The construction phase is the primary stage where resource consumption and costs are generated in construction projects. Therefore, implementing effective cost management during this phase is crucial. By integrating BIM technology with 3D models and adding time and cost elements, a 5D BIM model is created. This model provides all essential data for cost management and construction planning to all project participants. It enables the development of reasonable resource plans, dynamic querying of project quantities, multi-comparison calculations, and restricted material requisition, ultimately enhancing the management of engineering costs.
1. Enhancing Drawings for Better Results. After the bidding process concludes and the winning construction unit is selected, the next step involves design disclosure and drawing review to identify and resolve design errors. This reduces rework and changes caused by design problems during construction. Traditional 2D drawings often fail to fully convey design intent. Furthermore, construction, design, and supervision units review drawings separately according to their needs, without sharing information, making it difficult to spot design issues comprehensively.
With BIM technology, drawing reviews are conducted using a visual 3D model accessible to all participants, making design intent easier to understand and improving drawing interpretation. Additionally, BIM offers a unified collaborative platform that integrates data from various disciplines. Collision detection tools help intuitively identify and correct design conflicts, minimizing claims and delays caused by design errors during construction. This approach saves costs and supports effective cost control.
2. Optimizing Construction Organization Design. BIM technology allows various construction plans to be tested, adjusted, and optimized within BIM models. Using precise quantity data from the BIM model, combined with construction plans and actual site conditions, a schedule is developed. Virtual construction through BIM-4D technology helps refine the process flow, creating a detailed and feasible construction schedule that avoids idle work and saves costs.
The BIM-5D model includes not only physical and functional component information but also time and cost data. By selecting the construction period sequentially according to project progress, the resource needs for each period and component can be simulated. This facilitates the creation of a reasonable resource plan to maximize the use of funds, labor, machinery, and materials, reduce resource waste, alleviate storage pressures, enforce limited material requisition, and control costs effectively.
3. Accurate and Efficient Change Cost Assessment. Changes inevitably occur during construction, affecting quantities, schedules, and increasing actual costs beyond initial plans. Rapidly managing these changes and controlling their cost impacts is essential. Traditionally, change costs are manually calculated, which is time-consuming and labor-intensive.
With BIM-5D technology, only the altered components in the model need to be updated. Related components adjust automatically, and quantity changes are analyzed in real time. This allows accurate measurement of changes and cost calculation, enabling timely, data-driven responses to impacts on the construction plan.
By inputting change data into the BIM model, all stakeholders can view updated information consistently. BIM-5D technology supports on-site comparisons, analyzes the validity of change claims, and determines claim costs based on automatically calculated quantities. This process makes change claims faster and more accurate, reducing disputes.
4. Fast and Accurate Project Progress Payments. Typically, progress payments are settled by having the construction unit calculate completed quantities and project prices based on approved progress reports (monthly or quarterly). These calculations are submitted for owner and engineer approval before payments are made. In traditional models, data related to changes, budgets, and progress are held separately by different professionals, leading to complex workflows and difficulties in timely, accurate progress measurement. Owners must also invest significant effort to analyze and verify completed quantities.
BIM-5D technology links time with the model, dynamically updating data in real time based on site conditions and progress. This data is shared promptly via the BIM platform. Selecting the settlement period allows the software to automatically and accurately summarize quantities and generate cost documents, streamlining the preparation of measurement reports and payment applications. Owners can quickly review and approve payments through shared BIM data, reducing disputes, improving efficiency, and lowering time costs.
5. Implementing True Dynamic Cost Analysis. Dynamic cost analysis continuously calculates and evaluates actual costs at each construction stage, comparing them with budgeted and target costs to assess profitability, identify overspending, and support cost control measures. It is a critical tool for managing engineering costs.
Traditionally, dynamic cost analysis is done after phase completion and typically focuses on unit projects, limiting the detail of cost insights. This makes it challenging to detect process cost issues or perform granular analysis.
Using a BIM-5D model during construction allows real-time progress tracking and visual display of fund usage. Costs can be calculated quickly across multiple dimensions—time, process, and space—and compared with budgets and targets. This enables timely detection and correction of deviations, avoiding losses and enabling effective dynamic cost management.
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