Focusing Your Investment in BIM

One of the common assumptions is that larger firms have a better opportunity than smaller firms in their capacity to become early adopters, take on new technologies, or innovate. Although larger firms might have a broader pool of resources, much of the investment is proportionally the same. We have been fortunate enough to help a number of firms implement Revit over the years, and each has looked to focus on different capabilities of the software that best express their individual direction. Although these firms have varied in size and individual desire to take on risk, their investments have all been relatively equal. From big firms to small, the investment ratio consistently equates to about 1 percent the size of the firm. If you consider a 1,000-person firm, that equals about 10 full-time people; however, scale that down to a 10-person firm, and that becomes one person's time for five weeks.

The key to optimizing this 1 percent investment is focusing your firm's energy and resources on the most appropriate implementation objectives. The following list highlights many of the expanded uses that are currently possible using Revit and other BIM tools. Some of these things are core precepts of what BIM is and does, such as 3D visualization; some, like energy modeling, are emerging technologies; and others, such as facility management, are truly cutting edge.

• Construction documentation
  • Coordinated documentation
  • Automated keynoting
  • Consultant coordination (integrating multiple models)
  • Design visualization
  • Scheduling systems/materials/quantities
  • Specifications
  • Furniture, finishes, and equipment (FF&E): tracking/logging/procurement
• Spatial program validation
• Construction
  • Constructability analysis
  • Clash detection
  • Quantity takeoffs
  • Cost analysis/estimating
  • Direct to fabrication
• Traffic studies
• Building performance analysis
  • Rainwater reclamation
  • Photovoltaic potential
  • Energy analysis
  • Lighting analysis
  • Solar impact studies
  • Computational fluid dynamics simulations
  • LEED documentation
• Programming
• Facilities management
  • Asset tracking
  • Trending

Identifying the importance of visualization, analysis, and strategy to your process will help guide you in selecting areas of implementation within your own practice. If your investment (regardless of scale) is focused and well planned, it will yield strong results. When choosing areas of implementation or how much focus to give to these areas, there are no wrong answers. Just choose a path that reflects the comfort level of your firm while maintaining focus on achieving success.

We elaborate on most of these topics throughout the remainder of this book. Using real-world examples, we illustrate a variety of techniques to visualize, analyze, and strategize using Revit.