I just finished reading a great article about estimating with BIM (Building Information Modeling). The link to the article is below.
http://www.aecbytes.com/buildingthefuture/2009/ModelBasedEstimating.html
I did however, have a problem with one of the statements made in the article. Consider the following:
“In addition to the cultural shift and “buy-in” challenge, there is also the question of who will pay for the transition from one software to another. Should it be the owner of the project interested in adopting model-based estimating or should it be the design-assist subcontractor, who will benefit from the set up repeatedly on other projects?”
Did you notice that the question did not include architects and engineers as possibilities to pay these costs? It struck a sour note with me, as designers are pushing more and more costs down to the subcontractor, mostly in the form of incomplete and poor quality documents.
This may be a moot point, since I do not believe that hard bid electrical contracts will ever see a BIM model in my lifetime. The question was accurately stated when it referred to “design-assist” subcontractors. Design-assist is the only area that I am aware of using BIM modeling at all, and then, only on the largest of projects.
If you are using BIM for anything, please make a comment. I would like to know if it is a benefit to your operation.