B3 - Week 4 Blog Post - Group B, Price

What are the current problems with Revit/BIM?

In the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry, there is a lot of collaboration that needs to occur.  Before any kind of computer program existed, architects were drafting out plans and engineers were performing hand calculations for the systems that they were implementing.  Once AutoCAD was introduced, the drafting process started becoming a little easier, but you were only able to create 2-dimensional plans.  With the introduction of Revit, you were able to look at the building in a 3-dimensional perspective and plan out where exactly internal systems were running, which lead to the use of BIM technology.

A big issue with the introduction of these computer programs is that the older employees at firms needed to almost rewire their brain to understand how to do everything virtually rather than on paper.  Even though I started school in 2010, the AE curriculum requires us to have a basic understanding of how to look at plans and how to hand-draw them as well as perform hand calculations.  Along with that, some students are introduced to using Revit either in class or on co-op.  While working at a co-op that was starting to primarily use Revit instead of AutoCAD, there were people that specialized in Revit that all engineers would go to for help.  These “draftsmen” were the ones that acted as BIM coordinators on projects that required it.  Even though there are people that specialized in Revit/BIM, it presents an issue to where not everyone is on the same level of understanding the programs. 

Another issue is interoperability.  This is because Autodesk is always coming out with a new version of their programs every year.  Even though you can bring a project from 2013 to 2014, you’re not able to go backwards, which if you accidentally convert it and save then you’re project is pretty much gone if everyone else only has the 2013 version.  Along with interoperability, cost is a big issue.  Let’s say the architects are able to afford to update the program every year, but the engineers are not.  One license is fairly expensive and to spend that amount for a 30 person company becomes very costly, especially if you upgrade every year.