Autodesk’s Matt Wheelis outlines the benefits of BIM for smaller companies.
BIM is just as relevant to smaller construction firms as their larger competitors. Yet, more often than not, these firms put off using BIM, dismissing it as “not something for a company of our size”.
If nothing else, the government’s 2016 BIM mandate provides a compelling reason for smaller firms to start thinking about it – particularly if they want to participate in centrally procured government projects.
Read Part 1 – Five Ways for SMEs to take the plunge with BIM – here
But where to get started? There are a number of products to choose from. For example, a vendor like Autodesk provides a BIM solution using tools as diverse as Revit (modelling), AutoCAD (drafting and documentation), Navisworks (project review) and 3ds Max Design (visualisation), among others
If you use any of these, you are already on your way to a BIM-based workflow.
In addition to being purchased individually, these products can be purchased as part of a suite, such as Autodesk Building Design Suite, or Autodesk Infrastructure Design Suite, which provides greater value to smaller firms than purchasing individual licenses.
Additionally, there are cloud-based tools, such as Autodesk BIM 360 Field (construction field management) or Autodesk BIM 360 Glue (BIM coordination and management), which offer lower upfront costs than traditional desktop software licenses.
Training for these products is readily available, including instructor-led courses, online training, and self-paced tutorials. Users can validate their skills with Autodesk Certification, get expert guidance at an authorised training centre, or dive into a recommended training guide or ebook.
Let’s picture a small firm that is building a leisure centre in central London and see how these tools could help them.
Benefit 1: Work-winning
Without BIM, the contractor responds to a government request for proposals with a standard proposal. This relatively uninspiring costs profile leaves the firm competing on price alone.
With tools like Revit and BIM360 Glue, the firm can produce a 3D model of the centre that lets them communicate very clearly to the client exactly what is being built and what it will look like. They can even let the owner experience the building for themselves and even comment through cloud-based project review.
Benefit 2: Quantity surveying
Quantity surveying (QS) in a non-BIM project is a matter of manually measuring the quantities that are on the blueprint, and then remeasuring manually if and when there are any changes.
With a tool like Navisworks Simulate, many of those quantities are automatically measured, giving firms the ability to rapidly adjust to changes, generate revised cost proposals, and show the customer visually where economies may occur.
Benefit 3: Coordination
After our theoretical small firm has performed the QS and won the work, it needs to go out in the field and execute the work. Now, this manager is not building just one of these projects: they are building many around town. In the non-BIM based process, they have to carry a set of blueprints around from jobsite to jobsite – and hope they’ve got the right ones.
Using a tool like BIM 360 Field, the firm has easy access via the cloud and mobile devices not just to 2D drawings and representations, but also to 3D models. If the tradesmen need a little extra help understanding what the firm’s trying to accomplish, they can simply show them – right there, in the field – via a tablet device.
Conclusion
Small firms don’t need to view BIM as a monolithic, intimidating process that is too complex to even contemplate undertaking. Instead, firms can take a problem-solving approach and pick just one area of their workflow they want to improve – say, work-winning, or field management – then use BIM as part of the solution.
Moreover, in smaller firms, the disciplines around costing, QS, programming and scheduling tend to be done by a single person who’s a jack-of-all-trades, making it even more natural to integrate these disciplines within the BIM process.
Matt Wheelis is senior industry manager, construction, at Autodesk
I am doing my PhD on BIM business model in SME that have yet to adopt BIM practices. Basically, what I realised the most in terms of the impact BIM could play on business level is that, the parameters of SMEs so much rely on relationship with other stakeholders outside the firm.
Hi Victor,
We are running some training courses at Micro Concepts on AutoCAD and on BIM, we also have a webinar running on Feb 21 – please feel free to get in touch via our website if you would like to know more,
Regards, Andy
To be honest, this is a slightly shallow view of BIM implementation at business level; more tool focused rather than process. Process is where most of the implementation challenges are and honestly speaking SMEs need help in that area.
SMEs business challenges and benefits of BIM are not different (should not be different) to that of larger construction companies. If anything its just the scale of it. In fact, SMEs have more agility to implement change compare to larger companies.
The author takes an example of a small constructing firm who builds a leisure centre in central London.
That small contractor will have to:
1) Understand the impact of BIM at the business level and how to integrate BIM within different departments, i.e. design management, planning, QA, H&S, commercial, estimating, marketing, HR, finance, IT etc.
2) Choose the right BIM tools for their job (i.e. Revit, Tekla, Bentley, ArchiCAD, Synchro, CostX, Navis etc)
3) Think about establishing (and establish) processes for planning team, design management, coordination, commercial, estimating, H&S, QA, M&E etc.
4) Once all of the above is achieved then automatically your (real) work winning BIM material is ready to include in your bids. You can include your real project experience in your bids instead of worrying about work-winning BIM. Having said that, you may require Hollywood animation to go in your bid. But don’t confuse that with BIM.
I’m self employed never used CAD before I’m anxious to improve my skills can you advise on the best approach I can pursue to achieve training for cad & bim.
regards Victor Smith.