Impact of BIM-Enabled Design-to-Fabrication on Building Delivery

Design-to-fabrication is an innovative process where the structural engineer of record develops both structural and shop drawings for a project using building information modeling (BIM). This research studies two real-world projects where such a process was applied to the design and installation of concrete reinforcing for the buildings’ foundation and structure. Findings evaluate performance outcomes across two case studies, and compare outcomes to a theoretical baseline estimated by professionals if a standard, design-detail-fabricate process had been applied. Evaluation reveals benefits from design-to-fabrication for both projects. In the case of the federal project, the primary benefit was the ability to start construction a month early and avoid potential liquidated damages. The design-to-fabrication process created several challenges as the result of the out-of-phase delivery of structural and shop drawings to the general contractor. In the case of the medical pavilion, several tangible benefits were directly realized from the implementation of design-to-fabrication, including a streamlined drawing review process and increased accuracy in the shop drawings produced. The contribution of this research is to document, detail, and evaluate the impact of an emerging technological application of BIM on overall building delivery performance.