5D BIM: Today’s Workflow for Cost Certainty (Video)

Author: manager

watch video here: https://youtu.be/pfzQIV1KbkM

BuildingSMART brought their BIM4Construction: 4D + 5D Workshops to Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide in October and David Mitchell presented in all 4 locations on ‘5D BIM: Today’s Workflow for Cost Certainty‘.

David’s presentation, focused on what a 5D QS does and how these modern skills fit into the æBIM’ picture by:

  • Providing context around cost certainty v uncertainty
  • Explaining what 5D is: how it is far more than Quantity Take-Off and demonstrate the specialist skills that a 5D QS must have
  • Explaining how a 5D methodology can be included within design workflows (the effect on existing workflows) and BIM execution plans

In attendance at the Brisbane BIM4Construction event was Cadet 5D Quantity Surveyor Toby McDonald who offered up his views on the evening’s presentations and panel discussion. Check it out here.

This week, once again, BIM has been in the spotlight in Australia with BIM4Construction: 4D + 5D Workshops travelling around the capital cities and an article appearing in BRW.

For those who want to get along to the BIM4Construction workshops in Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide there’s still a chance û I’ll cover a few of the points presented in Brisbane but highly recommend getting along for yourself.

The panel discussion at the end was lively and particularly informative! An interesting project, Sutter Health Project, that I hadn’t heard was also mentioned.

Have you heard of any interesting news articles, publications or events to do with BIM recently?

In attending the BIM4Construction workshop I was reminded that BIM is a ôdisruptive processö and it was interesting to hear how each of the the speakers were driving innovation and change to adapt and embrace new technology.

Claudelle Taylor, General Manager, Nexus Point Solutions.

Claudelle spoke of her role in the Leighton Group vision of improving productivity through the integration of estimating, planning and actual cost data into 3D visualisation.

The two projects she explored were 567 Collins Street, Melbourne and the Trivtam project Kochi, India.

Of particular interest were the challenges and successes of using RIBiTWO software to integrate with cost codes in an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) platform. Claudelle also told of the way that data of completed construction can be used to alert project managers to elements of a build being constructed behind schedule.

Peter Kelly, CIO, Simonds Homes.

Peter’s presentation looked at the other end of the spectrum in construction and he shared some of his experiences implementing IT changes to a company that builds approximately 2200 residential homes a year.

One key point that I took away from Peter was that although estimators may see a lot of benefit in implementing new technology they are not always the best at selling these benefits to management who inevitably have to drive change.

He also talked about the potential benefits of the use of 3D models by sub-contractors in the maintenance of homes as many homes are now sold with a maintenance period of up to 10 years.

David Mitchell, 5D Quantity Surveyor + Partner of Mitchell Brandtman

David spoke of the value of using BIM in the Quantity Surveying profession and the way in which using models can create savings for different parties involved in a construction project.

He also spoke of skills that Quantity Surveyors need in order to work with 5D and showcased some of Mitchell Brandtman’s work on the Sunshine Coast University Hospital.

A copy of his presentation slides can be found here.

The real use in Building Information Modeling (BIM) is in collaboration so it’s always good to know about what others are doing in the space.

Are you using 3D models in an interesting way or come across someone who is? If so how and to what end?

Three things I came across this week.

3D visualisation for Construction Engineering:

Nick Barker from Exallos, this week at an Australian Institute of Builders (AIB) breakfast, showcased projects that used 3D visualisation for Construction Engineering on major projects such as: The Shard, London; Adelaide Oval Redevelopment; and the demolition of large steel and concrete structures.

Impressively he presented from an ipad and showed several 3D animations of the projects which definitely captured the attention and imagination the audience.

One point of interest was that with complex projects featuring curved roofs structures, such as the Adelaide Oval redevelopment (http://bit.ly/1e4u2wa), he described 3D modeling as an essential tool in

  • testing engineering loads and designing the structural steel pieces û as there is no way traditional 2D drawings could show this information.
  • finding a construction solution that would allow temporary propping as with complex structures û they tend to only become inherently stable when the last members were in place.
  • showing that the job could be done in a condensed timeline û the use of animation was used with time schedules to win the job.

Panel Discussion on Architectural Models:

There was an interesting discussion this week on Radio National’s By Design program. Listen to it here. (http://bit.ly/14v5vvZ)

  • A few key points were the value in modeling for things such as explaining ideas to clients
  • that physical 3D models are still used for council approval, marketing to the general pubilc and for the presentation at competitions.
  • the 3D digital models of course store a lot of information that other disciplines can use (Quantity Surveyors even get a mention by Chris Paterson at Populous!).

CSIRO and mobile mapping:

This week and award was given to a group of researchers at CSIRO calling themselves öThe Zedebee teamö for the development of a mobile scanner that allows a user to walk through and area using a hand held device and produce a 3D map. Very cool stuff! Can you think of any of the applications it might be useful in? Check out the video here. (http://bit.ly/15a2kbz)

BuildingSMART – ‘5D BIM: Today’s Workflow for Cost Certainty’

BuildingSMART are bringing their BIM4Construction: 4D + 5D Workshops to Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide in October.

David Mitchell will be presenting in all 4 locations on ‘5D BIM: Today’s Workflow for Cost Certainty‘, which will focus on what a 5D QS does and how these modern skills fit into the æBIM’ picture by:

  • Providing context around cost certainty v uncertainty
  • Explaining what 5D is: how it is far more than Quantity Take-Off and demonstrate the specialist skills that a 5D QS must have.
  • Explaining how a 5D methodology can be included within design workflows (the effect on existing workflows) and BIM execution plans.

The dates and locations for the 4 locations are as follows:

  • Thursday 3rd October: QUT, Garden Point Campus, 2 George Street, Brisbane, QLD
  • Monday 7th October: Building Leadership Simulation Centre, 49 Brady Street, South Melbourne, VIC
  • Wednesday 9th October: UTS Peter Johnson Building 6, Level 4, Room 04.40, 730 Harris Street, Ultimo, NSW
  • Tuesday 15th October: National Wine Centre of Australia, Hackney Road, Adelaide SA

Each workshop will begin with registrations at 4:00pm, and conclude at 7:30pm

To register and to the view the array of speakers please visit the BuildingSMART website here.

For all the wonders and benefits of Building Information Modeling (BIM) it still takes a bit of problem solving, experience and knowledge to navigate.

It’s one thing being able to extract quantities for costing from a 3D Model but the question is; can you always trust them?

Far from being untrustworthy and unreliable, 3D models are an extremely valuable source of information and a week or so ago I was reminded of this working on an Preliminary Estimate.

The 3D model that I worked on was a revision on a previous model but the design had progressed substantially with fairly significant changes being made.

Firstly, the visualisation was a great tool which allowed the building to be reviewed from all angles and design changes were easily identified.

Quantities of roof sheeting, slab areas, and glazing areas seemed to come through well after writing a map to extract the quantities and bring these into our estimating software.

I would also like to mention some of the inconsistencies coming through the model, which by the way were definitely to be expected as the design was at an early Level of Development (LOD).

This is why experience, problem solving and knowledge come into play.

Some of the interesting things in the model were:

  • Additional objects that were not required were included in the model either as space savers or indications of what might be done
  • Some objects were modeled without parameters such as length or area
  • And some areas such as suspended slabs were modelled as roofs.

One of the ways around this at this early stage was that the model actually contained 2D drawings.

With a bit of navigation, thanks to a Revit Course I recently did, I was able to export additional plans and information for 2D measures. This helped give indications of wall types, soffit areas and to help with Bulk Quantity Checks.

The process of having a 3D model coupled with the wisdom of our Senior Partners allowed for faster revision of an estimate and importantly for the client, greater cost certainty.

Luke Anthony has contributed to our September 2013 edition of our Cost Solutions newsletter. In this article Luke discusses Gratis Depreciation Allowances and Write-off and how it works for the tenant and landlord.

To read the article in its entirety please click here.

For more information, please contact Luke Anthony or Richard Ortmans on 1800 808 289.

The second article published in our September edition of Cost Solutions comes from Darryl Bird (Partner & 5D Quantity Surveyor).

Darryl reveals what it takes to secure finance for your development project and also talks about the key areas that help you demonstrate your depth of knowledge to your financier to form a distinct advantage in your finance application.

To read the article in full please follow this link.

For more information please contact Darryl BirdShane Brandtman, 02 9541 5000

Last week (22/8/13) The LOD Specification was released in its final draft by the BIMForum and it is a very worthy guide to consider. It was written under agreement with the American Institute of Architects and it looks at the detail of what it is that you’re designing and what it can be used for.

“We want everyone to have the same understanding about how much information should go into each element of a building model, and for what uses those models are suitable,” – Dmitri Alferieff, director of the BIMForum.

What I find interesting about this guide is that:

  • It uses descriptions and images so that designers can define the model uses and limitations to downstream users.
  • For contractors it introduces an additional LOD – 350 as well as the basic LOD definitions developed by the AIA for the AIA G202-2013 Building Information Modeling Protocol Form.
  • The information is organised by CSI Uniformat 2010 codes. If this guide successfully gains traction around the globe then it is logical that Uniformat will become the preeminent international classification system.

The intention of ‘LOD 350’ is to enable elements to be sufficiently developed to allow proper coordination of disciplines (e.g. clash detection/avoidance, layout, etc…). This concept resonated with me because it provides guidance to contractors and subcontractors on the improvements that are required to develop a “for tender or bid” model into a ‘for construction” model. This concept can be applied to any procurement method even hard dollar (design – bid – build) contracts by adopting the “Plan to Build” model which you can see below:

From my 5D perspective BIMForum have pretty much gotten it right, except I would have preferred to have seen rebar contained within LOD 350 rather than LOD 400 because reinforcement supply costs often blow out by large margins and this isn’t evident until the last bar is delivered. Rebar that is modeled at the outset of construction is very easy to track financially.

It was promising to see that the BrisBIM event last week was well attended. To me this highlights a growing interest in BIM across multiple disciplines from Cost Planners to Software Developers to Architects to Construction Managers.

BirsBIM’s purpose is to facilitate and bring together the built environment community within the greater Brisbane region to share and exchange thoughts and knowledge in respect to technology innovation across the industry.

Below I’ve noted some points from each presentation that interested me from the latest event…

BIM: A Journey into the Future – Nathan Hilderbrandt (Fulton Trotter Architects)

Nathan’s story showed the benefits of a firm investing time in taking a BIM pathway early on.

Of particular interest to me was that Nathan emphasised placing all notes and additional architectural information on the 3D Model rather than adding this to 2 Dimensional Sheets and Drawings produced from the model.

Whilst recently completing a 6 week Introduction to Revit course we were shown how to add notes to the Sheets and Drawings û so I’m not sure that all architects are adding additional info to the model alone. It was also interesting to note that their firm works in Archichad yet still collaborates well with consultants who use Revit.

BIM Management Plans û Chris Price (XRev)

To me it is essential that BIM Management plans are put in place early on in a project. Chris highlighted this with his talk and emphasised that not all plans have to go into too much detail, for instance if you want to tell how consultants how to model in detail this could be included in a separate document. He also showed many free templates that are available.

One important point that Chris highlighted was that the BIM Management plan should show a position of the building and actually provide two points (thus taking into consideration the rotation of the building too) so that buildings align.

Increasingly when doing estimates we receive updated models and models from different consultants which are not on the same physical location or rotation thus making it more difficult to track changes.

BIM Legal Considerations û Andrew Orford (Minter Ellison)

Andrew’s talk was also an interesting one and I was reminded that Contractors and Consultants should not be afraid of IP and create insurmountable hurdles to sharing information due to IP concerns.

These aren’t new problems or concepts to deal with in a legal framework. Interestingly a question from the floor was asked if he has worked on any disputes regarding BIM and his reply was that as yet he hasn’t come up against any.

Whilst 6 months ago I came up against some resistance, or asking for disclaimers, Architects seem send through models for our estimates willingly now.

M-SIX VEO Product Overview (A2K Technologies)

This was a very interesting presentation. It highlighted how advanced future Facilities Management will become.

It was great to see that models can be updated in real time in the field with tablets and smart phones. It was also interested to hear that the amount of data stored in the model in these devices can be huge and included things like photos, scannable barcodes and service manuals.

Of particular interest to me was the Life Expectancy of items and I can see a definite application for Quantity Surveyors in being able to create Tax Depreciation Schedules and Sinking Fund Forecasts.