Posts Tagged Adoption

We Now Have The Time and Inclination To Do Things Right : BIM Adoption Reaches 71% In North America

Boom_1“We now have the time and inclination to do things right,” this phrase was uttered by a client of ours, a construction manager, after the 2008 economic implosion of the real estate sector.  The time portion was meant ‘unfortunately’ as few of us were as busy as we wanted, but what he was referring to was his firms move to Revit/BIM.  It just did not make sense from a coordination or phasing point of view to work in CAD anymore because he saw the savings and potential advantages for his firm to move to Revit.

Now according the latest Smart Market Report from McGraw Hill BIM Adoption in North America has reached 71%; that’s up roughly 300% from 2007 when it was 28%.  Give or take a few percentage points.

“I think there’s going to be a huge shakeout.  Those who practice the old way are soon going to find themselves without work.  Either change, get with this program or go out of business.” -Patrick MacLeamy, CEO HOK

Strong words, and I can’t say that the legacy tail of 2D is not a long one but the benefits of BIM are real, and if the reasoning for a firm not to make the move is simply, well we’ve always done it this way.  It may be time to initiate a new planning regimen.  Also in this report is information provided by JC Cannistraro, a MEP Constractor in Watertown, MA wqhich saw change orders drop from 18.42% when working with 2D CAD, to 2.68% with collaborative BIM, that’s as a percentage of total cost, and very real money.

Share

, , ,

No Comments

Adopting New Technologies and Business Practices : When’s a good time?

Is there ever a good time to adopt a new technology or business practice? No. Yes. Today. First, ask yourself these questions, “Will it make me or our organization more profitable? Will it lead to new business opportunities?” One broad way to measure profitability is ROI in the investment. How much will it cost to introduce a new technology or business practice, what costs are involved, how quick is the pay back. Are there metrics in place to measure this? One can argue during downtime or between large projects is the best time to invest so they can be incorporated from the beginning of the next project. Cost center issues get caught up with the CFO or whatever other gate keeper that is out there because they cannot be assigned or passed on to a client. Why is this an argument? It might not be said out right, but this type of accounting is just easier and no one ever gets in trouble going with the flow. You were not the one who approved such expenditures so it can be pinned on you. Be an evangelist. Things need to get done. If there is a better way to do it. Do it. You know eventually your competition is going to and will either be A) more profitable B) more efficient or both and start making money at a lower cost than you are. You’re an artist, and it’s always worked this way. Okay, maybe, but that doesn’t scale. The organization is you. And maybe that’s okay but I don’t know how you hire and keep talented people. People like to solve problems and they want the tools to solve them. You have to build a house. Tough to argue for the hammer over the nail gun.

One business proverb always comes to mind when dwelling on this issue.

“If you don’t like new technology you’ll like obsolescence even less.”

Next Time: “It’s all Organization Behavior”

Share

, , , ,

No Comments

BIM to Grow at 17%+ Per Year Through 2020

Recently released report from Pike Research suggests that the BIM market for software and services to grow from $1.8 Billion to $6.5 Billion, or a compounded annual growth rate of 17%+.  2D CAD Market as reported by TechNavio is to grow at 7% annually through 2015.  So if I were racing… I’d chose the car that’s more than twice as fast.

Share

, , , ,

No Comments

BIM “Unstoppable” says UK’s Chief Construction Advisor

As reported on the CIMCIG  (Certified Institute of Marketing – Construction Industry Group) blog, yes I’ve been to the site.  The Government Chief Construction Advisor Paul Morrell  described  BIM adoption as “unstoppable” .  This took place at the Chartered Institute of Marketing Construction Industry Group Chairman’s debate.  No one at the meeting disagreed with him but rather focused on the practicalities of its implementation.

The choice of software system is one risk.  Mike Sheehan of WSP pointed out that there is still much work to be done developing BIM compliant software that is genuinely fit for purpose and no-one wants to be the organisation supporting the Betamax of the BIM world.

Interesting point there when couched in that language, which technologies will be the VCR and which ones will be the Betamax?  Remember the old saying “you never get fired for choosing IBM”  This is part of the FUD (Fear Uncertainity and Doubt) Marketing principle  which might prevent the buyer from considering anything else than the market leader.  So makes it very important to be the market leader, but I’m getting off point.  Point being that the BIM tide is rolling.

Ultimately, the decision to embrace BIM will be leap of faith for each organisation.   In answer to a question about proving the business case for implementation, Paul Morrell reflected:  “Can I be bothered to do the business case?  I remember when we voted on whether we wanted to move to email.  The investment required to so at the time was about £4m and the immediate cost saving was to our post bill – about £100k.  But we knew it was the future: unstoppable.”

I think most people understand that we have just scratched the surface with BIM but it is becoming to compelling to ignore or to argue for doing things the same way anymore.

Share

, , ,

No Comments

UK Hits Pause Button on BIM Roll Out

As reported by Barry Sullivan on building.co.uk

Efforts to roll out Building Information Modelling across all public projects have hit an obstacle after a key government report on the effectiveness of the software has been met with a three-month delay. An independent report into the effectiveness of BIM on a number of pilot projects was submitted to the Construction Clients’ Group in March and the government was expected to produce its response that same month. However, sources close to the government said that it was put on hold because of local government elections in May. Paul Morrell, the chief construction advisor, subsequently confirmed to Building that the government response would be released in June.

In other BIM news Trimble joined the BuildingSmart alliance in a push to set standards so developers, manufacturers, etc. can leverage a common BIM thread.

 

Share

, ,

No Comments

In the BIM Room : “Your Chocolate is in my Peanut Butter”

So not a lot new here in discussing the use of BIM in the ‘Freedom Tower’ , or Tower 2, or WTC 2.  I have mixed emotions using WTC, as I imagine many do when mentioning the World Trade Center but having grown up in Jersey, commuting on the PATH to come out of its bowels and having so many friends working down there, well, mostly, it’ still good to say ‘WTC’ anyway while not much new about using BIM in the project except for the fact that this latest was reported by Fox News of all outlets.  So for most of us who troll for information about BIM and its uses in esoteric trade magazines, websites, and blogs the fact that Fox News picks up this BIM thread?  That part to me is news.

Quick excerpt from article below.  Full Jump Here

Serge Demerjian is a Development Manager for Silverstein Properties, the company building Tower 2.

“This is where the trades come together and work all the mechanical, plumbing, fire protection, electrical systems to make sure that they all fit within the space of the building that’s been designed,” he said.

Before the BIM process, a building has been designed and put on paper. BIM then creates a precise computer animated 3D model of how every part in the building will fit together. The goal? Make sure it will.

The chocolate and peanut butter reference was used by Serge in the article, while it’s “two tastes the taste great together”  having them in harmony, now that’s beauty of it, then again, maybe chocolate and peanut butter always taste great together, even if they’re just a mess on the plate that your 2 year old put together, so strike that metaphor with BIM, how about engineered tastiness, all right still working on it.  But mainstream media and BIM, now there’s two tastes that taste great together, wondering if BIM is right for you?  It is.

Share

, , ,

No Comments

BIM and Small Biz Survey Through Texas A&M

No new news here just spreading the word.

*******Original Post from the NIBS (National Institute of Building Sciences) Below *******

The Texas A&M University College of Architecture is seeking industry input. The college is surveying the industry to find out how the transition to building information modeling (BIM) is impacting small architectural firms. The survey is a key part of the data collection and is completely anonymous. The investigation has three central goals: to identify the current state of BIM adoption in architectural firms, to analyze the small firm BIM adoption process, and to develop a strategic model for small firm BIM adoption. Take the survey.

Share

, ,

No Comments

BIM Euro Bust? : Adoption Rates for BIM in Europe lagging US

So while one can point out the data rich building modeling was born in Europe through Archicad’s debut in 1987, the term BIM was coined in the US and popularized by Autodesk, and now BIM adoption is lagging on the continent.  This, at first blush, seems improbable.  Graphisoft born in Hungary, Tekla born in Finland, Solibri born in Finland.   Herring must help analytics.  However consider this from McGraw Hills Smart Market BIM Report on Europe.

  • Just over a third (36%) of the Western European industry participants reported having adopted BIM, compared to the 49% adoption rate in North America in 2009
  • Over a third of Western European BIM users (34%) have over 5 years of experience using BIM versus only 18% in North America
  • Three-quarters of Western European BIM users (74%) report a positive perceived return on their overall investment in BIM, versus 63% of BIM users in North America
  • Contrary to North America , where BIM adoption has surged among contractors to 50%, BIM has only been embraced by 24% of of Western European Contractors.

Those using it in Europe appear to be doing it better.  This most likely is short lived as the nitrous was put in the US BIM engine back when the GSA required it on projects and states started following suit as did Universities,  etc.   This would explain the more experience in Europe as well as the reported ROI figures.

BIM in the US is currently madness.  It went from an after thought on the shelf to;

‘Give me a cup of coffee and I’ll take a BIM with that.”

” What do you need it for?”

” I don’t know just everybody is telling me I need one.”

Anyone in the business will tell you they have experience with clients that had no idea about Revit or Archicad, etc.  but will include it as part of the scope on a project.  These hiccups are expected so there is still a lot of education to go on within the industry.  BIM is a big tent and it has many flavors so people are using it successfully in a variety of ways.  It was surprising to me that GCs in Europe lagged their US counterparts in adoption, which shows that either integration is not happening as one would hope with BIM and IPD (Integrated Project Delivery) or a smaller number of contractors are getting the business in Europe.

While we might thank the US Government for mandating BIM, or for that matter whatever lobbyist and well funded junket put the BIM bug in the US ear, BIM acceleration is happening, so is the ROI and the knowledge on how to use it.

Share

, , , ,

No Comments

A Better Blueprint in Maine : #bim

Reported in Maine Biz by Robert Cook, and brought to my attention by John Stebbins (@johnstebbins), this article shows the full black bear hug Maine contractors are putting on BIM.

Denis St. Pierre knew sooner or later E.S. Boulos Co. would need to add Building Information Modeling technology to its skill set if it, the largest electrical contractor in northern New England, wanted to remain competitive on large-scale projects.

The nudge came sooner, says St. Pierre, the company’s director of estimating and project management, when in June the Westbrook contractor won a bid linked to the $75 million terminal expansion at Portland International Jetport. The project’s lead contractor, Turner Construction of Boston, requires all companies involved in the jetport project to use BIM, a 3-D hardware and software tool that allows multiple contractors to see the location and status of all project components.

John O’Dea, CEO of the Associated General Contractors of Maine in Augusta, says BIM technology is not new, but it is just starting to find its way into some of the state’s smaller and mid-sized construction firms, usually as the need presents itself.

“It’s heavily dependent on the market and the size of the project,” he says.

Many small construction firms still rely on AutoCAD drawings and more traditional planning tools for smaller-scale projects, says O’Dea, but they would be wise to adopt the BIM technology — the 21st century version of a blueprint — because demand is increasing.

“The genie’s never going back into the bottle,” says O’Dea, whose organization represents 250 members.

Recently we’re seeing reports from Maine to Malaysia on BIM adoptionfire up the bandwagon.

Share

, ,

No Comments

BIM Malaysia is on Board : BIM Adoption increasing

Like the GSA, the State of Wisconsin, the State of Texas, now the country of Malaysia is on the board according to to  this recent article in the Malay Mail.

Public Works Department (PWD) director-general Datuk Seri Dr Judin Abdul Karim said the department, in supporting the government’s desire to maximise the value of investment throughout the development plans, would utilise and enforced various ICT solutions in its strategies. This includes to spearhead the adoption and usage at all levels of Building Information Modeling (BIM) software and applications in building design.

The theme of this brief article seemed to be get on board or get left behind.  “Geez Jim would you get off this BIM bandwagon,” I hear some of you saying, although I doubt you’re reading this if you are not right behind me playing the tuba, “you’re worse than the ice cream truck at little league games.”  However I call them like a I see them, and I do understand the legacy tail of 2D and traditional CAD is long and will be with us for a very long time, not only that, I believe there will be a large market for hybrid technologies and also ones making CAD better but no one ever argued the development of the jet engine and its almost complete adoption in the aviation industry, except for maybe those companies just making propellers.

Share

, ,

No Comments