Imagine the future of construction...
You get a BIM model in your morning
email from a GC wanting a price. You look over the model, export the
material schedules in a spread sheet, and email them to a couple of
suppliers for quotes. You get the quotes back, pick the one you want,
and import the revised spreadsheet back into the model. Your BIM
software updates the material types with the suppliers prices,
applies your proprietary filters to add labor costs, overhead, and
profits, then outputs a total bid price. You email your bid to the
GC.
You've spent less than thirty minutes
of your time processing the bid. Most of that time was spent emailing
and pouring a cup of coffee. Of course you've done your homework and
have all the settings and filters for your BIM software in a file
ready to apply. You use them on every job, and at the end you adjust
them, but we'll get to that in a moment. If you don't get the job,
there is little lost time involved, but you nailed it so we move on.
You take a little time now. You go
through the model in more detail and familiarize yourself with the
whole project. If you see any problems, you immediately send off an
RFI to the GC for clarification. Any cost impacts are documented and
the model is updated as needed. The GC schedules the first of many
coordination meetings and you get to work. Coordination can be a long
or short process depending on the scope and complexity of the
project. And the players involved.
Coordination is at times like a
negotiation. Each contractor works to assure their space in the
building. The mechanical contractor needs his duct work in the same
space the electrical contractor needs his main rack of conduit, which
is right where the plumber needs to run his main overhead trunk line.
It's give and take, but much more efficient now than with crews
standing around in the field scratching their heads. You document
everything, keep sending RFI's and cost adjustments, and keep
updating the model. It starts coming together and the GC is ready to
build.
Depending on your company structure and
size the package might be handed off to a project manager after the
estimator's bid, then to a coordinator, and now to a construction
manager, but for simplicity we'll assume you're a one person show and
you're taking it to the end. You assemble your team and brief them on
the project scope.
The coordinated model is in the cloud,
so all your people have access to it on their hand-held devices. You
discuss logistics, schedules, and how you plan to proceed. Your team,
the people who will actually do the physical work of building the
project, offer their ideas and point out problems, or better
solutions, the coordination team missed. You note it all for the next
coordination meeting. You take your lead foreman with you to the
first on site job meeting.
On site everyone is wearing their
safety gear and their glasses. It's an open field, but through your
glasses you can see the building model in full scale. You notice the
weed covered rock outcropping right where the commercial kitchen, and
a lot of your underground piping, will be. The GC raises the model
exposing the below grade footers and pipe. It confirms your
assessment and the mass of pipe in that location.
The GC orders a geological survey and
has the results in the model for the next coordination meeting. They
plan to do some blasting and undercut the problem areas before
construction begins. You archive the geo-model for future use in case
your team runs into problems when they start digging. You also remind
the GC of the rock clause in your contract.
Construction begins and your team
starts excavations. Your equipment operators have the geo-model and
the building model plugged into their devices to guide them. Your
pipe crews can see the underground piping in the model through their
glasses and they place the real pipe exactly as it appears in the
model. Work proceeds quickly and efficiently. Material is delivered
to the site as needed, the BIM is updated as the installation
proceeds, so you always know exactly where you stand in the schedule.
The building grows and other trades are
on site working. Your crews and their crews can see each others work
represented in the model through their glasses. Your foreman
continues to coordinate with the schedule so everything is installed
at the proper time—a section of pipe is left out so the mechanical
contractor can hang a piece of duct, then fitted in later. Everything
proceeds smoothly, and everyone can see exactly where their work is
heading.
You attend weekly meetings online from
your office and your on site foremen take you on virtual tours
allowing you to see through their glasses. If any problems arise your
workers can call and you are there instantly, seeing the problem from
various viewpoints through their glasses and discussing it with your
crew over speaker phone. You are managing a dozen jobs at once easier
than you could one job ten years ago, and everything is being
recorded and documented for analysis later—making the next project
even more efficient.
Your foreman has updated the model in
real time with any changes during construction, as have other trades,
so at the end of the project the model represents the building
as-built. You sit down and go over all of the data and find places
you can improve your settings and filters for your BIM software on
the front end and make your initial bid even tighter on the next
project. You look for ways your people can be more efficient, and how
you can support them better going forward. On each project you find
less to change because your business is becoming more and more
efficient and profitable with every project.
Now this isn't over the rainbow. Every
piece of technology mentioned in this article is available today.
Contractors are adding tech project-by-project. The early adopters
have an edge and will keep their edge as the technology is used more
and more. Everyone is talking BIM now and those who started with the
software five years ago have an advantage. Contractors who refuse to
adapt, or who use the technology only reluctantly, are falling
behind. Those who refuse to use it are losing work.
Stay with me and I'll help you keep on
the cutting edge of what's possible. Click the link and subscribe to
the blog for updates or drop me an email and get inside info before
it hits the blog. The future of technology in the building industry
is exciting for managers and tradesmen. Don't be left behind.
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