BIMForum: e-Builder talks BIM value for owners versus contractors

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Chicago Construction News staff writer

In the construction industry, everything is big: the projects, the budgets and the opportunity to improve productivity and efficiency. Studies have shown that on some projects, as much as 30 percent of every construction dollar is wasted, exceeding one trillion dollars annually. In an effort to put a stop to this, brothers Ron and Jon Antevy created e-Builder, which is currently used to manage more than $200 billion in active construction projects. The company provides fully integrated, cloud-based construction program management software that helps its customers, the building owners, improve project execution to make the process faster, more efficient, and less expensive.

BIM is one of the latest technologies employed by the construction industry to address inefficiencies, but its advantages differ across market stakeholders. While the idea of BIM has been around for a few decades, it has only recently come to the forefront as a practical addition to the project execution process. While most BIM tools approach the industry from the designer and contractor’s perspective, e-Builder believes the specific needs of the facility owners should also be considered. By breaking down individual needs, specific best practices and useful functionalities become more apparent.

For instance, clash detection is a major BIM benefit for contractors as it allows them to identify issues before construction begins, which were previously only discovered during the actual building process. Most owners on the other hand, do not delve into the same level of detail as the contractor during the construction process, but they naturally remain tied to the project even after the project is complete. Therefore, owners have different needs for access to project information before, during and after construction. They also have a need to ‘connect’ BIM data to other project information before, during and after construction. For owners, the ability to store and easily access BIM data in the cloud and connect that data to other project or building asset information is an important benefit.

While the topic of BIM for contractors versus owners is still new, it’s growing and will likely become a more significant topic of conversation as owners think about the tools and technologies available that can assist them throughout the entire lifecycle of a project.

BIMForum attendees interested in learning about how owners can utilize BIM for project optimization can visit e-Builder at booth 309.

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