Ecmweb 8849 Opinion
Ecmweb 8849 Opinion
Ecmweb 8849 Opinion
Ecmweb 8849 Opinion
Ecmweb 8849 Opinion

BIM, BAM, BOOM!

Jan. 20, 2014

It doesn’t seem all that long ago when we mentioned the topic of building information modeling (BIM), we did so with an eye to the future. There were just a handful of the largest, most progressive contractors/designers using this technology on really big and complex projects. But in the last five years or so, this quickly started to change.

A report issued by McGraw-Hill Construction in October 2012 revealed that 74% of contractors were using BIM. According to the report, nearly 40% of BIM users do more than 60% of their work in BIM, and all BIM users reported increased business benefits, including better profits, more accurate documentation, less rework, reduced project duration, fewer claims, and the ability to offer new services.

As software improved and more modeling information was developed by end-users and manufacturers alike, more electrical design firms and electrical contractors also began to leverage the power of BIM on a variety of different types and sizes of projects. We’ve reported on this trend through our annual Top 40 Electrical Design Firm and Top 50 Electrical Contractor research reports. More recently, you can see the adoption of BIM for yourself by reading the Project Spotlight stories we publish each month. BIM was clearly mentioned as a key success factor on a naval hospital project, natural history museum project, and historic railway depot modernization project in recent months.

As this month’s cover story by Amy Fischbach points out, smart electrical contractors are quickly figuring out how to unleash the power of BIM on many different projects. They’re doing so by building blended teams of engineers and field workers, collaborating on the electrical design, constantly communicating with each other throughout the life of the project, strictly adhering to work schedules, leveraging technology to reduce risk, and squeezing everything they can out of prefabrication processes. The story also includes a valuable sidebar that presents Ten Strategies for Success on BIM Projects. For those of you who are too busy to read the full article, these 10 tips are a must read. They would even make for a nice handout to your fellow employees. If you follow the advice offered up in these tips, you’ll easily realize instant savings on your next project.

It’s clear to me the stage has been set for widespread adoption of this technology by many different types and sizes of design firms and construction companies. The Cloud has allowed for better collaboration of files among project participants. It has also enabled faster file transfers. The explosion of mobile devices on job sites puts the most up-to-date project information in the hands of all levels of the organization, including the guys on the front line. The world of virtual design and construction is upon us. If you’re not one of its active participants yet, you could end up getting blown away by your competition.

About the Author

MIKE EBY | Senior Director of Content - Buildings

Mike received a B.S. degree in electrical engineering in 1986 and an M.S. degree in engineering management in 1994 from the University of South Florida. He is currently a member of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Association of Energy Engineers (AEE), and American Society of Business Press Editors (ASBPE).

Prior to joining EC&M as Editor-in-Chief in September 1999, Mike served as the Executive Editor of Transmission & Distribution World magazine for five years. Before joining Penton Media, Mike held various engineering titles within the Substation and Transmission Engineering Groups at Florida Power & Light Co., Juno Beach, FL.

Mike was awarded the Southeastern Electric Exchange (SEE) Excellence in Engineering Award in 1993 and has received numerous regional and national editorial awards for his reporting and writing work in the electrical market.

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