Building information modeling (BIM) is rewriting the book on how buildings are designed and built, adding unprecedented levels of digital precision and visual understanding. The construction trades, including concrete contractors, stand to reap huge business benefits from BIM enablement. Leica Geosystems, a global provider of BIM construction solutions, has emerged as the go-to resource for the concrete construction industry’s BIM migration.
Analysis
The digital revolution has transformed nearly every industry, from manufacturing and communications to information technology and finance.
The construction industry has largely escaped the disruptive effects of digital transformation—until now. A historic sea change of process transformation is underway across the construction trades. Recent studies report an overwhelming majority of contractors have integrated BIM technologies into their workflow. For concrete contractors and other construction trades, BIM is re-inventing 2D processes with 3D digital precision, speed and economy.
Why is BIM becoming increasingly critical for growth-minded concrete contractors? Can a concrete contractor really profit from BIM processes in the field? A brief examination:
• Competitive Differentiator. It’s no secret owners and general contractors are driving BIM field adoption. One example is Holder Construction, a general contractor based in Atlanta, GA, that self-performs some concrete work. They use Leica Geosystems total stations to lay out every aspect of the concrete work in multistory office buildings. They also use scanners to perform some QC work by comparing the point cloud image with the model. The back-check identifies as-built deviations quickly, saving modification time and expense. No plumb bob or tape measure can match scanning speed and precision. General contractors like Holder increasingly expect BIM compliance from their subcontractors. Industry studies confirm project team selection often turns on BIM capability. Net: To compete, adopt BIM.
• Jobsite Excellence. The quickening pace of BIM-generated success stories provide ample proof BIM’s role in the field will only escalate. At One World Trade Center, project teams placed every single piece of the building structure utilizing highly coordinated BIM data in combination with Leica construction layout solutions. As-built conditions were quickly identified and evaluated as needed. T.U. Parks, a large Chattanooga, TN-based contractor, used Leica Geosystems construction layout and QC solutions to build a complex curved hospital addition entryway with a 700 foot radius. You can’t use a tape measure to lay out large radius curves of that magnitude—it’s just not possible. Using BIM data from the project’s architects and engineers combined with a Leica iCON robotic total station, Parks made a once-impossible task a breeze. Net: BIM expands concrete contractor field capability, services and project engagement opportunities.
Conclusion
Few today dispute BIM’s operational value. What started as a design creation solution has swiftly evolved into an entire ecosystem for the construction industry. For the construction trades—especially concrete contractors—the promise of BIM is golden with business-building opportunity.
Leica Geosystems has extensive experience helping concrete contractor gradually evolve to BIM compliance. BIM construction specialists at Leica Geosystems are uniquely qualified to tailor BIM solutions to the contractor’s needs and budget.
Leica Geosystems experts make it surprisingly easy to gradually integrate BIM into the contractor’s workflow, offering a wide array of entry ramps and scalable solutions, ranging from paper and 2D to 2.5D and full BIM.
