While the timing and causes of changes may be beyond control, effective change management can significantly minimize the impact on project duration and costs. Design changes have a direct effect on project expenses, and frequent modifications to drawings during construction often lead to extended timelines and increased budgets. Poor change management only exacerbates this issue, resulting in uncontrolled costs and schedule delays. However, Building Information Modeling (BIM) applications offer promising solutions to these challenges.
The Center for Integrated Facilities Engineering (CIFE) at Stanford University, based on a statistical analysis of 32 projects, found that BIM technology can eliminate up to 40% of off-budget changes. This reduction is achieved by addressing changes at their source. Visual building information models are easier to modify and refine before construction drawings are finalized. Using 3D design, designers can quickly identify and correct errors early in the process.
3D visualization models accurately represent spatial layouts and pipeline directions across various disciplines, instantly revealing conflicts and improving design quality. This enables comprehensive 3D reviews and greatly reduces errors, collisions, omissions, and deficiencies. Catching and fixing design errors before delivering final plans helps reduce the need for later design changes.
In contrast, traditional two-dimensional designs often lead to inevitable mistakes. Coordination and synthesis using 2D drawings require significantly more effort with less effective results. Problems are usually discovered late and only partially, making it difficult to identify root causes. This often results in numerous design changes during later stages of construction.
BIM enhances design collaboration by making problem identification easier and reducing conflicts among different disciplines. A typical project involves overall layout, architecture, structure, water supply and drainage, electrical systems, HVAC, and power. Additionally, many specialized subcontractors—such as those handling curtain walls, grid structures, steel structures, smart systems, and landscaping—must communicate and coordinate effectively.
By adopting BIM coordination processes, unreasonable or problematic solutions can be identified and resolved early, significantly reducing design changes. BIM enables true collaborative modifications, which can substantially lower development costs. This technology shifts away from the traditional segmented and manual coordination methods, where communication barriers often led to errors.
Research shows that errors within individual disciplines’ drawings are relatively small. Instead, the main causes of design changes are poor coordination between disciplines and between design and construction teams. BIM’s integrated and comprehensive functions effectively address these issues.
During construction, even if changes occur, sharing and managing BIM models allows for effective oversight and dynamic control of design modifications. By associating model file data and enabling remote updates, the building information model stays current with design changes in real time. This reduces the time required for information exchange among designers, owners, contractors, and suppliers.
Such timely updates facilitate prompt claims and approval management, enabling dynamic cost control and organized project administration.
Previously, information delays meant that by the time changes were received, construction was often already complete, forcing costly restarts. This inefficiency frustrated cost engineers, who had to recalculate budgets and adjust designs repeatedly. Only those involved in these processes can truly appreciate the challenges of such setbacks.
Must log in before commenting!
Sign Up