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Bimis Not Cheap. Firms That Want to Implement It Must License The © 2014 AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CIVIL ENGINEERS ALL RIGHTS RESERVED how structural connections and other details are achieved. The tremendous advance in the AEC industries, one that all engi- software can also track changes throughout the design process. neering and design firms will have to embrace. “Considering Thus, when one component of a model changes, the technol- where the world is going and the incredible leap that building ogy, under the control of the user, will automatically make the information modeling and delivering the model means to our necessary changes to other parts of the model. Furthermore, industry, unless you plan on being out of business in 10 years, the models can capture and reuse information for such other you must adopt it,” he says. “I don’t think you have an option.” of purposes as structural analysis, cost reporting, and energy anal- Indeed, several recent studies corroborate this view. In late ysis. (See “Are You Ready for BIM?” by Brian Fortner, Civil En- 2011 the New York City–based engineering firm WSP Flack The ImporTance bIm gineering, May 2008, pages 44–57.) + Kurtz commissioned a study on BIM by the research firm Firms are using BIM on all types of building projects, par- Kairos Future, of Stockholm, Sweden. The firm polled 466 In May 2008 Civil Engineering published a special report entitled ticularly projects that feature complex geometries. And to an AEC professionals, and among the conclusions of its report was increasing extent they are using it on nonstructural projects. that BIM “will become the DNA of future construction.” The “Are You Ready for BIM?” which discussed the benefits of a fairly new Thus, the modeling is finding use in projects ranging from report further stated that while BIM can save time, money, and design process referred to as building information modeling. Six years roadways to water treatment systems. A study of AEC profes- headaches, it also had the potential to temporarily destabilize sionals around the country commis- the construction industry as more later engineering firms of all sizes are finding that this type of modeling is sioned in 2012 by New York City– firms adopted and used it. Such a based McGraw Hill Construction BIM is not cheap. Firms shift, the report noted, could change essential if they are to remain competitive. ... By Jenny Jones in cooperation with ASCE and Au- everything from how the firms’ in- todesk, a BIM vendor headquartered ternal processes worked to how con- in San Rafael, California, found that that want to implement it tracts were written. (See “Report N THE PAST, ENGINEERS supplied sketches and tors, and other downstream users. But CAD has increasingly 46 percent of respondents were us- Reveals BIM’s Future,” Civil Engi- markups to draftsmen, who then used the infor- been replaced by building information modeling (BIM), a de- ing BIM for at least some of their in- must license the software neering online, December 6, 2011.) mation to create two-dimensional (2-D) project sign process that creates 3-D models that simulate how a proj- frastructure projects, up from just 27 And in late 2012 Pike Research, a drawings. As technology advanced in the 1980s, ect will be constructed and how the completed structure will percent in 2010. (See “BIM Is Not and train their staffs research company based in the Unit- software applications for producing 2-D and 3-D look and operate. Today BIM is so integral to the architecture, Just for Buildings Anymore,” Civil ed Kingdom that has since been ac- computer-aided design (CAD) documents su- engineering, and construction (AEC) industries that firms not Engineering online, June 19, 2012.) quired by Navigant Research, of perseded manual drafting, and engineers began collaborat- using it could soon become obsolete, according to industry Thornton Tomasetti, Inc., an in- to use the programs. Boulder, Colorado, released a study ing with CAD professionals to create digital project drawings. leaders. ternational engineering firm head- finding that BIM produced signifi- Despite being digital, CAD drawings failed to provide much Developed in the 1990s, BIM is a process for planning, de- quartered in New York City with approximately 800 em- cant positive results for those members of the AEC industries Imore information than was the case with manual drawings, signing, constructing, and managing construction projects. It ployees and a leader in BIM design, used BIM for the first time that were using it and that it was set to become a necessity for so they were of limited use to material fabricators, contrac- involves developing and using virtual models that can illus- in 2001 in rebuilding Chicago’s Soldier Field. Since the firm members intent on succeeding. The report asserted that the NC. I trate everything from the sizes and locations of columns I, was asked to transmit the structural steel design directly to use of BIM lowered the risks associated with large construction and beams to the types of fixtures and lighting sys- TT the steel fabricator, it used an early version of BIM to create a projects, facilitated seamless design, and had the potential to tems that are to be incorporated into a structure. model that detailed the dimensions and geometry of the steel lower overall project costs without necessarily lowering the In contrast to CAD files, BIM models are ON TOMASE components. The steel fabricator then downloaded the model fees that AEC firms would be paid. (See “BIM Will Become a genuine 3-D representations of complet- T into its machines and ordered the steel as the model indicated. Necessity for Success in the Profession,” Civil Engineering on- ed projects that can help users see exactly THORN The expeditious process amazed Thornton Tomasetti’s staff. line, October 9, 2012.) “When we did this Soldier Field job, the lightbulb went on But BIM is not cheap. Firms that want to implement it for several of us in the organization that this was a tool that al- must license the software and train their staffs to use the pro- lowed us to hand the downstream user the complete picture of grams. Common BIM programs include Autodesk’s Revit and what was in our heads of the structure,” says Thomas Z. Scar- an array of programs developed by Bentley, an architecture angello, P.E., M.ASCE, the chairman and chief executive officer and engineering software firm headquartered in Exton, Penn- of Thornton Tomasetti. “They didn’t have to go to our draw- sylvania. RealDesigns LLC, a BIM solutions firm based in Fair- ings and ask, ‘What’s the member size or length, or what’s the fax, Virginia, provides a cost estimate on its website for a small dimension from here to there?’ It was all there in the model; firm that would have three to four BIM users. According to The design and there was nothing left to the imagination.” the website, a firm of that size could expect to pay $24,000 to construction team on Yankee After the Soldier Field project Thornton Tomasetti made $35,000 to license the three software suites essential to opti- Stadium, in New York City, used BIM the decision to use BIM as frequently as possible, and it became mizing the technology: BIM software per se, software enabling to coordinate work on the four-year project. even more committed to the technology in 2002, when several project team members to manage and share BIM models, and Thornton Tomasetti used BIM to model the stadium’s of the architecture firms with which it worked announced that software for forecasting project costs. Such a firm could also geometry and to detail the connections, and that they would soon be using BIM 100 percent of the time and expect to pay $4,000 to $10,000 to train its staff and possi- model fostered collaboration with the steel fabricator would collaborate only with engineering firms that also used bly $7,000 to $12,000 for hardware, the site says. On the ba- and erector to accelerate the steel procurement and it. Today Thornton Tomasetti uses BIM to enhance collabora- sis of those figures, a firm of that size would pay $35,000 to fabrication processes. The model also enabled the tion and coordination on nearly all of its projects. Moreover, on $52,000 to implement BIM, in addition to employees’ salaries architects to see exactly how changes to the more than half of its projects it also uses BIM as what it calls a for training time. engineering design would affect the deliverable; that is, it provides some version of the model to at The significant up-front cost has prevented many firms look of the stadium. least one downstream user. Scarangello says BIM represents a from implementing BIM. But engineers who use it say that [66] Civil Engineering m a y 2014 m a y 2014 Civil Engineering [67] BIM quickly pays for itself when it is incorporated into design and con- As the use of BIM becomes The likelihood of a firm to invest Thornton Tomasetti used BIM in working on MetLife struction since it leads to better de- in BIM may depend on its size. Last Stadium, which opened in 2010 in East Ruther- cisions and reduces requests for in- more common, members spring the United Kingdom’s In- ford, New Jersey. The firm delivered the model to formation, change orders, and other stitution of Structural Engineers re- the steel fabricator, expediting the procurement of challenges that typically delay proj- leased the results of a survey of atti- steel and shortening the construction schedule by ects and raise costs. ASCE’s Journal of of the AEC industries tudes toward BIM.
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