What Kind of Building Procurement Is Best When BIM Is Used?

There are many variations of the design-to-construction business process,

including the organization of the project team, how the team members are

paid, and who absorbs various risks. There are lump-sum contracts, cost plus

a fi xed or percentage fee, various forms of negotiated contracts, and so forth.

It is beyond the scope of this book to outline each of these and the benefits

and problems associated with them (but see Sanvido and Konchar, 1999; and

Warne and Beard, 2005).

With regard to the use of BIM, the general issues that either enhance or

diminish the positive changes that this technology offers depends on how well

and at what stage the project team works collaboratively on one or more digital

models. The DBB approach presents the greatest challenge to the use of BIM

because the contractor does not participate in the design process and thus must

build a new building model after design is completed. The DB approach may

provide an excellent opportunity to exploit BIM technology, because a single

entity is responsible for design and construction. The CM@R approach allows

early involvement of the constructor in the design process which increases the

benefit of using BIM and other collaboration tools. Various forms of integrated

project delivery are being used to maximize the benefi ts of BIM and “Lean”

(less wasteful) processes. Other procurement approaches can also benefit

from the use of BIM but may achieve only partial benefits, particularly if BIM

technology is not used collaboratively during the design phase.