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Automated Estimating and Scheduling Using BIM (AEC in Focus Column)
1 Sep, 2007 By: AIA ,H. Edward GoldbergSeveral BIM programs have evolved to aid contractors.
Although architects and engineers are often mentioned as the main beneficiaries of building information modeling (BIM), the construction industry itself has much to gain because it spends a great deal of money during the construction process itself. One of the major benefits of BIM is that it includes information about length, width, and volume, as well as information about content such as doors, windows, and finishes, all of which can be used for estimation. BIM has yet another benefit for the construction industry: the ability to simulate the actual construction sequence of a project. For contractors, this ability, often called 5D, is often as important as the cost of the components themselves. The correct scheduling of manpower and sequencing of construction events, especially on large projects, can mean the difference between profit and loss.
Beck Technology
www.beck-technology.com
DProfiler with RSMeans is a macro BIM application used in the planning and conceptual design phases to produce an accurate cost estimate of a proposed design and to help owners answer the most fundamental question early in the process — namely, "Should I build this project?" With this software, cost analysis is available during the planning and conceptual design phases. Integration with RSMeans or Sage Timberline data provides real-time access to more than 180,000 cost items so that interactive cost estimating can be performed on the fly while modeling a concept.
DProfiler is simple and easy to use for sketching concepts. The 3D modeling component is full featured and has the ability to model the site, site items, the building envelope, floors, and interiors (figure 1). The model can be viewed from any vantage point, and measuring and takeoff tools make data access and quantification simple.
 Figure 1. DProfiler with RSMeans can be a very valuable pre-construction tool because it can produce estimates to be used downstream within US COST's Success Estimator or Sage Timberline Estimating Extended. |
Innovaya
www.innovaya.com
Taking advantage of BIM, Innovaya Visual Estimating v9.4 performs cost estimating accurately by delivering objects from Autodesk's Architectural Desktop, AutoCAD Architecture, and Revit Architecture to Sage Timberline (figure 2).
 Figure 2. Innovaya Visual Estimating accurately performs cost estimating by delivering objects from Autodesk's Architectural Desktop, AutoCAD Architecture, and Revit Architecture to Sage Timberline. |
The Innovaya products include Visual BIM, Visual Quantification, Visual Estimating, and Composer for Revit Architecture, Architectural Desktop, and AutoCAD Architecture. For construction planning, the company has introduced Innovaya Visual Simulation v3, its 4D application. Everything integrates with Sage Timberline Estimating.
Visual BIM offers visibility controls for 3D objects. It organizes the objects by their building sections as well as the component types. Then users can adjust the visibility and transparency of these objects easily using visibility controls. As a result, object details can be examined thoroughly in 3D view. Visual BIM also offers mark-up and e-mail functions to assist communication among project members. Visual BIM users can enter comments directly onto a snapshot of the 3D design and send it via e-mail to project members.
Visual Quantification performs object quantity takeoff from Autodesk Architectural Desktop or Revit. It can automatically generate complete object quantities directly from a design model. This process usually takes several seconds to complete for the entire building model. The quantities are extracted based on object types and their dimensions. Quantity extraction methods can be user-customized and reused for multiple projects.
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About the Author: H. Edward Goldberg
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