A baby first learns to roll over and then in no time, they are crawling. Once they get mobile it gets scary, for everyone involved! But are babies satisfied with just being able to crawl? Next they want to walk – now they are really dangerous! Do they stop there? As they grow and mature, they want to run, that’s where they really learn to cover some ground! Each of these progressions have their challenges, but get better with more practice. With crawling, their going to fall on their face a few times. With walking, their going to trip initially. With running, they will collide into something. But to be safe, should they just never become mobile? NOT AN OPTION!
Construction Contractors follow a similar progression throughout their growth. As they grow they improve in their processes and strengthen as a company. Unfortunately though, recently, many have become resistant to the progression of including BIM Coordination into their workflow.
For some contractors seeing the requirement of “BIM Coordination” on a project is exciting because they know the benefits it brings to the project. For others, it is a stop sign – They do not have the ability to provide these Coordination services and thus it becomes a challenge to bid the project. Standing still is “NOT AN OPTION” in this fast paced construction world.
Why The Reluctance?
It’s fun working in an industry where new technologies are being introduced (like Building Information Modeling – BIM – in the Construction industry)! I have found that businesses typically fall into three categories:
- Early adopters – “Leading the way”
- Mainstream adopters – “Follow the leader”
- Late adopters – “Kicking and screaming”
We work in assisting the first two groups. When speaking with the third group (those that are being dragged along “kicking and screaming”) there are several excuses as to why they are resistant. We will address each of these with the goal of easing them into the waters of Building Information Modeling:
“I just avoid bidding on projects that require BIM Coordination”
“I’ll hire the General Contractor to handle BIM for me if it is required”
“We’ve tried BIM projects before, unsuccessfully”
Overcoming These Hurdles
Let’s address each of these three reasons. In my opinion, every Construction Contractor that is seeking large commercial (not “cookie cutter”) work should have the capability of offering BIM Coordination services. Although it may evolve and adjust to an ever changing construction environment, this trend is not going away. With refusal or lack of ability to bid on projects that require BIM Coordination, the field of projects to bid on will continue to get smaller.
Other posts in this series:
Part 1 of 3 | Part 2 of 3 | Part 3 of 3
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If you would like to team with Jigsaw Solutions to go after projects requiring BIM Coordination, contact us today!