Building Information Modeling (BIM) confusion

Have you ever “BIM” TLA’d to death? 😄    [TLA stands for Three Letter Acronym]

Last week a large contractor shared this BIM (Building Information Modeling) story:

…their client had just seen lots of “cool Building Information Modeling stuff” online and as a result the owner simply asked for “BIM” on their project.

It was interesting to hear how the story unfolded.

Two contractors had already been selected for different phases of this very large project.

In response to the client request for “BIM” Contractor #1 said they would:

create a DPoW with BXP documenting a BIM spec with an MPS using LODs and handover an IFC AIM for all employers MVDs loaded with the FM requirements in COBie format, all in the CDE.

Contractor #2 requested the client’s EIR and promised:

to send the client 27 PLQs so that they could respond with their BEP, get their specific AIRs, expected LOIs, detailed PIP and what they called their “advanced MIDP” including the TIDPs with their respective RMs.

 What happened next?

The client decided that BIM was going to take too much time and the BIM process sounded all too confusing.

Very quickly the client pulled the plug on BIM saying that they would:

“maybe use Building Information Modeling on the next project”

The kicker here was that both contractors actually worked for the same parent company… and 11 months ago their national BIM Director had issued a mandate for more simple and aligned BIM standards across all projects in all regions.

It can feel like we are saving time when using new BIM terminology however to those new to BIM – simply the B.I.M. three letter abbreviation is sometimes enough to grasp.

Isn’t it time to reduce the Building Information Modeling confusion?

We believe in a simple BIM planning approach – simple is better – don’t you agree?

If you care about the glossary here it is! (in order of appearance):

• BIM – Building Information Modeling
• DPoW – Digital Plan of Work
• BXP – BIM eXecution Plan
• MPS – Model Progression Specification
• LOD – Level Of Detail/Development/Definition
• IFC – Industry Foundation Class
• AIM – Asset Information Model
• MVD – Model View Definition
• COBie – Construction Operations Building Information Exchange
• FM – Facilities Maintenance
• CDE – Common Data Environment
• EIR – Employers/Exchange Information Requirements
• PLQ – Plain Language Question
• BEP – also BIM Execution Plan
• AIR – Asset Information Register
• LOI – Level Of Information
• PIP – Project Implementation Plan
• MIDP – Model Information Delivery Plan
• TIDP – Task Information Delivery Plan
• RM – Responsibility Matrix