Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis of Applying Building Information Modeling (BIM) for Infrastructure Design Process

Abstract

Building information modeling (BIM) has opened up many possibilities for the construction industry. However, most studies focus mainly on its overall uses and management areas. By investigating real projects that could utilize BIM in the design phases for railway construction, the authors examine the possible advantages and disadvantages in BIM implementation. To do so, the authors have selected three projects that utilized BIM implementation during the design process and three other projects with a non-BIM, traditionally designed working environment. Similar-scale projects were carefully chosen, and their differences in costs, man-hours, and labor forces were analyzed quantitatively. In addition, an in-depth interview was conducted with four BIM-designing firms to provide a more comprehensive perspective on the advantages and issues in BIM implementation. The average results showed that BIM-implemented projects spent USD 65,800 less than their counterparts and could increase productivity by about 2.9%. More importantly, the primary difference between BIM and non-BIM projects are in their man-hours. BIM-adopting projects spent 103.5 days less than non-BIM projects on average, and required three fewer professional labor forces during the entire design process.