BIM collaboration isn’t a buzzword; it's a transformative approach that minimizes errors, improves communication, and generates superior results. It goes beyond drafting or 3D modeling; it encapsulates building data throughout its lifecycle as a crucial ingredient for an efficient work environment among architects, engineers, and construction professionals.
What is BIM?
According to the National BIM Standard, “Building Information Modeling (BIM) is a digital representation of the physical and functional characteristics of a facility.” Using BIM along with a common data environment (CDE) can provide a structured approach to teamwork in construction projects.
A CDE acts as a single source of truth—a centralized digital hub for storing, sharing, and managing project-related documents. It encourages stakeholders to use interoperable systems to interact across teams and collaborate more efficiently. CDEs allow teams to work together—synchronously or asynchronously—whether they are physically located in the same place or not. This avoids confusion, omissions, repetition, and errors.
Benefits of BIM collaboration
By leveraging the power of BIM, everyone involved in a project’s life cycle can work seamlessly together with the same information at their fingertips. BIM collaboration enables successful project execution with a few key pieces:
INFORMATION SHARING BETWEEN STAKEHOLDERS
Architects, engineers, contractors, and facility managers must be on the same page from inception to completion. Get started with a BIM execution plan (BEP) to bring tasks, processes, digital designs, and product parameters together. By outlining planned work, parties understand the scope and requirements of the project. Federated BIM models combine multiple discipline-specific models into one comprehensive model of a building. This simplifies the design process and facilitates integrated concurrent engineering (ICE) meetings.
CLASH DETECTION
Forget the guesswork. By using BIM’s 3D modeling and information management capabilities, you can identify conflicts early and know where, when, or if parts of a building may interfere with one another. BIM-enabled clash detection delivers a 20% ROI on the contract value, as evidenced by a multi-million-dollar project case study. Prevent errors, delays, and rework by discovering and resolving problems during the planning stages.
EXPANDED MODELING DIMENSIONS
Relying on 2D or 3D modeling isn’t sufficient anymore. BIM collaboration builds on these, enabling 4D, 5D, 6D, and 7D capabilities—and beyond—to help project teams understand what they need to model.
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4D: Adding scheduling information to model construction sequences, or accounting for time to help both design and construction teams understand the project timeline.
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5D: Adding cost information, including pre-tender estimates and/or capital. operational, or as-built costs.
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6D: Adding facility management information to the overall model data.
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7D: Adding sustainability information, including details on data types, scope, units, and rules of measurement.
VISUALIZATION
Make every project come to life. BIM collaboration and modeling provide 3D visual representations of projects, making it easier to communicate design and construction intent—and when you’re working from a CDE, it’s much simpler to keep documents and drawings together. The most intuitive systems provide the ability to access detailed documentation and communication within the context of the model. This means that stakeholders can see relevant information directly within the viewer, eliminating the need to search for separate documents or navigate different platforms.
As a result, stakeholders can access even the most minute details, enabling them to understand the development and make changes. By having all the necessary information available in one place, teams can make informed decisions and effectively communicate with each other, enhancing collaboration and efficiency throughout the project lifecycle.
CONNECTING THE FIELD AND OFFICE
What if you could democratize BIM? Cloud-based platforms enable a field-to-office connection, allowing people from different locations to contribute via either office computers or their own mobile devices. As a result, teams get ready access to:
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Native apps for iOS and Android
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Digital forms and checklists
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Up-to-date BIM models
The shift to connected collaboration provides new levels of flexibility. With it, you can support both asynchronous distributed BIM collaboration and synchronous face-to-face methods. As a result, teams have access to the same up-to-date information, enabling them to achieve quality targets and reduce the need for rework due to errors and incorrect data.
Leverage BIM collaboration for your construction projects
It’s vital to embrace BIM collaboration as the future of construction. From untangling the intricacies of BIM and CDE to leveraging the versatility of cloud-based and mobile BIM, it’s easy to bring teams together from ideation to completion.
LeapThought is leading the way forward. Explore how our FulcrumHQ solution can elevate your collaborative efforts—request your demo today.
