BIM-BASED COST ESTIMATING USING THE NIGERIAN BUILDING AND ENGINEERING STANDARD METHOD OF MEASUREMENT (BESMM): INFORMATION REQUIREMENTS IDENTIFICATION
BIM-BASED COST ESTIMATING USING THE NIGERIAN BUILDING AND ENGINEERING STANDARD METHOD OF MEASUREMENT (BESMM): INFORMATION REQUIREMENTS IDENTIFICATION
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Date
2016
Authors
ABDULLAHI, M. ABUBAKAR, Muawiya CHINDO, Peter Gangas MUSA, U. AMINU, A.
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Abstract
Conventionally, construction cost estimates are prepared manually using paper-based,
CAD-based or semi-automated approaches. These methods have been criticised for
being labour intensive and error prone. However, with the advent of Building
Information Modeling (BIM), researchers have proposed BIM-based costing
frameworks based on which several cost estimating software applications have been
developed. Despite the proliferation of these software tools, studies have reported slow
pace of adoption of these tools by Quantity Surveyors globally. One of the major
challenges hindering the widespread of usage and application of BIM-based estimating
systems is the differences in cost estimating practices and measurement standards
which differ from one country to another. Most of the current BIM tools are based on
standards that do not adequately capture local cost estimating requirements, hence
making the full adoption of these BIM tools difficult and unrealistic. The Industry
Foundation Classes (IFC) as the major BIM data standard being utilised by various
software vendors has been reported to be inadequate and insufficientbecause it doesnot
capture most local requirements. This paper therefore aims at identifying the
information requirements that support BIM-based cost estimating using the Nigerian
local standard for estimating. This is with the view to establishing information needs for
software developers to improve their cost estimating software applications. Using a
qualitative research approach, a total of five (5) experienced consultant Quantity
Surveyors were interviewed and data collected was analysed using content analysis.
The study identified six (6) categories of information required to support BIM-based
cost estimating using the Nigerian BESMM as a local cost estimating standard. The
study concludes that unless these local are comprehensively captured by the IFC
schema, the full benefits and potentials of BIM-based cost estimating tools will not be
achieved.
Description
Archisearch International Journal of Architecture and Envirnment Volume 6 Issue 1