BIM FAQs

On September 9^th the AGC Houston BIM Task Force hosted the first in a new continuing series of casual BIM discussions known as the BIM Lounge.  The Lounge is a casual get together where members of the construction community gather to enjoy some food and beverages while discussing BIM issues.  In the last Lounge we had informal roaming chats while everyone enjoyed pizza and beer provided by the Lounge sponsors.

Among the most asked questions at the Lounge were:

• How can you generate a detailed estimate from a BIM model?
  • There are several ways to produce estimates from the BIM model.  Among the most common are third party integration tools that connect the model data directly to your estimating database and take-off tools within the modeling software
• Are there resources for companies who implement BIM to find each other?
  • There are several user groups for the various BIM software packages.  As well as trade groups such as AIA and AGC.  The BIM Lounge is one of the newest and easily accessible venues to meet other companies implementing BIM
• How do you justify ROI on BIM projects?
  • While there are several metrics to justify BIM each project and company will measure the ROI differently.  Some may measure via cost savings obtained from constructability surveys, others from time savings from coordination of the project via use of a model.  How you determine your ROI is up to you.  However, everyone agrees that implementing BIM in some form or fashion does result in a significant return on investment over time.

We hope you will join us at the next BIM Lounge on March 17, 2011.

 

By: Don Watson, Anslow Bryant Construction, Ltd.

 

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