An Investigation on Some Benefits of BIM Application

ABSTRACT: Building Information Modeling (BIM) is a new technology in construction industry. It uses real-time models to increase efficiency and productivity in construction projects. With the help of this technology, projects can be completed on time and within budget. Client satisfaction is increased because the clients know what will be the end product during the design stage. Reworks can also be minimized due to better understanding of project and visualization ability. This thesis is on the efficiency of BIM on project drawings and bill of quantity calculations. One of the BIM software, named Autodesk Revit Architecture and traditional way, AutoCAD were used in this thesis to produce project drawings. An apartment building project was selected to prepare project drawings by using both AutoCAD and Autodesk Revit Architecture and the efficiency of both softwares in terms of the duration of producing project drawings were compared. Also the possibility of preparing more accurate and fast architectural bill of quantities by Autodesk Revit Architecture and Autodesk Quantity Takeoff were compared with manually obtained bill of quantity calculations. In addition, in this study, two surveys were conducted. One of the surveys was an interview related with the advantages and disadvantages of AutoCAD and Autodesk Revit Architecture with four architects who prepared project drawings. The second survey was a questionnaire conducted with twenty construction companies in North Cyprus. The aim of this survey was to determine the extension of duration factors and rework factors during the whole construction project. The conclusions which were developed in this thesis are that BIM should be used in North Cyprus to produce fast project drawings and to obtain more accurate and fast bill of quantities. Changing the demands of clients is one of the most important reasons for both extension of duration and increase of reworks in construction projects. Changing demands can be minimized by using BIM and 3D visualization at the early stages of projects for better understanding of the projects by the clients. So, it contributes to the projects to be finished on time without leading to extra costs for reworks in the construction stage of projects. Keywords: Building Information Modeling, quantity takeoff, rework, on time completion. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………