We should decide how we want to implement the entire investment process, when an idea arises. At this point, we are facing a choice: old proven 2D / 3D solutions or a new, promising and recommended in the world, but also completely unknown BIM technology? Why right now ? Because from that moment our next steps (selection of the designer and contractor, method of project management, cooperation and responsibility scheme) will be dictated by this decision.
This decision does not seem to be difficult if we take into account the benefits for Investor caused by using BIM technology. At this point it is worth emphasizing that regardless of the nature of the investment, its size or sources of financing, the vision, design, technology of execution, cost, time, schedule of work changes are always associated with it. Building Information Modeling helps to coordinate cooperation between all participants in the process: Investor, Designer and Contractor. The main question is: what will I get? Answering this question let’s see the basic benefits:
- Access to the current model , where you can observe the progress of design works and manage the project process in an accessible way.
- The ability to quickly develop various project variants
- All changes to the design are applied to the 3D model and are automatically reflected in the BOQ reports and project documentation (project optimization).
- Better control over the project: coordination, collision detection.
- Risk mitigate
- Optimization of both costs and time of planned activities.
- High quality of the final product.
Going a step further, if we are not only an Investor, but also an Facility Manager, we can count on:
- A model containing information about the object, in accordance with the actual state (“as build”).
- Obtaining a full set of information about the facility (parameters and manufacturers, dates of service and maintenance, history of possible failures). So we focus on improving the efficiency of our technical forces, not on searching for information and documents.
How we can start.
We do not have to invest in expensive software or equipment. On that stage we have to put more attention to create the strong team and find reliable cooperants. For some scope of our work we can even use free tools. Control of costs, schedule or quantity requires the use of paid software, tailored exactly to our needs. At this stage, it is worth consulting your choice with trusted people who often have more experience in this area. Such help may allow us to save a large sum of money. Do not be afraid to ask