Was dead set against BIM until a contractor saved my ass with a clash report

I spent 10 years doing everything in plain AutoCAD and thought BIM was just a gimmick for big firms. Then last March on a commercial build in Austin, the MEP contractor sent me a clash detection showing my ductwork running right through a main beam. Fixed it in 20 minutes instead of having a guy on site cut and patch for two days. I still think the learning curve is steep and the software fees are stupid high, but I can't argue with the results on complex jobs. Has anyone else flipped their opinion after a specific project failure or save?

4 comments

4 Comments

shanel1317d ago

That clash report probably saved you from a giant headache, but were you the one who had to set up the BIM model for that contractor to even run the clash detection? I’m curious if the contractor handled all the coordination modeling themselves or if your firm had to hire someone extra just to get the project into the software. My last job on a hospital renovation had the architect resisting BIM until the GC forced them to use it, and the first thing we found was a water line smack through an elevator shaft. Did that one fix change how you bid projects now, or are you still just using BIM when someone else demands it?

kevin_schmidt9712d ago

That part about the water line through the elevator shaft is EXACTLY why I started pushing for BIM on our bigger jobs. You just can't catch that kind of thing on paper unless you're a wizard. For us, it depends on the GC really. Some of the bigger contractors have their own BIM team and they just want our native files, but I've also had smaller GCs that expect us to hand over a fully coordinated model which means I have to hire a sub just to clean up the Revit. That hospital bid you mentioned probably would make me add a small line for BIM coordination on the next one too, but only if I know the contractor doesn't have their own guys.

charles_chen9312d ago

I used to be one of those guys who thought BIM was just extra overhead for the sake of it. But that one clash report changed my mind completely. Before, I'd only hand over whatever files the GC asked for and hope they knew what to do with them. Now I'm way more careful about subcontracting out the modeling up front, even if it costs me a little extra. It's cheaper to pay someone to clean up the Revit model than it is to tear out a pipe that shouldn't have been there in the first place. That job showed me the hard way that waiting for someone else to force you into it just costs more money in the end. I still don't love the software, but I respect what it saves you from.

the_william17d ago

In my experience the contractor usually runs their own coordination model because they're the ones on the hook for field fixes, so you just have to hand over your native files and let them sort it out. That one hospital job actually made me start including a small line item for BIM coordination in bids, but only on projects over a certain size where the risk is worth the extra cost. You don't have to love the software to respect what it does on a Friday afternoon when a clash report keeps a crew from cutting through a shear wall.