Overview
On September 23, 2009, Reed Construction Data presented a Webcast titled: Lessons in BIM Adoption.

After the panel presentations, viewers were given the opportunity of asking questions. Several of the questions from the audience concerned my statement during the presentation, “architects and engineers need to share their BIM projects”. The questions included:

For an architect what is the liability exposure by allowing use of the building information model by parties outside the Owner/Architect Agreement?
When contractors are part of the design process, and when BIM models are shared with contractors, sub-contractors, manufacturers, suppliers and the owner it is critical that all parties understand what they are responsible for, what they can add and take away from the model and how those changes must be documented.

What do you mean “Architects will need to share BIM projects”?
The BIM models are valuable for contractors to use in planning the specifics of their work. Contractors using the models can see and correct conflicts prior to construction. They can also get valuable information on products that are fabricated off-site and brought to the project. The model needs to be maintained during construction for both design and data on the products actually installed. When completed this model can then be turned over to the owner and they will (probably for the first time ever) know what they own down to detail, which is critical for operations and facilities management. Owners waste tremendous amounts of money operating and repairing their buildings because they do not know what they have.

Comment on liability issues related to share BIM models.
The short answer is that professionals are responsible for their scope of work. Agreements need to be put in place that clearly indicates responsibilities, why the models are shared and what can be done with the models.

When you say that Architects need to share their files does that mean just the data extracted from the BIM model, or the entire drawing files with others?
The entire model, graphics and data, needs to be shared. The model needs to be maintained and stay current and accurate as the building is built and then operated. The costs associated with maintaining a BIM model is small compared to the savings.

Who owns the model?
Great question. The answer may be ‘who cares’ as long as the appropriate people get to use it and someone is responsible for maintaining the model. If someone must be the owner of the BIM model then I would pick the owner for they have the greatest gain from a good well maintained model. I suspect architects and engineers reading this will be concerned about reuse of the model without permission (the owner could go build another building down the street with the BIM model), these concerns can be addressed in the Owner/Architect Agreement just as they are now with CAD drawings.

What is being done to get architects to freely give out their 3D models to the contractors and subs?
I will answer this with a story. In the ’90s a major fast food company we were working with decided to start using CAD and told the architects that they should use CAD and provide them the CAD files when the projects were complete. Some architects refused to use CAD, some refused to turn over their CAD files. These architects no longer did work for the fast food company. As I mentioned in the talk, architects and engineers need to share models either because they realize their value to the others that are part of the design, construction and operations process, or because they are told to share.

The sharing of professionals work is not a new issue, there were similar concerns during the hand drawing era (who owned the original drawings as there was only one original), and again with CAD (who owned the CAD files and who could get copies and what could they do with them?). We are now in the BIM era, and I say over and over, “BIM will change everything for everyone involved in the design/construction/facility management process”. There is probably no other single issue that will define this change more than determining who is responsible for the BIM project model and its maintenance through design, construction and facility management.

I clearly see some patterns coming into focus
Think back about the automobile, forty years after the first one was invented you could find little consistency in design, parts, user interface. Now 100 years after that date you can get into any rental car in the US and make it go. The difference with BIM is it is not going to take over 100 years, or even generations to mature, like the phone, airplanes, etc. In the next five to ten years the pattern for relationships and responsibilities concerning BIM will be established, so the actions taken today may well determine the future.

Two events may be an indicator of one direction we will go.

• Recently at a meeting with many large architectural firms the question was asked, “How many of you share your BIM projects with contractors?” One firm had, one time.
• Yesterday I received a multi page document to review from a major construction company. This document clearly defines how their sub-contractors will prepare their BIM files and covers ownership, sharing, how they will be coordinated, conflict resolution and much more.

The future could be:

• Team Determined During Design — The owner selects the architect, engineers, and general contractor. The general selects sub-contractors, and building products. This happens prior to the completion of the contract documents. The team composed of the architect, engineer, general contractor, sub-contractors, and product manufacturers/suppliers collectively generate the BIM models from which are generated the final contract documents by the architect which are the basis of costing and construction. Another version, and perhaps most likely, is that the general contractor is selected by the owner and the general brings the team together, the architect works for the general contractor.
• Architect Stops at Design Development Phase — The bid process proceeds similar to today but based upon less architect detailing, layouts and product selections. The architect stops at Design Development stage (this process is used in parts of Europe). Upon selection of the general and sub-contractors the team now completes the BIM for final costing, details and construction. The construction experts (general contractor, sub-contractors and building product manufactures) will create their BIM models that will be combined with the architects and engineers to create the contract documents. The architect may be the coordinator, or the general contractor may be the coordinator of the BIM project. In this example the architect will lose some control over materials selections and detailing.
• Architect Creates More Complete BIM Project Models and Databases — The architect takes on more responsibility for completeness in the creation of the BIM project. The architect must know more about construction than most know today. A new type of consultant may emerge that is an expert in construction that will model building components (HVAC, curtain walls, plumbing, etc.) that will be combined with the architects BIM project and used for bidding and construction. In this example the architect maintains control of design, materials and detailing, but must increase their knowledge of construction methods, sequencing and techniques to insure that the BIM project is valuable for both conveying design as well as a valuable tool for the contractor.

In these three examples (many more possible outcomes can be imagined) there is a consistent theme, BIM projects will be shared. If you are thinking that you can just continue doing business the same as you have done in the past, you will find you were wrong in the next few years.

Why are architects are not sharing their BIM models?
There are several valid reasons:

• Concerns about liability — What happens if the architect shares their BIM project, someone makes a change to the model that the architect never knows about and that change is used for construction and a disaster happens? They may be in court for years, the courts may believe the design professional is responsible, even for others changes. In the early days of CAD the insurance companies were very concerned about CAD as they did not have any data to determine if CAD would increase or decrease liability, should they raise or lower rates for architects using CAD. If insurance companies have not started thinking about this BIM issue yet, when they do this will be a big concern for them.
• Concerns about unauthorized reuse of intellectual property — Architects create designs, the spaces and building may be unique in how they deal with light, air movement, space organization, material selections and detailing. If the architects share the BIM model what can prevent the entire building, or individual spaces, from being reused by the owner, contractor, sub-contractor or even the supplier through sharing the BIM project with others. Certainly owners reuse building designs (ex. Fast food restaurants), but in this case they have reached an agreement with the design professional on the terms of reuse and/or the level of detail that is distributed.
• Concern that their current scope of work does not cover the creation of a BIM projects appropriate for sharing – In most cases architects are creating BIM projects for the creation of paper based contract documents. When working with BIM the techniques, completeness, quality of the objects can be substantially different depending if you want a valuable BIM model (quality graphics and data) or a set of paper documents. In the Webcast, I discussed increasing A&E fees to cover the need for design professionals to create more complete BIM projects. I have also written and article on this topic.

BIM is a new era; all the parties touched by BIM will need to work out their roles and responsibilities. Architects and engineers, for the reasons stated above are moving slowly, or not at all. Contractors, on the other hand are moving quickly and decisively. Several major construction companies are already creating BIM projects from the architect’s paper drawings. Now general contractors are getting their sub-contractors (those with the real knowledge of how the building is built) to create BIM models for their specific parts of the projects. The general contractor is taking the responsibility to combine the collection of BIM models back into the whole for construction sequencing, conflict checking and more. The general contractors are telling owners how they are saving approximately 10% in construction costs when using BIM compared to conventional paper drawings based projects. The owners are happily paying for two BIM projects, the architects BIM that is used to create paper drawings and the contractors that is use to cost, sequence, layout, and build the building, this does not seem like a perfect solution.

If you accept sharing the BIM model as inevitable, then the sooner architects start dealing with the concerns above the better.

• Liability — The logical direction for a solution is for the major representatives of the involved parties; architects, engineers, contractors, manufacturers (AIA, NSPE, IEEE, AGC, etc) and insurance companies to get together and create a relationship and responsibility agreement. This may take some time, it may never happen, so individual firms can create a document now. List the concerns, and come up with reasonable solutions, for example:
• Model Changes — Solution — All changes to the BIM project model, including BIM models created by contactors and sub-contractors must be coordinated and integrated into the main BIM model by the architect. The contractor’s contracts and construction can only be based upon the integrated and coordinated BIM project model; this may require new language in the owner/architect agreement and the owner/contractor agreement. The architect may need to have an employee at the job site to insure the BIM project is keep current.
• Insurance Companies – Solution – Let them know what you are doing, that you are sharing the BIM project, the changes you have made to your owner/architect agreement and language included in the owner/contractor, and contractor/sub-contractors agreements to place responsibilities.
• Intellectual Property — Solution — The owner/architect, owner/contractor, and contractor/sub-contractor agreements need to address what can and cannot be done with the BIM models (graphics and data) created by the architect, engineers, and contractors. Reuse, and restrictions on reuse, needs to be clearly addressed. Non-disclosure agreements should be included in the agreements as appropriate.
• Model Quality — Solution — Architects and engineers will need to improve the quality of their models (modeling techniques, quality of objects and assemblies, naming conventions, consistency in property data associated with assemblies and objects, etc.). Architects and engineers will need to establish better practices to insure the quality of their BIM projects.

Conclusion
I have looked at drawing sets from the early 1900’s, major buildings were constructed from 20 to 40 drawing sheets, the architects gave a broad overview of the design and the craftspeople built a quality building. I was at a meeting last year where an architect told the audience that there were over 6,000 drawings on a project they were designing. Clearly there has been a major shift from 1900 to 2009 in what is considered “standard practice” for the design professions.

During the CAD days I gave many talks and was often introduced as a futurist. What I used to point out is that it is not hard to be a futurist when you are simply pointing out what is going to happen anyway. In this case — BIM projects will be shared. We have now entered a new era and the practice of architecture in 2100 will look very different than today. Give thought to what you think will be happening in the coming years; change your practice to fulfill that vision. Perhaps you will lead the way.