|
By Tyler Graf, Daily Journal of Commerce - Portland, OR
Despite the tough economic times, many contractors and engineers are pushing three-dimensional modeling software as a way of maintaining a competitive edge.
But with fewer construction projects available, and builders and designers generally reluctant to spend more money, will the use of software such as Building Information Modeling stagnate, or will it flourish?
Leonard Klein, an engineer at Glumac, said he hopes BIM’s progress doesn’t slow.
The 3-D modeling software lets engineers, contractors and architects view all aspects of a building digitally while seeing how all the parts interact. It has helped Glumac on numerous projects, Klein said.
“If used wisely, it could save you a lot of money,” he said. His company began using BIM a few years ago, and it continues to use it on most of its projects.
Hoffman Construction also was among the first to start using BIM. The company believes the technology will give it an advantage over its competition during the recession.
“Whatever the tool is that can make a project faster, easier, more efficient in the long run – those are good investments,” said Bart Eberwein of Hoffman Construction.
Not everyone agrees. There are some who have declined, for financial reasons, to join the BIM bandwagon.
Architect Carol Mayer-Reed said spending money on new technology has not been on her mind. What is? “It’s called ‘getting work,’ ” she said. Mayer-Reed said she’s spending more time and energy on marketing efforts than in the past.
The introduction of BIM also demands more downtime on the front end, said Ken Klein of BIM manufacturer IMAGINiT Technologies, due to the amount of extra training required.
“That’s one of the reasons more people traditionally haven’t done it, in addition to the cost,” Klein said.
He’s concerned that firms will choose not to adopt the use of BIM during the recession. That could hurt construction efficiency, he said.
The reason, he said, is a lack of interoperability within the built-environment community: “You have all these people working together … but they’re all working on a linear path, so these folks don’t talk to each other or work on a common platform,” he explained.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology estimates that the lack of interoperability costs the construction industry roughly $16 billion a year.
And last month, McGraw Hill Construction released a report on the comparative advantages of BIM use. According to the report, in the coming year 62 percent of BIM users will use it on more than 30 percent of their projects. Nearly half of all current adopters will advance to become heavy BIM users, using it on at least 60 percent of projects.
In 2008, contractors used BIM on about 35 percent of their projects, the report states.
There’s still uncertainty. Financial plans can change quickly during a recession, contractors said.
Eberwein, for one, said whether BIM is used during the recession will depend on the types of projects that contractors are building.
High-tech manufacturing facilities and medical and pharmaceutical buildings tend to benefit most from new modeling software because those buildings are never quite finished, Eberwein said.
Most hospitals that Hoffman works on are almost constantly under renovation, even when they are new, due to the medical field being a “dynamic” industry, he said.
Klein said health care construction could help BIM progress during the recession, when hospital projects are expected to be available.
But as the number of overall projects dwindles, Klein added, building professionals may start looking for any edge they can get – even if it costs more.
“In some ways, the recession is pushing the progress,” he said.
Learn more about Building Information Modeling and how TPM and Autodesk can help. |
