Construction Contract Administration

by Yu-Ngok Lo, AIA, CDT, LEED AP, NCARB

Excerpt

The term Building Information Modeling (BIM) is nothing new to many architects and design professionals. The adoption of this design process has skyrocketed in the past decade. It is becoming the new industry standard, and soon will completely replace the traditional 2D (CAD) design process. One of BIM’s biggest advantages is that it allows the design team to identify and correct problems in the Schematic Design and Design Development phases, thus reducing the number of problems that may arise during construction. The design team is able to use BIM software to see a virtual model of a building, with all of the major building systems incorporated, on the computer screen prior to construction. While the concept of BIM is truly remarkable, the implementation of this relatively new technology by design professionals is far from perfect. It seems there is a disconnect between how BIM is used during design and during construction. Despite all the time and effort spent in the design phase (with BIM, the design phase is typically longer than with traditional 2D CAD) and the number of clashes found during construction don’t seem to be decreasing. Based on my experience, construction cost savings as a result of BIM are far less than what owners have been led to expect. This leads to the question: What went wrong?

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