BIM, as a term stands for Building Information Modeling, it is a comprehensive approach to construction project data management that has been getting an incredible amount of attention recently. It brings a lot of changes to a rather conservative construction industry, and there are plenty of companies that still refuse to adopt it to this day.
However, the number of different advantages and benefits that the correct BIM implementation can bring is awe-inspiring, to say the least – which is why a lot of companies are already using BIM as an approach to some degree. A very simplistic explanation of BIM that has been going around for a while now is that BIM is a 3D CAD model with extra information attached to it. The reality of the situation is far more complex and sophisticated than that.
It is true that one of the definitions of BIM is Building Information Modeling – a complex 3D model that offers an excruciating number of data about every single aspect of a construction project. That same model can also positively influence practically every single project phase from start to finish due to BIM’s heavy emphasis on collaboration and cooperation.
A BIM model is something that is created by combining every single project model from different teams – designers, architects, engineers, HVAC specialists, and many others. This allows a BIM model to act as a single source of truth that is always accessible to all project-related teams. That way, BIM eliminates miscommunication, reduces the number of errors and reworks, and improves collaboration efforts, all of which results in generally better performance across the board.
There are plenty of other advantages that BIM can offer to construction projects, but it is important to go over another important part of BIM as a topic – BIM dimensions. BIM dimensions are the representation of how many different areas can BIM work with to provide positive changes. With the overall conservative state of the construction industry – knowing about different BIM dimensions is paramount.
Everything mentioned above is considered 3D BIM – a rather basic form of BIM implementation that mostly relies on a BIM model as a centralized data source with little to no other additions to it. It is still an effective approach to construction management – but there are plenty of other “dimensions” that could be added, as well.
As it stands, there are seven different “dimensions” in total, aside from the aforementioned 3D BIM dimension:
- 4D BIM, adding time and scheduling to the original model
- 5D BIM, that contributes cost and budgeting-related features
- 6D BIM, which mostly focuses on the environmental impact and/or building sustainability
- 7D BIM, a dimension focused entirely on the post-construction phase, which falls under the umbrella term “facility management”
- 8D BIM, a dimension that revolves around the topic of worker safety on-site
- 9D BIM, which introduces the elements of lean construction to the mix
- 10D BIM, covering the basics of construction industrialization
It is worth mentioning that every single BIM dimension starting from 4D BIM automatically includes all of the previous dimensions and the subsequent general complexity of the solution. For example, a company implementing 6D BIM into their work processes would not only have to add sustainability-related matters to the project, but also work with adding costs, budgeting, scheduling, and time-related topics, as well.
This same logic is also the reason why the higher BIM dimensions get little to no recognition at this point – because of the sheer complexity of implementing such a solution in all of your working processes. As such, it is fairly reasonable to say that 5D BIM is more or less the peak of a reasonable BIM solution without being too complex or problematic in itself.
The main idea of a 5D BIM dimension is to provide various cost-related data to be included in an existing BIM model, which not only improves various scheduling and estimating-related topics that are relevant to 4D BIM, but also makes it much easier to calculate budgets and save costs, provide more accurate estimates to your clients, and more.
There are plenty of issues that the traditional approach to construction management has when it comes to cost estimates – mostly because of how complex this topic is in the first place. Here are some examples of issues with the traditional approach to cost estimation and budgeting:
- Inadequate decision-making caused by the lack of visualization when it comes to project goals and parameters
- The absence of cost estimation templates in most cases makes it necessary to create most estimation documents from scratch
- The lack of cost consistency across different project phases due to limited communication between departments
A lot of these issues are resolved by the introduction of 5D BIM to some degree – but that’s not to say that BIM as a whole is a solution to all problems. There are quite a lot of different problems that may arise when it comes to proper 5D BIM implementation, such as:
- The upfront cost of implementing a BIM solution to a company, including both the monetary value and the amount of effort necessary from different workers to learn new tools
- The fact that there is no single solution on the market that can offer the entire feature set of a 5D BIM approach
- The overall risk-averse nature of the industry that hesitates a lot when it comes to major changes and heavy investments, and so on
5D BIM is not the magical solution to all problems of the construction industry, but it is an effective toolset that could prove very advantageous with the right approach. Knowing about the shortcomings of a solution this different from the traditional ones is a lot better than introducing these drastic changes while being oblivious to how difficult 5D BIM can be to implement.
