I’ve been trying to post an amazon.com widget on this blog but apparently wordpress.com does not allow it. Read the following link.
http://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/adding-big-security-risk-widget-amazoncom?replies=16
So I’ve posted this widget to a blogspot blog. If you want to read my suggested books. Follow this link
When I think about the companies that could turn this far fetched dream into a reality, the usual players come to mind. AutoDesk, the self proclaimed 800 pound gorilla of CAD, could turn Revit into a keenBIM system. However AutoDesk is the biggest reason that interoperability is just a nice thought, so I doubt they ever would. Bently on the other hand was the first company to accept the IFC. They would be my first choice if an established CAD giant where to make this happen. However there is one company that you all know who I think is the best possible candidate to implement a keenBIM system.
That HUGE, non-evil corporation, Google has the tools in place to take over the construction world. Google currently owns SketchUP. SketchUP is the most intuitive, easy to learn, 3-D modeling program available. And guess what, it’s already free. While the task of creating and managing the central server seems unreasonable to most, it would be a small venture for the worlds largest information owner. Which brings me to the most promising reason why Google could and would tackle a project like this. Google has a romantic relationship with information. If there is a type of information to be had, they want to be in bed with it. The construction industry generates mountains of information on a daily basis. This information would all be channeled and recorded through the central server. Also I just really like the sound of GoogleBIM. It would take over the industry and we could all happily say goodbye to the tyrannical ways of AutoDesk.
As I mentioned in the previous post, because of the current pricing scheme BIM’s availability is limited to large projects. This is the current constraint on the revenue potential for BIM. You will never see BIM used in residential construction. The cost is greater than the advantage. If BIM were free, it would open up the entire industry as its market. For those of you who don’t have an understanding of the theory of constraints, as you expand your market, you can increase your throughput. Throughput is how many units you get into the hands of consumers. According to this theory you can increase profits by, decreasing standing inventory, decreasing expenses, or increasing throughput. Theory of constraints has been applied to most modern factories but has yet to be applied to the BIM market and there is no reason that it shouldn’t. TOC can be applied to any situation with success.
In a previous post I eluded to the idea the BIM could make a company more money if they were to give it away for free. In this post I will explain how.
Currently BIM is marketed towards architectural firms, those who do large projects. A single license of Revit can cost upwards of $4500.00 with a yearly subscription cost of $400 to $600. These costs are hard to justify for those who are looking to venture into the world of BIM. Because of this pricing scheme BIM has established a reputation of availability for only the largest of projects.
Now imagine if BIM were used as a sales tool for building supply companies. Put yourself in the owner’s shoes. You hire an Architect who has access to BIM (because its free). The model is generated, analysis is done, a structure is finalized and approved. So what will the materials and labor cost? That kind of question currently takes several weeks to answer. How would you like to know instantly what your material costs would be. With keenBIM you could. It has already been established that BIM can create take off quantities of building materials. Using the central server, all local suppliers could integrate their prices into the system that would generate a materials bid instantly. KeenBIM would allow you to compare prices and get the lowest guaranteed price for your materials. This is where the payday happens. Commission on material sales has potential to generate more revenue than license and subscription fees. It also promotes integration, which the construction world lacks. Nearly one trillion dollars was spent in 2009 on construction in the United States alone. Upwards of 40% of that total is material costs. If keenBIM could claim commission on just 0.25% of that $400,000,000,000, it would earn one billion in revenue.
The construction world is defined by units. Whether they are metric or imperial, they measure literally everything. This works to keenBIM’s advantage. These units are easily counted in a 3-D model. The process of estimating and scheduling is little more than applying units to basic equations. The most time consumer part of putting an estimate together is the tedious task of counting and adding all the units. Save yourself some time and let the server do it for you.
Poor communication is possible the biggest setback in the construction world. Lets look at a common scenario for a change order. The Owner wants to make a change. So he communicates with the Architect. The Architect issues a proposal request to the General Contractor. The General Contractor asks the Sub Contractors for a cost estimate. Often times the Sub Contractors have extra-specialized Sub Contractors under them (Sub-Sub Contractors) who need to also estimate the cost of the change. Now that the costs have been estimated, the only way to get it back to the Owner is to run the whole process in reverse, Sub-Sub Contractor to Sub Contractor to General Contractor to Architect and finally to the Owner. The Owner likes the cost estimates and approves the change. Now all the involved parties need to know that the change has been accepted so the line of communication starts all over again. Once the work is finished, the billing cycle has to go through the same process. Every day the construction industry is a real life example of the children’s game “telephone.” For those of you who don’t know, Telephone is a game where a group of children sit in a circle. One child whispers a phrase into the next’s ear and the process is repeated around the circle. By the time the phrase gets back to the originator, what was once “green eggs and ham” is now “mean legs on a ram.” The point being, if there is a mis-communication anywhere along the line, the problem gets compounded.
Every mis-communication in the construction world costs money. Some cost a little, others cost millions. There is an easy solution to this problem. It’s the keenBIM central server. By the nature of being web based, it can be accessed by anyone with permission. If you give all involved parties in a project the permission to access the server, communication can happen without the line. The Architect can post a change order and all affected subs can submit prices to the server. The Owner can see them in real time as they come in. Everything can be recorded and cataloged. The keenBIM central server puts an end to the costly game of “Construction Telephone.”
The central server is “were the magic happens” in the keenBIM system. It houses all the laws and properties that govern our surroundings (gravity, physics, material properties, etc). The server only requires the most simple of inputs. It wants to know the form and material of objects and their spacial relationships to each other. When you combine these simple inputs with the “knowledge” of the central server, you gain the ability analyze any aspect of the modeled structure. The analysis would only be limited by the server’s ability to process the simple inputs. The beauty of using a central server is that the usefulness of the user created information, the simple inputs, grows with the server. The user input never becomes obsolete. Imagine the analysis that could be done on existing buildings if we were able to plug their original blueprints into today’s most advanced software. This is not possible because our current CAD systems are not interoperable. If a building owner wanted to use BIM for analysis of their existing structure, the building would have to be modeled from scratch. It becomes a redundant task. By keeping the user created information as simple as possible and leaving the “magic” for the central server, our time spent drafting will never have to be redone.
Interoperability is defined as the ability to exchange and use information. In the world of BIM it refers to seamless operation between two completely different pieces of software. In other words, if all CAD files were interoperable, they would work with any modeling software, ArchiCAD, Revit, AutoCAD, Rhino, etc. Interoperability has been the desire of the BuildingSMART alliance since 1995 when they were known as the International Alliance for Interoperability. They released a standard called Industry Foundation Class (IFC). The IFC was meant to eliminate dis functionality between software vendors. It has been 15 years and improvement has been marginal. One of the problems with the IFC in today’s world is that it was developed in 1995 when web based model servers where about as science fiction as laser pistols.
Today is a different time and it calls for a different solution to solve the lack of interoperability. When you throw a central server into the mix, that solution becomes very simple. The only information that needs to be generated by the modeler is the form of the object and the material that it is made of. Think about it. It is the simplest definition of what an object is. The chair you are sitting on is nothing more than a form and a material. The same with your house, it is form and material. This eliminates a lot of the hoopla that is unnecessary in the current modeling programs.
Of course each material has unique properties and is affected differently by it surroundings. However those calculations are the job of the central server which will be covered in the next post. If the central server is capable of defining gravity, material density, etc, and it is only concerned with receiving inputs of form and material, then all modeling software becomes interoperable. Any draftsman could exchange and use information with anyone other draftsman through the central server. One man using Revit could model a foundation, another using ArchiCAD could model the walls, and a third using SketchUP could model the roof. They would all go together seamlessly because the definitions of those individual building components are so simple.
BIM could and should be free and I’m not talking about open source BIM or some kind of BIM charity. I’m talking about giving away Revit quality software and services. There is huge potential for the CAD giants or other companies that could expand into CAD to make billions by offering a no cost BIM solution. Yes I said “billions.” It might sound far fetched but give me a chance to explain myself. I’ve outlined the next 10 posts that I will make, starting with this one.
1. This Post (Making BIM Free)
2. An Exploration into Interoperability
3. The Central Server
4. Project Management
5. A World Defined by Units
6. Making a Dollar
7. A Whole New World for BIM
8. The Wonder of Integration
9. Companies with Potential
10. Some good Readings To Inspire You
While I was combing the internet for more free BIM resources, I came across an article from David Harrison that explains the Building Information Model in all its possible glory and current failures. Although I haven’t decided how I feel about the “Project Information Cloud” that David suggests, I have decided that this article is a must read for anyone involved with Building Information Modeling.
New Thoughts