10 years and millions of dollars saved managing our projects with BIM during Pre-Construccion and Execution. For a decade we have modeled all sorts of projects based on the DWG files of the designer with the purpose of saving cost, eliminating risk and knowing whats going to happen before it happens.
However, our process has changed, since more and more designer are now developing their own models.
The learning curve for many designer has just started, this learning process has to do a lot with the management of the model, and that is why BIM is related to a “process”, because its not KNOWING what to design, its UNDERSTANDING what to model and how to model it, some examples:
One of the main risks in a project is to quantify the materials, and although this can be extracted by the model, there are some elements critical for the take offs that the designer does not model, not because they don’t KNOW how to model them, but because they done UNDERSTAND the benefit. Im talking about rebar concrete reinforcement.
Its really not difficult to model, it does however, take time and interpretation. The lack of understanding by the client and the designer is the principal reason behind this grave risk that often leads to millions of dollars in change orders. The client often thinks this can be done manually just like 100 years ago and be beneficial, and the designer thinks it does not add value to the design. Rebar represents about half of the total cost of concrete elements and it’s a make or break element that must be in all projects.
Another example is that all the models we have received are not related to the quantity take offs or schedule of values, this can lead to highs or lows and unidentified elements that will not be taken into a Cost Management Account.
Conclusion, not because you receive a perfect LOD400 model means that the model can provide value, this can actually have tons of rework since most models we receive are not useful for the purpose of avoiding risk. What we do right now is that we complete the model for the benefit of the project.
