Business Management

By Ed Hannan

BIM Will Affect Your Firm in 2010

2009 was clearly a bad year, overall, for the design and build industry. Yet life and business go on. So, as you navigate through what may be another possibly challenging 12 months, PSMJ’s 2010 AEC Firm U.S. Market Sector Forecast explores major issues that are likely to affect your business in 2010.

Here’s a look at one of those issues, building information modeling (BIM). Despite the buzz about building information modeling in 2009, the majority of architecture, engineering, environmental consulting and construction firms were still not regularly using it. That may change in 2010.

McGraw-Hill, in its SmartMarket Report, “The Business Value of BIM,” notes that nearly half of the industry was using BIM technology in 2009. Statistics can be deceiving, and usage numbers vary from survey source to source. However, the trend line on BIM usage is clearly upward.

Building Design & Construction magazine, in a survey 320 of the largest AEC firms in the United States, found that 83 percent have at least one BIM seat license in house and half have more than 30 seats. There are more than 100 seats in about one-quarter of the responding firms, which included architects, engineers, contractors and construction managers, and the average is 106. Two of the largest AEC firms, HDR and AECOM, reported having more than 2000 each.

According to McGraw-Hill, architects, who were early adopters of the technology, remain the highest users of BIM. “Six in 10 of all architects create BIM models with half of users also analyzing them. Today, 43 percent of architects who use BIM consider themselves advanced or expert users compared to 26 percent in 2007,” the report says.

The cost of purchasing and implementing BIM can be prohibitive, especially for small firms. Purchased online, the off-the-shelf version of Revit Architecture Suite 2010, the BIM program from Autodesk (San Rafael, CA), lists for $6,720 with a subscription.

While architects and structural engineers are the most active users of BIM, others in the industry are gaining at varying levels, as the McGraw-Hill report shows:

• Half of contractors report using BIM or BIM-related tools, four times the level reported in 2007 (13 percent).
• More than four in 10 engineers (42 percent) use BIM, but they continue to lag behind architects and have been surpassed by contractors in use.
• Owners are gaining ground with more than one-third (37 percent) using it in 2009.

The McGraw-Hill report notes that “contractors are gaining ground faster than any other group, as more users discover the value of the technology beyond the pure design process.”
For engineers, however, BIM adoption is slow. Civil engineers, in particular, are seeing far less demand for the technology, as much of their work is on non-building projects.

“Structural and MEP engineers are using BIM at levels similar to industry-wide averages, while civil engineers lag far behind. More than four in five civil engineers are not using BIM,” says McGraw-Hill.

The reason for the slow adoption of BIM among civils is as obvious as the word “building” in the acronym. Instead, civil engineers may look to linear modeling programs such as Autodesk’s Civil 3D or Roadway Designer from Bentley (Exton, PA).

The growth among owners comes despite the fact that they have yet to realize a significant impact from BIM on their own operations and maintenance needs, says McGraw-Hill’s report.
Federal government agencies are also more frequently using BIM. Agencies taking steps to require BIM include the General Services Administration (GSA), the Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), the Coast Guard, and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Way back in 2006, the GSA mandated that new buildings designed through its Public Buildings Service use BIM in the design stage.

In October 2009, the GSA officially awarded indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contracts to ten firms to create three-dimensional “virtual building” computer models to improve courthouses, border stations and other government facilities. Selected firms include A/E notables HNTB (Kansas City, Missouri), KlingStubbins, Inc. (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), and Ghafari Associates, Inc. (Dearborn, Michigan).

As more architects, engineers, contractors and owners get a taste of BIM, their acceptance of it is likely to grow exponentially.

Ed Hannan is vice president of publishing at PSMJ Resources, Inc. in Newton, Massachusetts. For a look at other major issues likely affect your business, check out PSMJ’s 2010 AEC Firm U.S. Market Sector Forecast, www.psmj.com.