Topic : BIM
What are the current problems with Revit/BIM?
The recent development of BIM and the use of Revit demonstrate how it is becoming one of the most essential tool in the Architecture, Engineering and Construction industry. BIM is being used to reduce the construction cost and time while optimizing the accuracy and flexibility of the model designs. Many companies are adapting the use of modeling software to represent their projects and to modify the current structures. Despite the promising outlook of BIM, there certainly are setbacks that exist at the moment.
A major issue with the development of BIM is the cost. The technology requires the use of a powerful modeling program, which is not affordable by small companies. Moreover, appropriate training to learn the new methods of BIM is necessary, demanding the employees, who are more used to the traditional method, to abandon the old ways and learn the completely new technology. Such training is not only costly but time consuming. There seems to be a huge gap between these two methods, which is not favorable to those whose projects have been dependent on the traditional method. Similar to what Rikki mentioned in her post, I have also witnessed this issue during my co-op experience. The company was small and everyone was still using AutoCAD to manage their projects. My colleague expressed a concern that the company is not able to work on many projects that require Revit for BIM because of the cost of replacing all the software programs and transferring the data that the company has been accumulating for decades. Because there are also projects with many documents and drawings that exist on paper only, the company is not able to move on from these projects that it has been responsible for. In order to transfer all the data into new technology, such as Revit, it would require not only training for employees but numerous hours of manual labor. Consequently, small companies as this would not be able to utilize the BIM technology.
In addition, the interoperability and communication become critical to the use of Revit for BIM. Dmitriy talked about this problem as well, where he emphasized the importance of compatibility between various versions of programs. I agree that this is still a big problem in this field because there exist numerous programs yet a connector between them has not been created. When architects, engineers, and everyone involved in a project want to share a model, it will cause a big problem if they all use different programs with poor compatibility. Therefore, the interoperability is a major issue that needs to be resolved in order to have more effective use of BIM.
Lastly, BIM operates with the assumption of accuracy of the model. Because the model is shared by so many people, a small flaw or mistake in a model would affect everyone and possibly be detrimental to the project. Unless everyone is familiar with BIM/Revit that the procedure and tools are understood and used correctly, it will prove to be a difficult task to maximize its potential. Estimation that the BIM produces is not always the most accurate so engineers cannot rely on it completely.
Rodriguez, Juan. "Building Information Modeling Risks." About.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Jan. 2015. <http://construction.about.com/od/Trends/a/Building-Information-Modeling-Risks.htm>.
Working for a General Contractor I can say first-hand that I am the only one in my company that has and knows how to use BIM software. My company isn't the only one which is behind the times. Construction being a very large industry takes a long time to catch up with technology. Additionally, many of the workers in the industry like to follow the proverb, "if it works, don't change it" preferring to use the older methods which they are more comfortable with.
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