Lessons from Using BIM to Increase Design-Construction Integration

Building information modeling (BIM) has started to become a common practice in the architectural, engineering, construction, and facilities management (AEC-FM) industry. The benefits of BIM have been recognized in the AEC-FM industry, and numerous design firms and contractors reported benefits of utilizing BIM in their projects. However, the potential of BIM technology to facilitate design-construction collaboration and to reduce the construction coordination costs, schedule, and request for information (RFI)s has not yet been achieved. In current practice, design and construction phases are not well integrated. Conventional practice is to produce a conceptual design based on no particular construction sequence, means, or methods. Construction knowledge must be deployed to support design. In doing so, BIM that is suitable for construction documentation at fabrication level of detail also can be exploited. The term high-definition building information modeling (HIDEF BIM) is used to describe BIM that is detailed and precise enough to create shop drawings directly from the model. Additionally, the use of HIDEF BIM offers the opportunity to examine construction sequence to produce a design that can be less expensive, save time, and be of a higher quality. This paper explores the benefits of utilizing HIDEF BIM and the lessons learned through a case study.