The cost of NOT doing BIM! Smartest title of the month!

I was just going through BuildingSmart Korea's The BIM Magazine, Winter 2012 issue and I came across with the smartest title of the month!

THE COST OF NOT DOING BIM

It is an article by Robert Yori, Digital Design Specialist at SOM. The article is looking at BIM from a professional development perspective. In some parts of the article I felt like it focuses more on the personal development.

After reading the article, I started to think about it!

Everything in the article is true but I do not see much resistance to BIM from individuals. We have been receiving more calls for personal trainings than corporate trainings.

Especially in the UAE, professionals see BIM as a new skill that will differentiate them from the others and they are willing to invest to upgrade their skills.

It's the companies who are asking for THE COST OF DOING BIM in their projects and start making calculations, trying to understand if it is feasible.

Well, while writing the sentence even I thought it sounds right:)) But come on!

I am working on a case study of one of our latest projects in which we worked for project owner. According to our calculations, in the pre-construction phase, the implementation of ArchiCAD BIM already saved 40 Million USD! Yes, you read right! I am sure we will help the owner to save more in the construction phase as well.

Everybody is more or less familiar with ArchiCAD License and training or service costs. I think I do not need to mention it's nowhere near 40 Million USD!

Let's focus on THE COST OF NOT DOING BIM rather than THE COST OF DOING BIM...

Diyane Koseoglu
www.bimes.com

How ArchiCAD makes Hospital Projects more successful?

Hospital Projects!

Last year majority of our BIM service works were hospital projects! Especially in the GCC in all the new hospital projects, BIM is mandated by the owner due to the complexity of the projects.

Image from photostock

Most common belief is the MEP modeling and clash detection is the toughest part of the job!

True! It is quite difficult and important but not the most challenging part.

Almost every BIM service provider or company using BIM has good skills and experience with MEP Modeling. I mean it is not a big deal, it is manageable!

The most challenging part for us was the medical equipment! In many meetings with the clients, the first thing they asked us was if we can manage medical equipment! That was the differentiator!

Why?

First of all, most of the BIM software does not have library for Medical Equipment! Except ArchiCAD of course;)) These things looks unimportant for engineers who are new to BIM but actually those are the main criterias that differentiates a mature BIM tool then others.

Here comes some of the medical equipment from ArchiCAD.

Bedside Cabinets from ArchiCAD 15 Library

Dental Chair from ArchiCAD 15 Library

Examination Bed from ArchiCAD 15 Library

Hospital Bed from ArchiCAD 15 Library

Infusion Stand from ArchiCAD Library 15

Would these be enough for your project? Of course not!

Are you going to model your own equipment?

In order to say yes, you should be crazy or extremely hard working. (probably crazy! :))
Some of these medical equipments look like "aliens" with all kinds of strange geometries:)) For example this one.

If I recall correctly, it was an equipment called "finisher" located in the laundry. As you see, it is a nightmare to model this strange thing.

What to do now?

We contacted the manufacturer and asked for the 3D Model. They normally have 3D models for their production and they are willing to provide it to you since it means "Sales" for them.

They send it in 3D DWG file format!

We directly converted it to GDL and guess what happened?

The files size of the object was close to the files size of the total hospital model:)))

After a short period of depression, we decided to open it in 3DMAX and reduce the polygon numbers, convert to 3DS file format and then take into ArchiCAD.

That was pretty successful and we found many major clashes!

As a result, we were happy, our client was happy and their client was also happy:)))

Cheers,

Diyane Koseoglu
www.bimes.com

Design-Bid-Build or Design-Build? Which one embraces BIM better?

Design-Bid-Build or Design-Build

 Image from

These are the two main contract methods in the Middle East. Probably US is also similiar.

Owners loves the first one. Design-Bid-Build.

 Image from Ambro

Why?

Because they can get competitive prices for each phase of the project. First they let the consultants to fight for getting the design job, decrease their profit especially on these days of recession.

Then comes the second part. Now it's contractors turn to bid.

Seems like a smart method for the owner.

Is it?

Each party is responsible for a certain task in the project. For instance an architect is involved in the design part only. He will try to avoid any liability for the later stages of the project. He may not include enough details in the drawings to facilitate accurate bids in the tender.

What will happen then?

Image from Stuart Miles

Disputes, claims etc. The consultant and the contractor becomes enemies.

This is the worst thing that an owner would want in a project. A project can only succeed if all the parties work as a team.

I can hear you saying but the owner can get Project Managers to protect his rights. True! But it comes with an extra cost.

So far the problems were not even related to BIM.

Now, let me tell you about my experience so far.

Consultant builds the BIM Model for design phase. It looks pretty. You can generate basic documentation out of it.

Is it useful for the contractor? NO!

If you do not take the required construction information into consideration in early stages of the modeling, adding it in a later stage will take much more time than remodeling.

I have not seen a model coming from a consultant which can be used by the contractor so far.

In most of the cases, the contractor has to build his own BIM Model.

At the end of the day, the owner pays for this additional cost indirectly.

Is there a solution for this?

 Image from Andy Newson

Yes and No!

VICO developed a Model Progression Specification (MPS) system which allows the consultant to prepare the model in a way that the contractor can use it as well.

But even this requires, early involvement of the contractor in the project and also very good relations between the project parties.

What about Design-Build?

This is my favorite!

In the Middle East contractors get involved with both types of contracts. When a contractor decides to implement BIM into their organization and ask our advise for the pilot project, we always recommend to start with a Design-Build project.

Why?

 Image from Stuart Miles

The earliest you start with BIM, the more benefits you get from BIM.

If the project is Design-Build, you have the power to start BIM from the very beginning of the project.

Not only this, but also you can start BIM the way you want. Your BIM team will take your construction needs into consideration at an early stage and implement MPS properly.

Ohh! I can hear you saying what about IPD? Well, the industry is still experimenting with it. Unfortunately in Middle East I have not seen any examples of projects delivered with IPD yet.

I believe once the BIM expertise of the construction industry in the Middle East matures, IPD will be the preferred contract type as well.

 Image from Idea go

Wow! This became a very long and serious post. I hope you have not get bored while reading.

If you did, let me share something very interesting with you.

I was looking at the Stats page of the blog this morning and found very interesting "Search Keywords":)

Some people searched for the below keywords and ended up in our blog:)))

• pest control 4 construction
• united arab emirates crazy pictures

 Well, I do not want to comment further:)))

Enjoy your week!

Diyane Koseoglu
www.bimes.com

Diyane's Top 10 ArchiCAD Features - # 1

# 1 - Shell Tool

Bridge between creative design minds and the construction.

First of all it is FLEXIBLE and gives the designer full FREEDOM!

However it is not feature which makes Shell Tool unique!

There are several tools in the market which allows you to model your "crazy" ideas.

But how many of them can actually link it to the real life construction? How many of them can actually generate proper documentation with including all the components of a structure?

Not many!

Amongst these few, Shell Tool has the most versatile documentation features. The ability of using composite fills is an awesome features which sets Shell Tool apart from the competition.

In my opinion, this is what construction industry needs these days!

So Shell Tool deserves to get the Gold Medal in my list!

Cheers,
Enjoy Your Weekend!

Diyane Koseoglu
www.bimes.com

Diyane's Top 10 ArchiCAD Features - # 2

# 2 - BIM Server

I hesitated  a lot about placing BIM Server to Number 2 or 1.

It ended up getting the Silver Medal:)

Why BIM Server made it's place to TOP 2?

 1- During the development of BIM Server, I had the opportunity to see the development team, the amount of work put into it's development, the cautiousness for the safety of data. I think it had the longest beta testing period ever. Users were dying to get the BIM Server as soon as possible but Graphisoft refused to release it until they are 100% sure that it works perfectly.  

2- IT IS FAST!

3- IT IS PROBLEM FREE! Believe me or not, we are providing more technical support on the Network Dongle sharing then BIM Server:))

4- IT IS USER FRIENDLY!  This is very important. You spend 6-8 hours of your time on this software and you would hate your life it wasn't user friendly. 

5- Internal Messaging System! Off this is one of my favorites. In one of our early implementations we were using it even for deciding what to eat:))

In 2009, when Graphisoft released it, I was expecting  the competition to come up with a similiar solution which utilizes Delta Server technology within 2-3 years.

It's 2012 and still no one is even close to Graphisoft's BIM Server!

Enjoy using the cutting edge technologies of Graphisoft:))

Diyane Koseoglu
www.bimes.com

Diyane's Top 10 ArchiCAD Features - # 3

# 3 - Multi Processor and 64 bit Support

270.000 m2
  42.000 m2
  82.000 m2
  85.000 m2

These are the built up areas of some of the projects that BIMES have provided BIM services within last year.

In the rest of the world, these size of projects are quite rare. Only few "big boys" get the opportunity of getting involved in them.

However in the Middle East, these are regular numbers. As an architect / engineer, you deal with these kind of projects everyday.

The fact that ArchiCAD supports both Multi Processors and 64 bit is an extremely important factor here. The video below explains how these technologies improve your productivity.

I have no idea how people are investing in BIM software which does not support Multi Processing fully. It is like buying a Lada and racing against Ferrari. (I hope this is a good example. I do not understand much about cars :)

If your BIM Software does not take advantage of the latest technology of the available hardware, how can you commit to Billion Dollar projects?

I saw many companies, doing a basic model just for design coordination and than switching to 2D CAD for shop drawings. Is this real BIM?

NOT AT ALL!

Thanks to the great development team behind ArchiCAD, we do not make such "Mickey Mouse" business!

Diyane Koseoglu
www.bimes.com

Diyane's Top 10 ArchiCAD Features - # 4

#4 - Complex Profiles


ArchiCAD 10 one was one of the best versions of ArchiCAD in history. I believe it was the first page of a new chapter in ArchiCAD development.

It was the first version which ArchiCAD started to force the limits of design with the introduction of Complex Profiles.

When I first saw the demo, I thought "This is a great tool for free form shapes!"

But I was wrong!

This is not only a great tool for free form shapes but also an amazing tools for construction details.

Look at the parapet above.

Thanks to the ability of generating high quality documentation from complex profiles, the amount of drafting done on the above sheet is at minimum.

I can hear you saying "But modeling takes time!"

Not really! Compared to the drafting work, It is nothing! Plus it is more fun:)

The ability of  managing any kind of cross section with the correct materials both in 2D and 3D is another great advantage.

I am sure there are many more situations where Complex Profiles can be a life saver.

If you have please feel free to share...

Ohh! Before saying goodbye, I wanted to share one more thing. Shoegnome  has great tutorials on complex profiles. Here comes the link for them.

Edit:
I created a screen capture from the model however it might be an older version since I received the PDF some time later than the model.

Enjoy!

Diyane Koseoglu
www.bimes.com

Diyane's Top 10 ArchiCAD Features - # 5

# 5 - Import Surveyors Data

Converting Splines to Mesh levels with the help of Magic Wand was one of the "must to have" exercises of ArchiCAD trainings back in Turkey since it is a very mountainous country.

However that was not the case in the UAE. Most of the Emirates are extremely flat. Great for cycling and builders:)) Mesh tools was no longer "must to have" part of our trainings.

Then the 2009 recession came!

Most of the offices located in the Emirates started to look for projects in Libya, Iraq, Saudi, Qatar etc. For instance Iraq's geography is quite different than UAE. Full of mountains!

Image from Luxury House Design Concept

The site and slope becomes a very important design criteria!

A client of us recently got a job in Iraq! They received the surveyor's data and immediately called us.

- Hi guys! I know you showed us this how to import surveyor's data into ArchiCAD in one of the new features trainings but we never used it so far. Do you mind reminding it to us?"

- Well, you are lucky! It is not a complicated command. Design > Place Mesh from Surveyors Data and select the text file. ArchiCAD will do the rest:)

Of course, life is not that easy!

5 minutes later, Jothi received another call saying it did not work. We requested text file to check and noticed that the problem is very very simple but hard to see.

The number of digits decreased after a certain point and ArchiCAD did not read the remaining part. So to fix it, we added "0" to the beginning of each new number.

Later we noticed that this numbering system also depends on the equipment that the surveyor uses. We received the text file of the same site from a different surveyor company and that did not have the same digit problem at all.

Anyway, although it was a small one it still took us 2 hours to find the problem.

After solving this issue, the team finished their proposal for the master planning within 2 days! Yes, within 2 days!

A couple of days later, I came across with their CEO and he said "Diyane, now I truly believe in BIM. Our BIM team finished their proposal for Iraq project in 2 days. It would take 2 weeks if I gave that job to the other teams working traditionally!"

So yes! We love Import Surveyors Data feature very much:)))

Diyane Koseoglu
www.bimes.com

Diyane's Top 10 ArchiCAD Features - # 9

#9 is Image Fill!

Yes, seems like a tiny little feature but it makes your daily work a lot more easier.

Now, let's think what we would be doing if we didn't have image fills.

Sunday, first day of the week! You are already in Sunday depression.

You are drinking your coffee and preparing your "To Do" list for the day.

#1 - Prepare presentation for Koseoglu Villa

You feel like going back home. You remembered the last meeting with the client. She is a very fussy house wife and she is obsessed with the tiles. (This is my mom)

You modeled the villa with the tiles and presented it to her but she says she is feeling dizzy while navigating in the model and asked for floor plans like the one in the brochure she was holding.

Now, you need to export your plans to Photoshop and add the floor finishes room by room.

You are done!

Next item in the to do list!

Nooo! Not that easy!

You check your email and the client, the husband this time, informs you about the changes in the design!

Oups! You need to redo everything. Modify the model, export the plan to Photoshop and add the finishes!

Not nice, hey!

Thanks to Image Fills, you can do this within ArchiCAD without exporting to any other software!

If you want to see how see the video below!

Enjoy!
#8 will be announced tomorrow!
Diyane Koseoglu
www.bimes.com

Diyane's Top 10 ArchiCAD Features - # 10

Why do we love ArchiCAD? I am sure you all have your own reasons!

And I have mine:))

In order to build the excitement we are starting from the last one:)))

10 - Curtain Wall Tool

With no doubt, ArchiCAD's Curtain Wall Tool is the most sophisticated curtain wall tool amongst all the BIM Software. I have heard this statement from "implementation specialists" of other vendors too.
Why ArchiCAD's Curtain Wall is the best?

Custom Caps and Frames!

The ability to create custom components even for caps and frames! This feature impresses all the BIM Gurus regardless of their favorite software.

Flexibility!

When Graphisoft released ArchiCAD 12 and introduced Curtain Wall, the product designer created a small mountain house using only this tool. Walls, roofs, railings... Basically everything was made of curtain wall. (Dont' get me wrong! I am not saying forget all the other tools and use curtain wall only:)) I look for some pictures of it but unfortunately no chance this time.

There is a nice article on AECbytes which I enjoyed reading. Curtain wall is used to model decking!


Free Rotate in 3D!

Curtain wall is the first tool which Graphisoft introduced the new "Free Rotate" command in 3D. As you remember the first seeds of free form modeling was sown with ArchiCAD 10, introduction of Complex Profiles. Free Rotate development was a continuation of "give designers more freedom" movement and I really appreciate it:))

Perfect Coordination between Model and Documentation

I saw many free form curtain wall models done with other softwares. They look all pretty from a distance but when you go into details... OMG! The joints are not correct, surfaces explodes in certain parts! You basically can not generate proper documentation out of it!

In ArchiCAD, you would not experience this!

#9 will be announced tomorrow!
PS: Feel free to share your Top 10 :)

Diyane Koseoglu
www.bimes.com

Should quantity surveyors fear BIM?

Should quantity surveyors fear BIM?

They definitely do fear BIM but the questions is should they?

No, not at all!

I have been planning to write a post about this for quite a long time but always something else was poping up.

Until today:) I saw this as a discussion topic on LinkedIn.

As you know, I do not like reading long and boring stuff. I quickly skim the text and if it is really something to spend my time and energy I would read it carefully then.

And, the first comment on the discussion just stroke me!

Wow! If I was gonna write the blog post, it would be within the same lines with Gary Bowen's comment. (His English is better than me tough :))

Here comes his comment that I 100% agree:

"Quantity Surveyors "fearing BIM" is becoming an increasingly common statement to make, as the initial reaction to BIM is usually that the QS's job is threatened with automatic takeoff processes. But in practice, this is clearly not the case. A fundamental aspect which is rarely covered by those who bring up this, is, 'Where can the QS provide value for developers on BIM projects?'

Very few QS's provide value by quickly rattling off the automatically generated volume of concrete below grade for example. Whether it's a BIM or traditional project, the key deliverable of a QS does not change - therefore there is no need to fear BIM as no change in a process will replace that deliverable.

Even if the QS is provided with a full breakdown of quantities in the model, in practice, these are rarely in the format required for pricing. After formatting assemblies and schedules into standardized pricing formats like materformat or uniformat etc, only one stage has been achieved. I.e. Only the model has been measured and priced. This is not the required task a QS should focus on... A QS should provide value by pricing the 'project' and not the 'model' - i.e. what elements of the model are missing, how much risk should be applied, is the building an efficient shape, are life-cycle costing options a high importance on this project, is the cost plan amount expected to be the final construction cost etc etc. By reducing the time taken to compute the quantities, the QS can then focus on more billable hours by providing these services. Providing value for a facility will never be replaced by others automatically generating quantities.

Perhaps fearing the initial investment in upgrading computers & software to handle models may be a 'fear' for small-medium companies, but I assume your question refers to general implementation and processes. In short, people should embrace the new opportunities and look forward to overcoming some of the road-bumps on the way."

I hope you enjoyed it too!
Have a fabulous weekend!
Diyane Koseoglu
www.bimes.com

Learn ArchiCAD during March, 2012

Hi Everyone!

Although I have recommended self-studying on this blog earlier, we have received quite a lot of applications for a classroom training.

It seems like nothing supersedes the face-to-face experience when it comes to learning.

So yes, we organized a new training session!

ArchiCAD 15 Essentials Training will take place in Canadian University of Dubai on the 11, 13, 15, 18, 20, 22, 25 March 2012. It consists of 7 evening classes and total cost is 3500 AED. For more information on the course content please click here.

The training will be conducted by Jothi whom you know from the famous technical videos such as Shell Tool in Action and ArchiCAD TeamWork Project Restore from Backups on a Different Computer.

He is one of the best ArchiCAD trainers I have ever seen. Very patient and he explains even the most complex commands in the simplest possible way. I am sure you will agree with me after the training:)

Upon completion of training you will receive Graphisoft Training Certificate which is internationally accepted. Great value for your profile.

By the end of the training, you will be able to understand the overall workflow of ArchiCAD. If I need to speak with facts, you should be able to get a result over 50 on ArchiCAD Competency Challenge.

Of course, this training will not make you an ArchiCAD guru.

It requires some more training and also some hands-on practice on a real project.

If you are interested you can register online directly from here.

Diyane Koseoglu
www.bimes.com

Backup your BIM Server in one go!

Good Morning Everyone!

Today's post is again about ArchiCAD and BIM Server and how to backup it in one go.

This time it is a pre-disaster planning rather than a post-disaster planning scenario:)

Jothi explains how to back up your complete BIM Server (including all the projects, users, access right etc) in one go. You can use this method when you are moving the BIM Server from one computer to another or just changing the location.


I hope you will enjoy it:)

Diyane Koseoglu
Jothi Shanmugam
www.bimes.com

Where are the BIMers of the Middle East?

My new hobby is to check the "stats" page of our blog. I am checking it out almost every 2 hours as long as I have internet access.

I am like a kid at the moment. Every new hit is making me so happy that you can not even imagine:)

Last week, when I was checking the "Audience" part I was shocked!

In the Top 10, there is no single country from Middle East.

Let me give you the list of top 10 countries of last week:)

This reminds me the BuildingSmart's "BIM in the Middle East 2011" survey.

In that report, United States was the first country in terms of number of BIM users and it was followed by Western Europe.

Tough I am no longer sure about the "25%" of GCC:)) If this number is correct then where are you guys? May be the BIMers in the Middle East do not really enjoy reading:))

Just kidding! Our earlier posts such as BIM vs Outlook,  BIM for Kids and Shell Tool in Action were very popular in the Middle East and North Africa as well.

Anyway, thank you very much for following our blog! Every and each member of BIMES team is very very pleased seeing that our efforts on this blog is really appreciated by the BIM community all over the world:)

Have a great day!

Diyane Koseoglu
www.bimes.com