Building Information Modelling (BIM): The Future for Tradies

Building Information Modelling (BIM) has become a game-changer in the construction industry, revolutionising how projects are conceptualised and executed. In our first-ever blog post, we will delve into the impact of BIM on tradies and contractors and explore their unique relationship with it.

Picture this: a construction project where all building services trades are on the same page and working cohesively towards a common goal: building quickly with minimal errors and reworks.

That's the power of BIM (when appropriately executed, that is, but more to that in future posts). Tradies can bid farewell to the days of deciphering complex drawings of someone else's trade and trying to work out if that piece of kitchen exhaust duct is in the way of the stormwater pipe.

But how exactly does BIM benefit tradies and contractors? Let's take a closer look from the perspective of the four main trades in a typical design-and-construct project in Australia: Mechanical, Fire, Electrical, and Plumbing. In simple terms, BIM allows for detailed coordination between these trades, minimising clashes and conflicts during the construction phase.

By visualising the entire project in a virtual environment, the contractors engaged by the builder can preemptively identify clashes and resolve them before they become costly problems on-site. It's like having a crystal ball to predict and mitigate clashes before materials are purchased or prefabrication works even begin.

Many articles overcomplicate the definition of BIM, but from the perspective of the building services trades, the definition of BIM is simple.

In most cases, Autodesk Revit is utterly unavoidable if the project stakeholders decide to implement BIM on the project. Everyone will have to be in it to realise the benefits fully. Sometimes, there are odd projects when not everyone uses Revit; for example, I have seen jobs where the Mechanical contractor decides to stick to AutoCAD MEP or the architect still uses Graphisoft Archicad. When this happens, it adds extra steps to collaborate and implement BIM.

Efficiency and productivity are the lifeblood of any construction project, and BIM has proven to be a powerful ally. For example, Autodesk BIM 360 provides a cloud platform for all contractors, including the project's architect, to upload their respective Revit models. Members across all companies can access these models in real-time, allowing seamless collaboration and eliminating the need for traditional file-sharing methods like Dropbox. Since Autodesk created BIM 360 as a part of Revit, updates are seamless and almost real-time. In its most straightforward setup, when a modeller makes a change and hits the synchronise button, Revit will save the change and update the model in BIM 360. All the other parties just need to hit 'Reload Latest', and Revit will pull the latest changes from BIM 360, all done automatically! No more fiddling around downloading and superseding old models.

Now, embracing new technology can come with challenges, and BIM is no exception. Learning to navigate and utilise BIM tools may require time and effort. However, the benefits far outweigh the learning curve. In future blog posts, I will dig deeper into what each software mentioned above does and the role it plays in this.

So, where is BIM heading in Australia?