The Customer Service Side of BIM
July 21, 2009
Quality customer service is becoming a competitive advantage for many construction companies in the current economic conditions. While good client relationships are developed through ongoing communication during the various stages of a project, BIM (building information modeling)-related technologies can help enable this collaboration—not only with customers, but all project members.
Sam Isham, senior project manager, Metcon Construction Inc., www.metconconstruction.net, Pembroke, N.C., sees great benefit in using BIM to facilitate better communication, particularly with owners. He says by using this method, the owner has an understanding of what will happen on a project by the ability to actually seeing something tangible. In the old two-dimensional world, clients could only visualize what the project would look like.
Isham is using technology to create 3D (three dimensional) models based on client ideas and requirements, and presents the model at the subsequent client meeting. “You can meet with them on Monday and meet back with them on Wednesday and have this all ready for them,” says Isham.
Turner Construction Co., www.turnerconstruction.com, New York, N.Y., uses a variety of different BIM-related technologies to help accelerate collaboration and sharing of critical information with the owners on more than $20 billion of construction on 100 projects.
“Through the utilization of BIM on Turner’s projects, we are changing the way we think about the building process and are able to achieve significant cost and schedule savings for our clients,” says Peter Davoren, president and CEO, Turner Construction.
This technology allows the company to create 3D architectural, structural, HVAC (heating, ventilating, and air conditioning), electrical, plumbing, and fire protection models and integrates everything into one model, enabling partners to run clash detections prior to construction.
Pat Tansey, pre-con manager, general contracting company EMJ Corp., www.emjcorp.com, Dallas, Texas, agrees, saying the biggest advantage of BIM-related technology is it enables a lot more communication, earlier in the project. Tansey says the technology is particularly beneficial as the company continues to grow.
“I can tell you our client base is expanding right now in this market and it really lets us elaborate to clients that we may not know as well,” says Tansey. “In this situation, we are meeting a lot of new clients. We are bridging that communication gap with the technology.”
Tansey uses DProfiler from Beck Technology, www.beck-technology.com, Dallas, Texas. This technology helps the company keep a close eye on cost estimating in the early phases of a construction project. Tansey says DProfiler is a good way for contractors to get started on the overall BIM process without having to invest a lot of time and money.
“You don’t have to get your whole business involved in BIM technology to get a taste of it and to understand it,” says Tansey. “So DProfiler is a very good stepping stone to the entire BIM process.”
From architects, to owners, to engineers, BIM-related technologies help enable collaboration between all project participants. And in today’s economic climate, technology might be the solution to help enable quality customer service through improved communication.