In preparation of its 2012 Construction Hiring and Business Outlook, the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) received survey responses from over 1,300 construction firms in December 2011. The survey results show a dramatic increase in the use of Building Information Modeling (BIM).
While construction firms reported using BIM on only 8% of projects in 2010, construction firms reported that they used BIM on 35% of projects in 2011. Firms also expect BIM use to increase in the future. In particular, the healthcare and higher education sectors anticipate the greatest growth in BIM—with 53% of firms reporting that they plan to work on more BIM projects in 2012.
One likely reason for BIM’s expansion is the move to the Cloud for computing. The AGC survey reveals that nearly 25% of firms plan to switch software applications to the Cloud in 2012. In addition to taking advantage of Cloud computing power, commentators elsewhere explain why BIM is even more important as a tool in 2012—including for increasing efficiency.
Using BIM, however, is not without risk. One way building owners, contractors and design professionals can help manage and allocate risk upfront is to use appropriate BIM-tailored contract documents. In an upcoming post, we will compare two of the most common standard BIM forms—the AIA E202-2008: Building Information Modeling Protocol Exhibit and the ConsensusDOCS 301 Building Information Modeling Addendum.