Building information modeling (BIM) can provide a lot of useful information for businesses. It can be the key to making sure a construction project stays on schedule and making sure it is possible to do in the first place.
The US construction industry alone is worth $2.8 trillion. If you are someone that is working on a construction project, you may be considering working with BIM solutions to keep this project on track.
What do you need to know about this? Here are five of the most important things.
1. Made in Levels
The first thing that you need to know about BIM software is that it is typically done in levels. Throughout each stage of the process, you can get a better and better idea of what your construction project will look like when it is finished.
You start out at the basic level by having the equivalent of paper drawings. Then, you move up to 2D drawings to get a better idea of what the building is supposed to look like.
Eventually, you will get to 3D drawings where it may feel like you can actually walk around this building.
This type of software allows businesses with friendly construction models to review their work each step of the way. It can also make it easier for businesses to go back and edit their work if they find out something is wrong.
Once these levels are complete, you can start working on other things to try to keep this construction project moving along.
2. Determining Supplies
Another thing BIM can help with is determining what kind of resources a company will dedicate to a construction project. This is because this technology allows you to visualize what your project will look like once it is complete.
To do this, you will need to have an idea of what materials you are going to need to build these walls.
How many pipes are you going to need? Will the steel hold up on the bottom floor? Are you going to use stone or granite for the walls?
These are things that you need to think about before you even begin your construction project. The technology above allows you to get a better idea of what resources can benefit you the most for the building that you are trying to create.
3. Determining Cost
Along with figuring out what supplies you need, BIM technology can also give you a better idea of how much a construction project is going to cost. That is because, as discussed above, you will get a much better idea of what supplies will be required for this project.
Those supplies cost money to acquire and that will go into the overall budget for the project.
However, you also have to think about other aspects of the project such as manpower. When you visualize a project, experts can determine how long that will take to make it come to life. Then, once you have a time estimate, you can start figuring out how much you are going to have to pay for manual labor.
In your position, you can figure out if this is something that you want to move forward with. You may have a strict budget that you need to follow and you discover through BIM technology that the budget you had in mind is not possible for this specific project.
From there, you would have to change your building design or scrap the project entirely.
4. Spotting Problems Early
Something that is critical to making sure a construction project stays within budget and finishes on time is spotting problems before they happen.
If you fail to do this, it could mean having to knock down walls and floors and working on that part of your building all over again. Or, it could mean getting entirely new supplies with your construction workers sitting around doing nothing.
BIM technology allows you to see these problems before it reaches that stage.
For example, let’s say that you run a simulation and discover some of your materials will not hold up when you combine them with other materials. You can stop your construction workers from doing this in the first place instead of waiting for it to fall apart later.
The same goes for if you find out you need new materials. Simply order it in advance instead of finding out weeks later that your current materials are not sufficient.
5. Improving Safety
Finally, this technology can help keep your construction workers safe. Morally and financially, you do not want any of them getting hurt while working on your project.
It can not only result in a lawsuit but it could also potentially lead to a wrongful death. You can run simulations and discover problems that need to be addressed before one of your workers hurts themselves. This leads to a safer work environment and one where those construction workers are more likely to come back to for a future project.
Learn More About BIM Solutions
These are just five things that you should know about BIM solutions. This technology allows you to design your building with multiple levels of progress. Eventually, you will see every aspect of your building before and after it is made.
Having this technology can also improve the safety of your work environment, save you money, help you make sure that you have the right supplies, and discover problems before they start. For more relevant information, see our Business section.
