BIM Environment: Quantity Surveyor’s Information Lifecycle.

BIM Environment: Quantity Surveyor’s Information Lifecycle Abstract: With the increasing implementation of Building Information Modeling, the quantity surveyors’ fundamental responsibility of measuring and pricing is being challenged. For the continuation of their professional position within the industry, quantity surveyors need to be able to find information and knowledge based services provided, where requires quantity surveyor’s insight view and analysis on the information from various sources. However, throughout the building process quantity surveyors make decisions based on subjective judgments about the value and quality of the information; still they rarely find the key information to get the task done. The value and quality of information are both different in nature; information quality is context-independent, while the value of information content-dependent. The quality and value of information are inherently difficult to quantify, and so there is a lack of methodologies on assessing information value and quality. The research poses the following challenges to quantity surveyors: "How can we identify high value information within quantity surveying firms? Is it possible to establish a filter mechanism to record the high value information for reusing and help quantity surveyors judging the value of information?" This paper looks to investigate quantity surveyor’s information life-cycle within design centre environment. Investigation throughout people, process, and technology indicate that existing working flow is hard to be changed. At current stage of BIM, its contribution is focusing on bills of quantities. Because of lacking of a sufficient filter mechanism, quantity surveyor can not provide the insight view of information, where already been recorded throughout construction project process, e.g. Life Cycling Costing (LCC). Technology is available on providing such service, but the development on such system is stopped. Keywords: value of information, quantity surveyor, building information modelling (BIM), Life Cycling Costing. Introduction Quantity surveyors exist everywhere in the construction industry (Poon 2003). Conventionally, quantity surveyors’ services are utilizing at the stage of costing a design, e.g. the preparation of preliminary estimates and feasibility studies, cost plans and schedules; and the production of procurement and construction documentation. (Ashworth & Hogg, 2007) Due to increasingly sophisticated computer applications, e.g. Microsoft Excel, Buildsoft, and Computer Aided Taking-off (Matipa, Kelliher, & Keane, 2008), as well the emerging of Building Information Modeling (BIM), quantity surveying is argued to be a dying profession. (Aouad et al., 1993; Olatunji, Sher, & Gu, 2010) Notwithstanding the observation shows that there has been a suppressed demand for the essentially traditional and technical skills of surveyors(RICS, 2002), ‘costing a design’/’design to a cost’ is still where quantity surveyor can contribute their knowledge and skill. The main reason is that it is difficult to produce estimation at conceptual stage (Matipa et al., 2008) because they require the ability not to count the bricks, windows, and doors but the ability to presume the specific product information in line with the designing concepts. However, quantity surveyors are struggling on meet the demand for ‘value for money’ by wasting their time on measuring and lacking of the insight of information. Regarding measurement, not till recently, quantity surveyors typically begin by digitizing the architect’s drawings, or importing their CAD drawings into a Computer Aided Taking off(CATO) package, or doing measurement manually, where consuming 50~80% of quantity surveyor’s time spending just on quantification. (Revit, 2006; Sabol, 2008) On the other hand, concentration on technology over last 20 years (National Computing Centre, 2010) leads to the development of object-oriented CAD and a further step to BIM, which offers a common information repository for all participants, including quality, time and cost information together. BIM is claimed to release quantity surveyor from the tedious task of quantifying, and allows them to focus on higher value project-specific factors, e.g. identifying construction assemblies, generating pricing, factoring risks etc. (Barker, 2011; Matipa et al., 2008; Matthews, 2011; Revit, 2006; Sabol, 2008) Although BIM is academic sounds, and opens opportunities for quantity surveyor concentrating their attention on high-value factors, but the responds from industry is not good as we expected (Howell & Batcheler, 2005). “BIM is best viewed as just one of many purpose-built models, as a ‘source’ of information about the building, rather than being viewed as a ‘destination’ for every item of information about the project.” From this point of view, BIM is a concept for organizing and sharing building information, which are far from fully mature as well. The level of detail is still varying depending on the project phase. (Sabol, 2008) suggested that ‘Firms employing BIM will need to develop methods and standards for object development that support the level of detail required for useful estimates, as well as provide a framework for providing consistent information for the BIM components tallied by cost estimators’. Regarding the technological part, there are varies applications lead BIM to Costing, e.g. Application Programming Interface (API), and ODBC connection (Revit, 2006), which all depend on production of consistent shared information across the project. It is crucial that populate the database with the relevant information, as if information is incomplete or out of date or inaccurate, the representations and coordination can be misled. (Harty, Throssell, Jeffrey, & Stagg, 2010) Consequently, it leads to a fundamental question ‘What information must be exchanged by parties in order to meet their respective responsibilities?’.(Chiara & Talbot, 2006) BIM assemble and shape various actors involving in the project, and brings a new way of managing information and collaborating throughout the project. Information will not necessarily be scarce in BIM, though well-analysed, well presented, and well-disseminated information is not always available. It is prudent to evaluate information, not only of quality but also value for consolidating the use of BIM. Thus a sufficient information evaluation methodology, to filter high value information for reuse, retain, and accumulate, is urgently required in quantity surveying organisations. BIM in Reality from a perspective of QS Searching for a definition of BIM, which varies at the beginning, different software vendors provide varies definitions. (Raic Practice Building, 2007) Till recently, academics and industry participants reached the consensus that incorrectly seen as a technological solution to object-oriented CAD, BIM’s core heart is sharing and exchanging information. BIM is placing ‘information’ at the heart of the construction process(National Building Specification, 2011; National Institute of Buidling Sciences, 2007), where enhanced visualization and automatic scheduling is a side part. National Building Specification (2011) also revealed that 45% responds just aware of BIM, plus 13% aware and currently using BIM, by holding the definition that ‘Building Information Modelling is the process of creating and using electronic data models of buildings to facilitate a co-ordinated understanding of a broad range of real world building issues, both as a design/specification tool and as an analytical tool for achieving statutory approvals or client driven performance requirements.’ People Nowadays, the key difference between recent debate and the original one is that BIM is being used on some major projects universally, e.g. the Freedom Tower in New York City, BIM solution: Autodesk REVIT (Autodesk, 2005), The Bart’s and The London Hospital project, BIM solution: Autodesk Architectural Desktop(Harty et al., 2010), refurbishment of the Sydney Opera House, BIM solution: Bentley’s BIM tools(Bentley, n d), and the Eureka Tower in Melbourne, BIM solution: Graphisoft’s ArchiCAD(GRAPHISOFT, 2002). Without commenting on any one specific BIM system, it does serve well to demonstrate some of BIM’s inherent limitations by studying these live projects. (Howell & Batcheler, 2005) Figure 1 QS Working flow with BIM implementation (adopted from (Xu & Tang, 2011)) Tangible container: Drawings (with physical feature of building And their meaningful relationship) Building Information Model Data Quantity surveyor Using CATO etc. Viewed as Informatio n Fragment Co b nt E ea ex Measurements on .g. ring tTi buildings tle Viewed as Tangible Information Entity: E.g. Taking off Bill of quantities Information Object Viewed as Al st o n g an w da ith rd s ith w s g rd Standard Methods on nd a l of Measurement A ta s Intangible Information Entity: Knowledge Alien with Building Information Modeling Viewed as Checking on SMM API, ODBC connection Data Viewed as Informatio n Fragment Co b nt E ea ex Measurements on .g. ring tTi tle buildings Viewed as Tangible Information Entity: E.g. Taking off Bill of quantities Information Object Literature review on the lessons learned from these real project, as well considering BIM from a measurement and costing perspective, figure 1 above shows the comparison between traditional workflow within quantity surveying firm and workflow in BIM solutions, on the left is the traditional working flow of quantity surveyors, which interpreting drawings manually, however, with inexorable advance of computing technology, quantity surveyor’s productivity is improving by Computer Aided Taking off (CATO). BIM solutions, which mainly consist of object-oriental CAD, is claimed to automate the tedious task of quantifying. However, the reality is that BIM data still need to be filtered that they can comply with the rules, the Standard Methods of Measurement(SMM). (Olatunji et al., 2010) Therefore, quantity surveyors still need to spare times on measurement by checking their compliance with SMM. Additionally, figure 1 also implies one limitation that being discovered from live project, which is sharing BIM information as drawing files. This phenomenon is against the definition of BIM, but existing in the real world. (Howell & Batcheler, 2005) This discussion is beyond this research, but address the problem that it is not reasonable to expect that the use of BIM can influence or abandon the project team’s individual work process, or switch the tools they familiar with. Process During traditional process of construction project, accurate, practical costing information is difficult to be defined, especially in the early stages, e.g. preliminary design. With the adoption of BIM, which a new concept on organizing information throughout project, project information at these early stages is still general and at a high level, e.g. number occupants, gross square feet area, and enclosed volume. Standard CAD, Object-oriental CAD, and now BIM, technologies have provided information far in excess of what is needed. Detailed and poor organized models can confuse decisionmaking, unless delineating what information is required to support the decision-making processes. Figure 2 Quantity surveyor’s service during phases of construction project Preliminary Design Design Pricing feedback Exporting quantities And components information Bidding Procurement Construction Operations Information Services BIM Model Level (Proposed) Pre-Project Planning Cash flow analysis Cost Estimation Cost plan Bills of Quantities Tendering Documents Certification of Payments Valuation Contract Pricing Final Account Variation orders Information generated by phases Discrepancy feedback Value for money Analysis Lesson learned database Exporting quantities Track changes Pricing feedback Life Cycling Costing Non-Building Costs Non-building Costs Building Related Costs Building Costs Administration Financing Legal Surveys Land purchase Fees Furniture & Equip. Contingencies · · · · · · · · · · · Building Related Costs · · Building Costs · · Site development Financing Taxes Construction · · Sitework Foundations · · · Variation orders Certificates Building Costs Architectural Building systems Floor systems Columns Roof systems · · · · · · Building Costs · Structural Building systems Exterior wall · Interior wall · Exterior Glazing · Doors · Specialties · · Building Costs · Conveying system · Plumbing · Fire protection · Heating, Ventilating· Air conditioning · Electrical Building Related Costs Mechanical Building systems Electrical Building systems · · · · Operation Maintenance Replacements Alterations General Conditions Overhead and Profits Management fees Design Contingency Escalation BIM impact on cost 120% 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% General Conditions Structural Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing Finishes Overall A study had been conducted throughout the construction project phases to reveal the contribution of BIM on the quantity surveyors’ work. (See above Figure 2) Start from cost plan, at the conceptual level, costing is generally based on templates from past project experience, or on standard square foot costs based on project type, region, or type of construction, where impossible on counting of individual pieces. With the development of project definition, cost plan (e.g. ‘standard cost $ × sq. ft.’) turns into cost estimation, where bill of quantities can be conducted. Additionally, cost estimation should extract certain information from cost plan, in other words, split ‘standard cost$’ into elements pricing, and split ‘sq. ft.’ into bill of quantities. Apparently, at the initial phases, the information is vogue, and the bill of quantities is roughly calculated, where the elements are more likely an unspecified none, e.g. doors, windows, etc. The level of detail depends on the phase of the project, from ‘door’ to ‘flush door’ to ‘5-Ply Particle Core WDMA Extra Heavy Duty PC-5 Flush door’, where end with a well-defined level of detail. In BIM situation, this information can be acquired from model automatically, where claimed to save 50~80% quantity surveyors’ working time. (Sabol, 2008) On the other hand, pricing is where quantity surveyors play the state of art, as obviously keep the consistence on pricing from ‘door’ to ‘5-Ply Particle Core WDMA Extra Heavy Duty PC-5 Flush door’ is very difficult and majorly depends on personal experience. Proceeding to next phase, cost estimation consist of two single parts, which are bills of quantities and pricing, when cost estimation phase enter into Class 1, or the Level of project definition has been reached 50~100% (Bates et al., n d), bill of quantities and pricing should be extracted into tendering documents for conducting estimation on bidder price. After bidding process, both of bill of quantities and pricing have been agreed between contractor and clients, where turns into contract documents. This documents will be proceed, plus the difference to contract (Variation orders), to final account. From above figure 2, it is obviously that information is transmitted throughout the phases, and the process should be integral. In literature, ‘cost plan’ should be consistent with final account within a certain variable, where in line with contract types. In other words, review ‘cost plan’ as a ‘Top-down’ estimate, where should meet with final account, which can be regarded as a ‘Bottom up’ estimate, to some extent. A further investigation has been conducted into information requirement of life cycling costing, where consist of building related costs, non-building costs, and building costs. Additionally, these three terms can be split into more detailed slots. Apart from the requesting on these information at the beginning phases, these information is progressive, in other words, it only can be provided out during different phases. Before it actually happened, even specified in contract, the ‘information’ are made from all participants’ presumption and expectation. It is widely acknowledged that the reason why whole life costing has not been more widely used is to be the lack of appropriate, relevant and reliable historical cost information and data. (Ashworth & Hogg, 2007) Suermann (2009) conducted a Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) survey on BIM, 83.7% respondents said that BIM improves cost of general conditions, structural, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and finishes. With a further interpretation on the original data, the contribution of BIM on providing accurate information is focus on Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing phases, where the project is on constructing. It is said that Preproject planning, preliminary Design, and Design phases are the three most important phases that have ability to impact cost and functional capabilities dramatically, where leaving these decision stages with loads of assumptions will highly influence the cost of design changes. (The Construction Users Roundtable, 2004) However, to author’s knowledge, apart from operation, maintenance, replacements and alterations cost information, the rest of the information are all contained in the information services where quantity surveyor provided. Because of without a sufficient filter mechanism, they are all drawn in these paper documents. Additionally, information technology is helping us on converting paper-based documentation to the Electronic Document Management System (EDMS), where can be an automated process on analysing data. Technology Traditional information and communication technology approaches to sharing static project information via file exchange, e.g. .dxf, .dwf, and .pdf, do not transfer the dynamic object intelligence, where requires quantity surveyor to put their efforts on measurement. To current stage of BIM, where objects and assemblies can be encoded into the model to some extent, cost applications can harvest information from BIM objects, and to really appreciate the true benefits of BIM, the information in the models must be coordinated with information in master specification systems. (Gu, Singh, London, Brankovic, & Taylor, 2008; National Institute of Buidling Sciences, 2007) As discussed in previous section, it is not reasonable to expect that the use of BIM can influence or abandon the project team’s individual work process, or switch the tools they familiar with. Quantity surveyor requires a mechanism to cull object information from the model, identify and export such information and quantities, e.g. assemblies, and families, to their purpose build models. Additionally, such mechanism is suggested to be bi-directional to gradually consolidate the database of alternatives and substitutions of design models within BIM. (Sabol, 2008) Furthermore, such filter mechanism can be accomplished in several approaches, e.g. Application Program Interface (API), Open Database Connectivity (ODBC), and Industry Foundation Classes (IFC). BIM acts as a common information repository for all project participants, where multi parties can tap into a construction project, and derive object information for their purpose or tasks, such as environment test, energy consumption analysis, and costing analysis. Therefore, BIM data must consistent with purpose-built models, where raise a hypothesis that BIM can be and should be an open database for project information, and allow the re-use of project data which has already been created during the process and thus ensure consistency between each of these purpose build models as different representations of the same building. In other words, is there a need for BIM database to filter high value information, furthermore to sort them for particular user? Value for Money, Money for Information Clients pay massive fees for Quantity surveyor’s information based service on ‘Value for Money’. However, it is interesting to address that quantity surveyor struggling on the accurate measurement of quantities for decades, where is the barrier on getting the insight view of information, and BIM now is providing the capability to release quantity surveyor on counting components of building, and improving the accuracy on cost information throughout the entire building lifecycle. At current stage of BIM, automate bill of quantities is where BIM contributes, it promises to free quantity surveyors to focus on higher value tasks. It is time for quantity surveyors to chase ‘Value for Information’. Value for Money (VfM), as we all know, in simple, is that obtaining the maximum benefit with the resources available, where apply this definition into ‘information’ term, it can be that obtaining the maximum benefit with the information available. Figure 3 Value for Information(adopt from (Improvement and Development Agency, 2010)) Value for Information Economy Cost Efficiency Effectiveness Input Output Outcomes Table 1 Value for Information(adopt from (Improvement and Development Agency, 2010)) Economy Efficiency Effectiveness is what goes into providing a service, such as the cost on storing, searching, and achieving information. is a measure of productivity ie, how much you get out in relation to what is put in. is a measure of the impact that has been achieved, which can be either quantitative or qualitative. Cost Input Output Outcomes reducing costs for the same outputs reducing inputs (eg, people, materials, time, effort) for the same outputs getting greater outputs with improved quality (eg, extra service or productivity) for the same inputs getting proportionally more outputs or improved quality in return for an increase in resources. Discussion on Value for Information can be started from three terms, Economy, Efficiency, and Effectiveness. Firstly, Economy is the cost on storing, searching, and achieving information, where we have invested money over last two decades. (National Computing Centre, 2010) The development on the software is reducing inputs for the acquisition, storage and processing of data, where also improving the efficiency. However, there is a lack of information assessment methodology within quantity surveying firms to record high value information for reusing and helping quantity surveyors study on historical data of buildings, and then provide the value for information. Conclusion Ideally, BIM is an open database for exchanging building information, is a central detailed intelligent information database. BIM provide the capacity on breaking down the inherent barrier on communication between all participants. Regarding the Quantity surveying profession, it is essential to develop processes and methods throughout project phases for using BIM-based costing, otherwise sharing BIM as drawings with intelligent information will be another phenomenon. On the other hand, it is unreasonable to expect that using BIM can influence individual work process or switch their familiar tools, therefore, exporting components information for cost application is also important. 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