bim-enabled project cost management through the project delivery process ang yu qian

163 Pages·2016·7.72 MB·English

BIM-ENABLED PROJECT COST MANAGEMENT THROUGH THE
PROJECT DELIVERY PROCESS

ANG YU QIAN
A0042346M

A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS
FOR THE DEGREE OF M.SC. (BUILDING)

DEPARTMENT OF BUILDING
NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE

2015
DECLARATION
I hereby declare that this thesis is my original work and it has been written by me in its
entirety. I have duly acknowledged all the sources of information which have been
used in the thesis.

This thesis has also not been submitted for any degree in any university previously.

____________________
Ang Yu Qian
22 October 2015
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to first express my sincere gratitude to my thesis supervisor, Dr Evelyn Teo,
who has once again provided invaluable guidance, support and encouragement for
the course of this Thesis.

I would also like to thank Mr Silas Loh, Partner of the Rider Levett Bucknall LLP Singapore
and Regional Practice, for appointing me as the BIM Lead of the firm, enabling me to
test-bed/pilot-test my various BIM initiatives, processes, innovations and
implementations in the organization as well as in major multi-disciplinary live projects.
These iterative developments have provided ample opportunities for me to refine and
fine-tune the initiatives. The implementations/innovations ultimately clinched the
GoldPlus award in the inaugural Building and Construction Authority (BCA) BIM Awards
Organization Category for the firm – the firm was the only participating Project
Management/Quantity Surveying firm in Singapore to be awarded GoldPlus as well.

Lastly, I would also like to thank my good friends and colleagues in the RLB BIM Team –
including Wan Ding, Allan, Ka Foong, Elless, Sun Mei, Peng Chong and Wei Ing, for their
support, and for assisting me to test-bed the BIM implementations, processes and
innovations through multiple iterations. Not forgetting friends/colleagues/project team
members from other (architectural, civil and structural, as well as mechanical, electrical
and plumbing) consultancies, such as Garvin, Jolyn and Kuan Wei, as well as other
consultants I have had the opportunity to work with in various BIM multi-disciplinary
projects, and who have provided supplementary information from other domains.

BIM is not a panacea for a lack of productivity, lack of experience or lack of
knowledge. It is integral for a company to establish an efficient link between the core
competencies of its practice and the use of BIM to derive benefits.

The excerpt above was quoted from my undergraduate dissertation – I hope that
through this study, I have made a positive impact to aid BIM advancements in the
domain of cost management, and have provided innovative ideas to take the BIM
initiatives forward to benefit the AEC industry in one way or another.
TABLE OF CONTENTS iv
Page
TABLE OF CONTENTS iii
LIST OF FIGURES viii
LIST OF TABLES xi

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUC TION
1.1 Background 1
1.2 Terminology 2
1.3 Research Problem 3
1.4 Research Aim 4
1.5 Research Objectives 4
1.6 Research Scope 4
1.7 Research Hypothesis 5
1.8 Organization of Study 5

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW I
2.1 Chapter Overview 7

2.2. Project Cost Management 7
2.2.1. Resource Planning 9
2.2.1.1. Inputs to Resource Planning 9
2.2.1.2. Tools and Technique for Resource Planning 10
2.2.2. Cost Estimating 10
2.2.2.1. Inputs to Cost Estimating 11
2.2.2.2. Tools and Techniques for Cost Estimating 12
2.2.2.3. Outputs from Cost Estimating 13
2.2.3. Cost Budgeting 14
2.2.3.1. Inputs to Cost Budgeting 14
2.2.3.2. Tools and Techniques for Cost Budgeting 15
2.2.4. Cost Control 15
2.2.4.1. Inputs to Cost Control 16
2.2.4.2. Tools and Techniques for Cost Control 17
2.2.4.3. Outputs for Cost Control 18
2.3. Cost Management in the Project Life Cycle 18
2.4. Effective Project Cost Management 19
2.4.1. Total Cost Management 20
2.5. Cost Management Professionals 21
2.6. Non BIM-Based Quantification Methods 21
2.7. Chapter Summary 21
TABLE OF CONTENTS v
CHAPTER THREE: LITERATUR E REVIEW II
3.1 Chapter Overview 22
3.2 Overall Trend and Context for BIM and Project Cost Management 22
3.2.1. Subsets of BIM – BIM and the Cost Management Dimension (5D) 23
3.2.2. BIM-enabled Cost Management and 5D BIM Implementation 24
3.3. BIM-enabled Project Cost Management 25
3.3.1. Resource Planning for BIM-enabled Cost Management 26
3.3.1.1. BIM Level of Details (LOD) 27
3.3.1.2. BIM LOD and the Project Delivery Stages 33
3.3.1.3. BIM Level of Details vs Level of Development 33
3.3.1.4. Industry Foundation Class (IFC) 33
3.3.1.5. BIM Taxonomies 34
3.3.2. Cost Estimating for BIM-enabled Project Cost Management 35
3.3.2.1. Preliminary Cost Estimate 38
3.3.2.2. Detailed Cost Estimate 39
3.3.2.3. Quantity Take-off 40
3.3.3. Cost Budgeting & Cost Control for BIM-enabled Cost Management 41
3.4. Problems/Challenges in Current Literature, Application & Concepts 41
3.5. 5D BIM Process 42
3.6. Gap in Knowledge 44
3.7. Chapter Summary 45

CHAPTER FOUR: RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY

4.1 Chapter Overview 46
4.2 Overall Research Design 46
4.3 Rationale for Case Study and Case Study Design 48
4.3.1. Population 50
4.3.2. Sampling Frame 50
4.3.3. Sampling Method 50
4.4. Data Collection 51
4.5. Chapter Summary 51
CHAPTER FIVE: CASE STUD IES
5.1 Chapter Overview 52
5.2 Case Study One – Multi-Disciplinary BIM Project 52

5.2.1. Background 53
5.2.2. Resource Planning 55
TABLE OF CONTENTS vi
5.2.2.1. Resource Planning (Model Details) 58
5.2.2.2. Detailed Modelling Plan 59
5.2.3. Cost Estimating 60
5.2.3.1. Impact of BIM on Cost Estimating 71
5.2.4. Cost Budgeting 76
5.2.4.1. Limitations 82
5.2.5. Cost Control 82
5.2.5.1. Limitations 87
5.3. Case Study Two – Multi-Disciplinary BIM Project 87
5.3.1. Background 87
5.3.2. Resource Planning 91
5.3.3. Cost Estimating 99
5.3.4. Cost Budgeting 105
5.3.4.1. Limitations 107
5.4. Chapter Summary 107
CHAPTER SIX: RECOMMEN DATIONS/CONTRIBUTIONS AND DEVELOPMENT

6.1 Chapter Overview 108
6.2 Cost Codes 108
6.2.1. Development 109
6.3. Cost Management Plug-in 113
6.3.1. Development 113
6.4. Cost Model 126
6.4.1. Development 126
6.5. Modeling Best Practices/Core Information for BIM Cost Management 134
CHAPTER SEVEN: VALIDAT ION
7.1. Chapter Overview 137
7.2. Methodology 137
7.3. Results 140
7.4. Chapter Summary 141

CHAPTER EIGHT: SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND FURTHER RECOMMENDATION

8.1. Chapter Overview 142
8.2. Objectives and Findings 142
8.3. Main Findings and Validation of Hypotheses 144
8.4. Contribution to Existing Knowledge and Practice in BIM 145
8.5. Limitations of Study 145
8.6. Conclusion 146
TABLE OF CONTENTS vii
8.7. Recommendations 146

BIBLIOGRAPHY 158
SUMMARY viii
Building Information Modelling has been described as the next-generation solution to
enhance productivity of the various disciplines in the project delivery process, and to
streamline the delivery processes of the buildings. The convention cost management
functions in the project delivery stages, such as the traditional manual measurement
methodologies, have been often marked with peculiarities, and BIM have been
perceived as a solution to enhance productivity, accuracy and cost certainty of the
cost management process. However, while the potential of BIM as a catalyst poised to
integrated and enhance cost management functions in the project delivery process is
apparent, the lack of studies, methodologies, processes and frameworks guiding the
implementation of BIM-enabled cost management impedes the derivation of benefits
from BIM.

This study investigates and analyzes the utilization of BIM in major multi-disciplinary case
studies, throughout the phases of resource planning, cost estimating, cost budgeting
and cost monitoring and control. Through the case studies, the author seeks
elucidations on the distinctions between conventional and BIM-enabled cost
management methodologies. The findings suggest that a BIM-enabled project cost
management process leads to improvement in workflow productivity (man-hours), and
cost certainty as compared to the conventional cost management methodologies,
and the extent of advantages/benefits varies according to the different stages in the
project delivery process.

The author also proposed several recommendations to manage BIM-enabled cost
management. The recommendations include formulation of a cost code library to
manage BIM cost data (to be utilized resource planning stage); a cost management
software plug-in/add-on (to be utilized at cost estimation/cost budgeting stage); and a
cost model, which integrates the cost codes with the BIM models, creating a 5D living
cost plan where cost information can be aggregated and extracted accurately at any
point of the project delivery process (to be utilized at the cost monitoring and control
stage).
LIST OF FIGURES ix
Chapter 2 Title Page
Figure 2.1 Project Cost Management Processes 7
Figure 2.2 Overview of Project Cost Management Components 8
Figure 2.3 Resource planning inputs, tools & techniques and outputs 9
Figure 2.4 Cost estimating inputs, tools & techniques and outputs 11
Figure 2.5 Cost budgeting inputs, tools & techniques and outputs 14
Figure 2.6 Cost baseline and S-curve example 15
Figure 2.7 Cost control inputs, tools & techniques and outputs 16
Figure 2.8 PMBOK processes mapped by process groups/knowledge areas 19
Figure 2.9 Total Cost Management Framework 20

Chapter 3
Figure 3.1 Cost Classification Matrix 28
Figure 3.2 Construction information standards by phase 34
Figure 3.3 Cost estimating, cost planning and tender preparation stages 37
Figure 3.4 Project cost estimating through the project delivery process 38
Figure 3.5 Relation of QTO with other tasks 40
Figure 3.6 BEP Cube 42

Chapter 4
Figure 4.1 Overall structure and design of the study 47

Chapter 5
Figure 5.1 Site floor plan, including primary entrances 54
Figure 5.2 West elevation 54
Figure 5.3 South elevation with vertical stacking plan 54
Figure 5.4 East elevation at park side 55
Figure 5.5 Overall view 55
Figure 5.6 Core plan for mechanical services 55
Figure 5.7 BIM collaborative process mapping (coordination plan) 56
Figure 5.8 Corresponding cost management activities undertaken 64
Figure 5.9 Full C&S model built in Revit and extracted for cost estimation 65
Figure 5.10 3D BIM analysis model of ‘modified column-assisted’ scheme 65
Figure 5.11 Analytical model for cost estimation purposes 66
Figure 5.12 Isolated component for localizes cost estimation 66
Figure 5.13 Consolidated BIM model in .dwfx transferred 68
Figure 5.14 Isolation of individual categories and elements 69
Figure 5.15 Schedules generated from isolated BIM components/elements 70
Figure 5.16 Schedules generated from isolated BIM components/elements 71
LIST OF FIGURES x
Figure 5.17 Old vs new (hybrid) BIM process done in parallel 71
Figure 5.18 Modelling methods 74
Figure 5.19 Resultant differences between the modelling/jointing methods 75
Figure 5.20 Tabulation of GFA using BIM vs manual measurements 78
Figure 5.21 Process for managing RVOs 84
Figure 5.22 Placement for development A and B in Project C 86
Figure 5.23 Overall site planning, including placement for A and B 89
Figure 5.24 Overall site planning, including placement 90
Figure 5.25 Solar exposure and building orientation for main medical block 90
Figure 5.26 Solar exposure and building orientation for main medical block 90
Figure 5.27 Wind-flow simulation of overall surrounding 90
Figure 5.28 Overall BIM planning process 91
Figure 5.29 Modeling authoring QA/QC process 92
Figure 5.30 3D coordination process 92
Figure 5.31 BIM tender specifications process 93
Figure 5.32 BIM development timeline for development A within Project C 94
Figure 5.33 BIM development timeline for development B within Project C 94
Figure 5.34 Segmentation of models 95
Figure 5.35 Organization of model files and file naming conventions 98
Figure 5.36 Segmentation and categorization of main BIM files 99
Figure 5.37 Site file (not used for extraction of quantities) 100
Figure 5.38 Core and interior BIM file (used for quantity extraction) 100
Figure 5.39 Exterior enclosure/façade BIM file (used for quantity extraction 101
Figure 5.40 Documentation BIM file (used) 101
Figure 5.41 Overall BIM linked main file (used for quantity extraction) 102

Chapter 6
Figure 6.1 Sample of trade groups 110
Figure 6.2 Sample of cost code library built up by author 110
Figure 6.3 Cost management plug-in for BIM 113
Figure 6.4 Insert elemental code macro function 115
Figure 6.5 Insert trade code macro function 115
Figure 6.6 Insert cost code macro function 116
Figure 6.7 Edit cost code source and cost code library 117
Figure 6.8 Highlight empty mapping macro function 117
Figure 6.9 Running of macros based on GUID matching 117
Figure 6.10 Show new item macro function 118
Figure 6.11 Show deleted items macro function 118