IMPACT OF BUILDING INFORMATION MODELLING (BIM) ON PRODUCTIVITY IN COST-ESTIMATING IN THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY

Abstract

The Architectural, Engineering, Construction and Operations (AECO) industry has always involved various stakeholders in a project. To ensure better collaboration, Building Information Modelling (BIM) has been utilised. Besides better collaboration, BIM has many benefits including increased work efficiency and productivity. However, quantity surveyors (QS) have been lagging behind other disciplines, such as the designers or constructors, in terms of implementing BIM to aid them in their daily work. Quantity surveyors are responsible for managing all aspects of the contractual and financial aspects of construction projects. Thus, the ways of how to increase the efficiency of QS is of utmost importance in the fast pacing environment. By comparing the traditional quantity surveying process and the non-traditional quantity surveying process (using BIM), the true benefits of using BIM may be measured. Thus, this study aims to help QS be more BIM-ready so as to increase their work efficiency and productivity.

Various literature reviews were done to identify the status and benefits of BIM implementation in Singapore. A survey was also conducted to confirm the benefits of implementing BIM for quantity surveying by comparing the time taken, cost required in the long run, resources undertaken and quality of output produced when doing manual quantity surveying versus when doing quantity surveying with BIM. The survey was disseminated to the Singapore Institute of Surveyors and Valuers (SISV)-registered QS and only 32 responses were analysed. From the survey, 48% of the respondents did not utilise any BIM software at all in their jobs. Using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software, a one-sample t test was carried out and it was true that BIM does aid QS become more efficient in terms of time, cost, resources and quality. A framework for determining the adoption status of consultant quantity surveying companies was then developed to aid QS become more BIM-ready and encourage QS to crossover from using traditional quantity surveying to using BIM for quantity surveying and enjoy the infinite benefits that BIM has to offer.