Owners, Operations (AECOO) sector (s).   Collaboration, transparency, productivity, accuracy, and associated robust business process will become common place.  The catalyst for this chagne is already upon us, and the below article provides some excellent insight on the topic.

Want to build a business? You need an IT ecosystem. (Source GIGAOM.COM)

By Mark Thiele

Just thirty years ago, innovation in almost any category was measured in years, but today it’s measured in weeks or months. If you were to focus on information technology specifically you could even argue that change can occur in days — and that cycle will continue to accelerate.

But adapting and innovating in IT requires that you have a platform strategy that allows for heterogeneous adoption of technology at each layer of infrastructure. You also need simplified, cost-effective, real-time access to a wide range of partners and solution providers, otherwise known as your technology ecosystem. This group of providers will be a veritable marketplace of vendors that are proprietary and open source, but whom together create a combination of technologies and services that allow the buyer to mix and match for any solution requirement.

The technology ecosystem has always been important. Even in the days when a minority of companies had a single mainframe, you still needed parts, skills, power, data centers, tools, and ideas, etc. But that ecosystem was smaller and moved more slowly. The technology ecosystems of the 60s through the 90s tended to change over months or years, and our systems from then were more likely to be from a small handful of vendors. This simplified provider environment reduced dependence on an ecosystem of otherwise unrelated partners and vendors, but guaranteed your dependence on the one.

That was then, this is now.

The difference today, and going forward, is that technology is rapidly moving to a much more agile adoption, development, operating and use model. Buyers today can identify and use cloud-based infrastructure or obtain a few licenses of a Software-as-a-Service delivered application in a matter of hours. Aside from cloud-based services, there are virtual platforms, appliances, internally developed applications and myriad customer devices that all need to interact, but can change almost overnight.

Some would argue that the sheer complexity of the ecosystem today screams for CIOs to try to create homogenous infrastructure environments. However, the very fact that we’re making IT solutions more portable and readily adaptable means that we must plan for the ability to support multi-vendor solutions at any layer of the technical infrastructure, from the CPU, through to platform as a service.

The rapid delivery of new solutions means that companies will no longer wait patiently for “their” provider to catch up to major innovation leaps. The only way to stay in front of your competition is to grease the technical infrastructure skids with strong management platforms and clear adoption, ownership, and orchestration strategies.

Many software, cloud, and hardware providers in today’s market would argue that they offer a strong ecosystem of partners, but I think the future ecosystem will be as open as possible and also offer the customer access to a wide variety of cloud, network and other services within the confines of a single data center.

Think of your IT ecosystem as the local shops near your downtown flat, easy to access and well understood. However, if you’re downtown ecosystem was like the technology ecosystem you would have five coffee shops, three butchers, six shoe stores and so on from which to select goods and services. .

The open ecosystem

An open ecosystem allows for you to select the technology or service provider you like when the opportunity presents itself. It’s an environment where the customer has broad access to vendors and services related to any portion of the infrastructure stack, including wide area networking services and the data center capacity.

Under the old way of building IT, managers built it once, built it to last, and then got fired when it didn’t last. The new IT calls for managers to build it fast, possibly fail fast, and then build it again.

An open ecosystem means that in most cases you shouldn’t be spending years putting in a new technology architecture or solution. If it’s that complex or limited in its ability to adapt new technology you should be using a partner’s infrastructure such as an IaaS or PaaS provider solution.

There are also many options for building private cloud infrastructure, especially for larger businesses, but the focus should be on making it as open as possible. If you can’t taste test an application or new platform environment in a matter of days or weeks, you’re doing something wrong. Openness also helps if you need to move your work, because you want to have as many destinations to choose from as you can.

Many providers under one roof.

But even among open ecosystems there are important differences to be aware of. Ideally you will find an open ecosystem with a large number of different network, cloud, software and hardware providers under one umbrella. This allows the customer to make decisions around adoption of new technology quickly and efficiently. So instead of providing access to one or two bandwidth providers, the ideal ecosystem provides access to big and small players, and can play them against each other to get the best price and services for customers. In reality bringing together the combined customer and supplier community creates greater opportunities for both sides, in effect, a win-win.

It shouldn’t stop with bandwidth, either. An ecosystem should have not only the option of different hardware, and support services, but also different cloud service providers. If a customer wants to get cloud computing from a vendor, the ecosystem provider should invite that provider in. And if someone wants to build their own cloud, the ecosystem provider and data center provider should have an array of choices available for a customer to choose from.

The ideal delivery platform for this ecosystem is a data center provider who can create an environment that supports the needs of enterprise computing, while also lowering the costs and barriers to entry for ecosystem partners. This is an environment that removes all your risks associated with disaster avoidance, regulatory concerns, capacity and security. That location should have access to national freeways and airports as well as local government support that will help facilitate worker relocation and education, while also providing considerations for your hardware taxation risks.

It’s tough to find one place where all the above are available to the customer, but they are out there. Having these resources readily available is like having a Home Depot and a Lowes move in next to your house the day before you start a big home project. No matter what tool or resource you need, it’s all right there, immediately available, with competition, quantity and variety.

In this environment building a business that requires IT – or rethinking your existing IT doesn’t seem so daunting: With all these resources available, you virtually eliminate the risk of being forced into a “pragmatic” (read: bad but necessary) decision. You are free to experiment once, twice, three times, and then put it into production, without most of the historical baggage like “high network costs”, “no skilled staff” or a data center that is “out of capacity,” which have traditionally driven IT decisions.

So the increasing complexity and speed at which IT is moving doesn’t have to be something to worry about, instead look at it as an opportunity to roll with the technological changes without becoming too invested in a closed ecosystem.

Mark Thiele is executive VP of Data Center Tech at Switch, the operator of the SuperNAP data center in Las Vegas. Thiele blogs at SwitchScribe and at Data Center Pulse, where is also president and founder. .He can be found on Twitter at @mthiele10.

Image courtesy of Flickr user john-norris.

 

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BIM Construction Cost Estimating – Top Ten List

First and foremost BIM is the life-cycle management of the built environment supported by digital technology.  While the industry is currently fixated upon 3D visualization tools, aka Revit, Archicad, Bentely… they only represent components of a BIM solution.

Construction cost estimating, and facility life-cycle cost estimating are critical components of any facility design, project delivery, repair, renovation, sustainability, or planning function.

Here’s a list of BIM Construction Cost Estimating Requirements:

1.  Collaboration – involvement of all stakeholders – Owners, AE’s, Contractors, Oversight Groups, Community …

2. Transparency – Appropriate access to cost information, and associated comparison to published independent third-party costs such as RSMeans Cost Data.

3. Consistent Format and Terminology – Use of a standard set of terms and data architectures such as Uniformat, Masterformat, Omniclass.

4. Metrics and Benchmarks – Time, Accuracy, Cost

5. Proper allowances for local conditions – geographic, weather, productivity of labor, …

6. Appropriate level of technology to assure productivity, collaboration, security, audit trail.

7. Robust Process – The application of a robust process and business “best-practices” with a focus upon continuous improvement.

8. Appropriate knowledge of all “levels” of construction cost estimating and their potential accuracy – Square Foot / Conceptual / Building Level Construction Cost Estimating, Assembly / System Level Construction Cost Estimating, Unit Line Item Construction Cost Estimating.

9. Knowledge of the impact of the Construction Cost Delivery Method upon construction costs and life-cycle costs – Design-Bid-Build, CM@Risk, Design-Build, Job Order Contracting, Integrated Project Delivery

10. Fundamental understanding of Total Cost of Ownership and Facility Life-cycle Management – Physical and functional conditions, Operations, Sustainability, Renovation, Repair, Efficient Project Delivery Methods ( IPD-Integrated Project Delivey, JOC – Job Order Contracting )

3D BIM – An Unfortunate Distraction?

The value of BIM lies in the support of efficient life-cycle facility management processes supported by common terms and digital technology. The 3D visualization aspect of BIM is little more than an unfortunate distraction.

When will BIM become mainstream?  How do you truly prepare for BIM?  How do we educate people for BIM?  The most important requirement for  BIM to succeed is fundamental change in how we view life-cycle facility management and also altered business practices within the Architecture, Engineering, Construction, and Operations sector.

The 3D visualization aspect of BIM,  while a valuable component, is little more that a distraction.  Worse yet
“Visual GIGO” (garbage in/garbage out), a term I picked up in a recent BIM conversation, is delaying our ability to better address sustainability and economic issues.  BIM requires a change in the basic foundation of how Owners, AEs, Contractors, Subs, Oversight Groups, Building Product Manufactures, Community, etc. interact relative to construction project delivery. Integrated Project Delivery – IPD and Job Order Contracting – JOC are important to BIM as are other knowledge domains and/or practice areas.

The key to BIM is lies in process and people.  Until the focus of BIM is upon integrating people upfront in all relevant aspects of building life-cycle management and clearly defining terms, roles, responsibilities, within a collaborative, transparent process… BIM will continue to fail.  Cloud computing will play a central role in driving change, whether you are a participant or standing on the sidelines (see this link for how technology/media impacts culture )

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RSMeans Strategic Business Partner – Exclusively enhanced 400,000 line item cost data base.

The Marginalization of BIM

1. All stakeholders – Owners, Contractors, A/E’s, Facility Users, Oversight Groups, ant the Community benefit from IPD (integrated project delivery) and “IPD-lite” which is JOC (Job Order Contracting).  The latter is a form of IPD for renovation, repair, sustainability, and minor new construction.

2. Existing and emerging technology and business processes such a BIM and cloud computing will enable and drive higher collaboration and productivity within the Architecture, Engineering, Contraction, Owner, and Operations sector.

3. Culture change is the current barrier to change, not technology or proven processes or lack of efficient delivery methods.  Collaboration, despite noteworthy examples to the contrary, is largely foreign to our industry.  Design-bid-build and low bid practices have created adversarial relationships in many/most cases.  Even “newer” processes such as design-build are lacking vs. IPD and JOC.

4. Contracts should reflect, support and embed the goals of the associated project delivery method, however, the project delivery method set the tone and determines the success/failure of most projects in concert with the professionalism of the team.

5.  The altered global economic and environment landscape, combined with collaborative cloud computing (the “Facebook for Life-cycle BIM”) will drive continued growth of IPD and JOC.

6.  LEAN and continuous improvement are indeed philosophies.  IPD, JOC, and BIM are methodologies, embedded within supporting technology to affect LEAN within the AECOO sector.  BIM, without LEAN, IPD, and JOC is indeed marginalized.

 

The BIM Framework - BIMF

Beyond Green – High Performance Buildings, BIM, and Life-cycle Facility Management

Let’s face it, LEED is a great marketing tool, but NOT the solution.  “Kudos” to LEED for building awareness  and  addressing the need to focus upon sustainability of the built environment!

That said,  high performance buildings should not cost significantly more that “typical construction”.  The paperwork and methods involved in LEED add superfluous costs and will not necessarily yield optimal results.   I have entered far too many LEED certified  buildings with massive glass multi-story areas and other clearly “non-sustainable” items.  There should be little to no cost premium for a sustainable building.   Even now, studies show that a 2% premium is all that is required.   I would further argue that no premium is really need should basic standards be a requirement and market efficiencies take hold.  Also, over the life-cycle of a building, a sustainable, high-performance building will win on ROI every time as only 10%-20% of life-cycle cost go into construction, vs. operations, maintenance, etc.

Efficient ongoing life-cycle management of facilities is the key to sustainability.   It is probable that many, if not most LEED buildings constructed are no longer meeting their design goals.  Why?  They are simply not being monitored maintained on a proactive life-cycle basis.  Why not?   The culture of our industry and awareness of the true meaning of BIM need dramatic if/not disruptive change and  improvement.

BIM is the life-cycle management of the built environment supported by technology… not pretty 3D pictures that don’t link to value knowledge domains.   Further, collaboration is the key to BIM, and collaboration is dictated by AEC delivery methods.  Traditional delivery methods such as design-bid-build (DBB) and even attempts at improving it such as design-build (DB) and construction manager at risk (CMAR) are flawed as they inevitably pit some of the key parties involved against one another.

Integrated project delivery (IPD) and job order contracting (JOC), the latter “IPD-lite” specifically for renovation, repair, sustainability, and minor construction projects, are critical to BIM and to altering the inefficient and adversarial processes that dominant our industry today.

BIMF - A Framework for BIM

Collaboration, Transparency, Accuracy, Process, and supporting Technology – The Keys to Improved Productivity for Building Construction, Renovation, Repair, and Sustainability

Interoperability is a common “buzzword” used whenever you here a discussion about improving productivity with the AECOO (Architecture, Engineering, Construction, Owners, Operations) industry sector.  Unfortunately, it is a term associated with primarily with technology, and its usage implies that interoperability from a technology perspective is a major, if not THE major stumbling block to construction sector productivity improvement.  This “assumption” would be blatantly false.  Drastic culture and process are the requirements for mitigating waste within the AECOO sector.

The primary issue that dictates the tone and efficiency of any facility construction, renovation, repair, or sustainability project is process related… and is “the construction project delivery method”.  Assuming capable parties in each “knowledge domain” the delivery method must provide for, support, and monitor collaboration, transparency, and accuracy.   Common taxonomies, cost data bases, etc. play a role, as does supporting technology that embeds and distributes consistent processes.   While its true that cloud computing is an enabler, with its role to support the cost effective integration of various knowledge domains and technology silos; the underlies processes linked to a collaborative project delivery method focused upon life-cycle management is the critical aspect.

Integrated project delivery (IPD) and job order contracting (JOC) – the latter also referred to as IPD-lite as it target renovation, repair, and sustainability vs. new construction – are current examples of proven efficient construction approaches that dramatically alter the “status quo”.

Common taxonomy plays a key role and is also generally overlooked.   For example, cost estimators, even today, primarily rely upon spreadsheets and customized cost databases vs. integrating powerful software packages and standardized cost databases (ie RSMeans).   “Doing it my way” and exclusively using spreadsheets prohibits efficient information reuse, is prone to data and formula errors, and create largely unsupportable databases.   How can multiple cost estimators share information on a project, or communicate with Owners, Contractors, AE’s, Subs, etc… if they aren’t speaking the same language?  They can’t… and they don’t.  And this is just one example of many…across multiple knowledge domains whether it be capital planning and management, maintenance and repair management, building automation systems, procurement, bidding, project delivery, …..

(Figure Source – White Paper on IDDS “Integrated Design and Delivery Solutions”, CIB Publication 328.)

The AECOO sector can’t even begin a discussion about achieving higher levels of interoperability, exchanging BIM models and data, etc., until it shifts its focus exclusively to culture and process change.  We don’t even have a common understanding of BIM, let alone sharing BIM models.  Even today, many view BIM as 3D visualization, vs. life-cycle building management supported by technology!  We need to recognize that design-bid-build (DBB) and even design-build (DB) and the associated “accepted” practices of change orders and lawsuits are contrary to the basic tenants of productivity, collaboration, transparency, and accuracy.

Certainly it is true that our industry is fragmented and relatively slow at adoption of new technology, however, this is due to our culture, and our lack of efficient processes.

via http://www.4Clicks.com – premier software for cost estimating and efficient project delivery – JOC, SABER, IPD, SATOC, MATOC, MACC, POCA, BOA, IDIQ