BIM adoption: McGraw Hill reports strong uptake amongst sub-contractors in Australia and New Zealand
The release of the McGraw Hill SmartMarket Report on the “Business Value of BIM in Australia and New Zealand” see trade contractors leading the way in relation to BIM adoption rates, calling for greater BIM education and for Australian and New Zealand advocates to demand better content and shared data.
by David Mitchell,
5D Quantity Surveyor
In late 2013, McGraw Hill conducted 435 online surveys with Architects, Engineers, Contractors, Consultants and Building Owners from across Australia and New Zealand’s construction industry.
The results support the long held view among BIM advocates that sharing of models and data will provide the best incentive to improve the BIM and engage all project team members to return the benefits.
Real quantifiable savings
Globally, three quarters of all contractors surveyed by McGraw Hill are reporting a positive Return on Investment (ROI) through BIM.
According to the Australian and New Zealand report, contractors here are more likely to focus on whole of project team benefits through improved BIM processes. Contractors rated more highly (in comparison to architects and engineers), better data integration, functionality and interoperability of the software as the factors most likely to increase the BIM benefits for users. More than half of the contractors who responded also plan to invest in developing collaborative BIM processes which McGraw Hill reports is outpacing the average of all other global regions.
Globally, contractors are reporting that steel fabricators are leaders in the high proficiency use of BIM, followed closely by mechanical contractors. In Australia and New Zealand however, it is the reverse. Furthermore, contractors perceive that the BIM skills among steel and mechanical contractors increases directly with the general contractors’ size and BIM maturity.
Global: Aus & NZ:
It is most likely that these trades can more readily see the immediate financial benefits and process improvements, particularly where they are moving to greater prefabrication. Given that on a typical building project trades make up approximately 83% of construction costs it is expected that BIM will most likely bring about the most immediate savings and benefits to the subcontractors. This is certainly what we are seeing on our 5D projects.
The expectation of owners or even contractors that they should share in those savings is misguided. Even so, there is compelling evidence for owners and contractors to seek out companies that already work in this way as they deliver greater certainty in quality, time and cost for the build.
A case study
Like designers there are many subcontractors in Australia that have chosen to work in 3D because it’s better for their business. In 2009 Mitchell Brandtman’s 5D Quantity Surveying team worked on the award winning Southbank restaurant precinct – River Quay in Brisbane. The designers of the project chose to adopt BIM even though it was not asked for by the client, project manager or contractor.
When it came to construction it was the structural steel sub-contractor that showed the foresight to use the design models as a basis to create fabrication models. Even though the overall project suffered from delays and significant variation the structural steel sub-contract (15% of the entire build) did not incur any delays and variation costs amounted to just 2%. Most interestingly these variations were agreed prior to fabrication of the steelwork.
Fast forward four years to early 2013 where our 5D QS team were engaged by the contractor on the $1.8B Sunshine Coast Public University Hospital to work exclusively with models to drive savings. On Stage One of the project, with just four 5DQS’s we measured over 60,000m³ concrete, 800t post tensioning, 4,500t steel reinforcement and 200,000m² formwork for the150,000 m² hospital and its 95,000m² car park in a little over four weeks.
This provides the clearest evidence to me that as the business case for 3D modelling strengthens through the supply chain, the adoption rate of BIM will naturally accelerate as the “What’s in BIM for me?” becomes more obvious.
What the client wants
Clients will always expect better design and properly coordinated delivery of the project - on time and within budget. BIM is a tool that assists in delivering what the client wants. The technology facilitates the improvement in best practice. The project team should apply BIM because it makes business sense to do so. It generates savings through efficiencies like the development and implementation of any new technology or process should.
When working closely with project teams, contractors and subcontractors across a range of large and small project, our 5DQS team finds that the greatest benefit to everyone is reliable data that can be revisioned quickly and accurately as the design develops. The technology allows for this. What is critical to the process is the understanding of the power of this data and that everyone is aware of its usefulness up and down the chain of supply. Inevitable data anomalies are then able to be identified and rectified collectively and quickly.
Industry Best Practice
The McGraw Hill report makes a strong case for greater education amongst domestically focused and small companies in Australia and New Zealand yet to adopt BIM or who are still at a very low level of implementation.
Whilst the strength of the advocacy of BIM in Australia and the number of organisations collaborating and conversing on how to improve it is essential, developing sound business strategy at the individual level to improve ROI is imperative. This can be achieved through better design and model data management and is likely to have a greater impact on adoption rates and encourage industry best practice. Historically this has always remained the greatest incentive for adoption of any new process or technology.
We know early decisions have a high ability to influence time and costs. We need to look beyond the issues of where we should be on the BIM journey and focus efforts on who can influence best practice at the early stages of design whether that is the designers, programmers, estimators, contractors or sub-contractors.
For more information on construction costs, trends and 5D Quantity Surveying contact David Mitchell , Mitchell Brandtman, 1800 808 289.
SANTANA BRAVE | Michelle Brookes, AISD: BIM Update / 4