Practice Management Member Conversations

So I've been a BIM user now for close to 10 years but when developing workplans for production efforts involved in projects (all using BIM) continue to use a non-BIM method or sheet layout thinking.  That is, as an example getting work completed its roughly 40 hours per floor plan, 20 hours per elevation sheet, 40 hours per wall section sheet, 40 hours per sheet of details, etc.- varies per job, but you get the picture.  Of course we left out (or included by default) all the time spent sketch, coordinating, etc.

Of course our output remains two-dimensional sheets, but the processes are now completely different.  We virtually build floors, then walls, then add fenestrations, and so forth to create a model that we then slice and dice and annotate to create sheets. 

So the question is: has anyone taken the approach in their workplanning to truly define the modeling effort rather than a pure sheet output approach?  and if so would you care to share?

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Donald Koppy AIA
Architecture Team Leader
Atkins (PBSJ)
Tampa FL
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Donald,
I posted the same question about 2 years ago and did not receive much in the way of a response. I would guess most firms are still "2 Dimensional" regarding their work plans.

We too use BIM for most of our projects and while the 2 Dimensional process for estimating hours still works to determine the total effort; it is of little use for managing a team. We simply no longer work that way.

We have taken to adding BIM tasks along with the drawing sheet tasks to a work plan and then try to estimate the effort for all the tasks. We have divided the modeling into separate tasks such as model manager, vertical transportation , exterior enclosure, interiors, etc. The more finely you dissect it the less impact an error in estimating will have.

We still allocate time dedicated to sheets because there is still effort required there (set up, noting, masking etc.) The percentage of modeling versus drawing on the sheet varies by type of sheet. Obviously a plan or elevation has less "sheet " work than a detail sheet.

We have no magic formulas or rule of thumb for modeling work but at least itemizing the work helps in planning and managing a team. At some point we may gathered enough legacy information to better understand the "3 Dimensional" world we now work in.
Regards,
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John Kudrycki AIA
Fentress Architects
Denver CO
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