Contractual issues in BIM applications

Construction sector is one of the oldest industy. With the advancement of technology, people have designed increasingly more complicated structures and started building mega constructions. Every project has uniq features and this is especially the case for mega structures. Because of this, the beginning of every project is like discovering the field of construction again.. In mega structures the coordination of work is much more complicated than simple, more conventional projects. In such contruction projects, many different parties work together according to the concept and function of the project. For this reason, interoperability is very important in construction projects. Every stage of the project, from the start up to the operational process, requires intensive and highly coordinated work. Building Information Modeling is developed to solve the problems and improve the efficiency of constructions.. Moreover, the research shows because of unefficient constructions, more money is spent in operational times than at the time of construction.. World's resources are limited and these sources has to be used more efficiently. Wasting less resources and using the time efficiently could be possible with Building Information Modeling.. In today's world, a successful criteria for a project can be thought of as a timely termination of the the project. Every investor wants their investment to return quickly, so losing time in construction projects in particular means losing revenue. So, BIM is the perfect solution for time coordination. In the beginning, BIM was generally defined the 3D version of 2D so it was named just the 3D model, but BIM is not just model. The clash detection or the 3D model is not enough for construction coordination. The idea of coordination all the parties of project , creating more efficient buildings and generating data for facility management could be close definition for BIM. BIM is a process for generating and managing the information on construction project. Moreover, the people are distinctly inclined to start construction without planning. Lots of problems are then encountered at the site, which leads to the loss of a lot of time and money. With BIM, the aim is to decrease the problems with time and coordination. Because the construction is done twice with BIM, the mistakes are made beforehand because it is done on the computer. However, the process for a new technology could not be easy The traditional methods and lack of training in people using BIM cause difficulties. Today, in some countries such as UK and USA, construction projects are done with BIM. The government suport positively affects the implementation BIM. On the other hand the paperwork is on general still done with old, traditional method. In this case the problems is occur in the contract administration part. Contracts are written according to the traditional project coordination, so the contract and BIM does not match with the defined job. If we look at the guidelines and protocols, we can find lots of information about using BIM, however, many countries and states have different guidelines. However, the research shows that many problems about contractual issues are the same, and they could be solved easily. In this thesis, the focus is on the contract part of BIM, and the standard contracts that for the most part are from international areas are researched. The contract problems implementing BIM are categorized, along with the problems with the legal status of the model, intellectual property, data access, storage and security, interoperability, professional liability, BIM legislation, adaption of public agencies to BIM, risk allocation, additional costs of BIM, BIM management and organization. The legal dimension of the contracts and formal proceedings delay the adoption of BIM. The continuing processes of documentation and procurement with traditional methods have led to the development of some problems due to the fact that BIM has introduced a new and traditional system especially in the contract section even when applied to the project. The revised parts during the project and the contracting of the contractors according to the desing without work revision, the new poses emerging risks at this time and the defects in the design are the main problems in the transition process between the two systems. The thesis examines how BIM related topics in the construction sector have begun to be implemented in the construction sector in recent years, reveals how construction contracts are inadequate in BIM implementations, and shows the legal and contractual difficulties involved in implementing BIM in construction projects. In this thesis, both literature study and field study were done. The field work has been discussed with professionals from Turkey and abroad. Participants were questioned about the difficulties based on their experiences during the BIM process, the documentation they used about BIM, and the contractual issues they encountered during the BIM application protocols, which were investigated in this study. In addition, the most commonly used standard contracts have been researched for BIM related regulations. BIM is a fairly new practice in the world and especially in our country, and the number of experts on the subject is still very few. In this context, it is expecteed that the thesis study will help the professionals working in the sector during the preparation and execution of contracts in the construction projects to be applied BIM, the documents that the contractor should prepare in the process and the issues to be considered. In addition to this contribution to the sector of thesis work, it is aimed to have academic contributions as well. There are many studies in the literature regarding the technological and organizational aspects of BIM, but there are few empirical studies on adaption of construction contracts to BIM and current contractual issues in the sector. In this sense, the thesis study also provides theoretical and empirical contributions to the examination of the problems arising from contracts in BIM applications. The literature survey and fieldwork showed that technological and organizational issues related to BIM are at a certain level of maturity, but the problems have not yet been fully addressed in contractual and legal matters. The academic contribution of this thesis aims to determine the contractual and legal issues experienced during the process of integrating BIM into construction, both from theoretical and empirical studies. Results of the thesis also show that there is inadequate academic and sectoral research in this respect. Particularly, the legislation on BIM, the adaption of public institutions to BIM, the issue of risk distribution and alignment of these issues with contracts are subject to further investigation. The sector contribution of this thesis is that the professionals working in the sector are a guide that will facilitate the process of preparing and managing contracts in BIM-applied projects. In this context, information on Employer's Information Requirement Document (EIR) , BIM Implementation Plan (BEP), contents of BIM Protocols and types used in sector were prepared in addition to the contracts in BIM applications. On the other hand, the thesis also provides knowledge on how the standard construction contracts commonly used in the construction industry were adapted to the BIM. In the course of the contract management, the problems that can be encountered with BIM are presented, along with the proposed solutions to such problems.