B2 – Week 3 – Hamad Al-Sulaiti – Group E

BIM technology has tremendously improved over a very short time interval. It is a very beneficial designing program for designers and engineers in many numerous fields. Through the assigned reading on the sixth chapter of the BIM Handbook by Charles Eastman, it was very interesting to learn how this source of technology helps contractors implement in their projects by saving time and money. BIM is a very helpful tool for contractors to promote their piece of work to owners during the bidding stage. When contractors are being provided with the scope of work from owners, BIM is going to be a very helpful tool to estimate the cost.

This chapter includes very important data regarding the increase of firm size and how this great technology has decreased the number of employees in 2004, which I think is a very great advancement in savings. According to Figure 6-2, it can be obtained that 91.6% of firms were composed to 1-19 employees only. The fewer employees would result in less cost and high performance with the support of BIM. When comparing this computer based designing program with the hand drawings that contractors used to rely on, I personally think that it’s a big jump towards improving the economy by having larger firm size. Contractors find BIM very beneficial due to its accuracy, the details it can provide, and the short time it takes to finish tasks, Contractors also find BIM a very helpful tool due to its simplicity in linking and computing designs to other parties for necessary adjustments.

When reading about 4D BIM, the most important feature that caught my attention is the time estimating features. This type of feature would automatically estimate the time it takes for each construction phase and it will help contractors cooperating in a better way with owners and other parties. Firms should encourage this type of technology to be improved by implementing it to owners, engineers and contractors. By implementing BIM in designing, it will encourage the next generation to learn in a better way and educate others. Therefore, it will improve the production of this type of technology.

Comment on Angelina Castro:

I think you brought up a good point when you put into consideration the purchase of this computer based designing program and how much time consuming it is. It is never a hard program when providing trainings for designers and engineers. BIM will always produce new features and engineers should put into consideration those updates to help them improving themselves and the next generations.

Comment on Justin Hileman:

It is interesting that you thought of how important BIM is to contractors when working on a design. This type of computer program will provide accuracy and detailed schedule of phases each construction has. Implementing this kind of technology for the next generations will cause a big jump to the economy in future.

Source:

Eastman, C. M. BIM Handbook: A Guide To Building Information Modeling For Owners, Managers, Designers, Engineers And Contractors. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2011.