Abstract
Specialty trade contractors have increasingly invested in virtual design and construction (VDC) capabilities to virtually model the project, ensure the constructability of the model, engineer its system components, prefabricate its assemblies, and layout the virtual model on-site automatically. This paper investigates the impact of design and scope changes on the performance of VDC tasks by adopting a hybrid research methodology that depends on interviewing and survey samples of electrical contractors. Drivers of VDC cost overruns and best practices to control and recover these costs are presented. This paper provides two contributions to the body of knowledge and industry practice of the construction engineering and management community. First, the paper presents the extent and drivers of the inefficiencies and cost overruns experienced by electrical contractors in managing VDC work scopes. Second, a set of best practices is suggested to manage, plan, and control the performance of VDC tasks of electrical contractors and other specialty contractors.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Data Availability Statement
Data generated or analyzed during the study are available from the corresponding author by request. Information about the Journal’s data sharing policy can be found here: http://ascelibrary.org/doi/10.1061/%28ASCE%29CO.1943-7862.0001263.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank ELECTRI International Foundation for its generous financial support provided for this paper. The authors would like to acknowledge the guidance and feedback of the ELECTRI’s taskforce members. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ELECTRI International Foundation.
References
AIA (American Institute of Architects). (2008). “Document E202-2008 BIM protocol exhibit.” ⟨http://contractdocs.aia.org:800/!SSL!/Multiscreen_HTML5/desktop/Get_Document_Answers/Document_Instruction_Sheets/By_Series/E-Series/E202-2008.htm⟩ (Mar. 1, 2016).
Becerik-Gerber, B., and Rice, S. (2010). “The perceived value of building information modeling in the U.S. building industry.” J. Inf. Technol. Constr., 15(15), 185–201.
BIMForum. (2013). “Level of development specification, draft 1.” ⟨http://bimforum.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/DRAFT-LOD-Spec.pdf⟩ (Sep. 1, 2016).
CIC (Computer Integrated Construction) Research Group. (2010). BIM project execution planning guide, version 2.0, Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA.
Galloway, P. D. (2006). “Survey of the construction industry relative to the use of CPM scheduling for construction projects.” J. Constr. Eng. Manage., 697–711.
Giel, B., and Issa, R. (2013). “Return on investment analysis of using building information modeling in construction.” J. Comput. Civ. Eng., 511–521.
Hanna, A., Boodai, F., and El Asmar, M. (2013). “State of practice of building information modeling in mechanical and electrical construction industries.” J. Constr. Eng. Manage., 04013009.
Langroodi, B. P., and Staub-French, S. (2012). “Change management with building information models: A case study.” Construction Research Congress 2012: Construction Challenges in a Flat World, H. Cai, A. Kandil, M. Hastak, and P. S. Dunston, eds., ASCE, Reston, VA, 1182–1191.
Lowe, R. H., and Muncey, J. M. (2009). “ConsensusDOCS 301 BIM addendum.” ⟨https://www.consensusdocs.org/News/Download/d2458cb3-5ba4-4e2d-bb1d-9fb400cfd2fc?name=ABA-Winter-09-ConsensusDOCS-301-BIM-Addendum-Lowe-and-Muncey.pdf⟩ (Nov. 20, 2016).
Lu, W., Fung, A., Peng, Y., Liang, C., and Rowlinson, S. (2015). “Demystifying construction project time–effort distribution curves: BIM and Non-BIM comparison.” J. Manage. Eng., 04015010.
Patton, M. Q. (2002). Qualitative research and evaluation methods, 3rd Ed., Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA.
Rasdorf, W., Grasso, B., and Bridgers, M. (2010). “Public versus private perceptions on hiring an external program manager.” J. Constr. Eng. Manage., 219–226.
Said, H. (2015a). “Modeling and likelihood prediction of prefabrication feasibility for electrical construction firms.” J. Constr. Eng. Manage., 04015071.
Said, H. (2015b). “Prefabrication best practices and improvement opportunities for electrical construction.” J. Comput. Civ. Eng., 04015045.
Shourangiz, E., Mohamad, M. I., Hassanabadi, M. S., Banihashemi, S. S., Bakhtiari, M., and Torabi, M. (2011). “Flexibility of BIM towards design change.” Proc., 2nd Int. Conf. on Construction and Project Management, Vol. 15, IACSIT, Singapore, 79–83.
SmartMarket. (2008). Building information modeling (BIM): Transforming design and construction to achieve greater industry productivity, McGraw-Hill Construction, New York.
SmartMarket. (2012). The business value of BIM in North America: Multi-year trend analysis and user ratings (2007–2012), McGraw-Hill Construction, New York.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 144 • Issue 1 • January 2018
Copyright
©2017 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Feb 22, 2017
Accepted: Jul 11, 2017
Published online: Nov 15, 2017
Published in print: Jan 1, 2018
Discussion open until: Apr 15, 2018
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Benefit cost ratios
- Building design
- Business management
- Construction engineering
- Construction management
- Contracts and subcontracts
- Design (by type)
- Driver behavior
- Engineering fundamentals
- Financial management
- Hybrid methods
- Infrastructure
- Methodology (by type)
- Practice and Profession
- Project management
- Traffic engineering
- Transportation engineering
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.