BIM Integration and Value Engineering: Design for Assembly, Optimization, and Real Time Cost Visualization in Off-Site Construction

Building Information Modeling (BIM) has revolutionized the way we plan, design, execute, and monitor the built environment. Various stakeholders in different compartments are brought under one umbrella to function as an integrated team in BIM concept. The construction industry is gradually evolving to a manufacturing and product delivery process by collaborating in a multi-disciplinary environment where design for manufacturability and assembly takes precedence. Off-site construction methods like pre-engineered, pre-cast, and modular technology are being adopted in many large span and high-rise building projects due to its cost effectiveness in large volume. Optimization of targeted values viz manufacturability, assembly, schedule, lifecycle cost, and sustainability becomes critical to ensure a smooth execution and maximum value generation of the project. Design for a specific target value according to the utility has been an evolutionary process. The objective of the study is to investigate the impact of BIM in managing and minimizing change orders by design optimization through visualization during the planning process in off-site construction. The study also examines the various factors influencing the smooth interface from design to construction and critically examine the bottlenecks in achieving a near perfect transformation to manufactured construction. Design for Assembly (DfA) approach gives the stakeholders more rationale inputs for monitoring and decision making in a more controlled environment of off-site construction. Design optimization in off-site construction is achieved as a byproduct of the DfA process when real time cost visualization is integrated into BIM framework. Collaboration of disciplines and optimization of resources can make the design-construction interface hitch free to ensure a near perfect BIM execution.