Coordination of Cost Estimation for Industrialized Residential Projects Through the Use of BIM

The current on-site (stick-built) construction process is hampered by inefficiencies and limited in terms of opportunities for technological innovation. The efficiency of on-site construction practice is contingent upon the effectiveness of the specific model used to communicate information. Architects use CAD models to develop a project design, while construction engineers use management tools and spreadsheets to assist in project estimating control and integration. Today, the efficiency of this process is dependent upon the ability of project participants to interpret these discipline-specific models in order to form mental pictures of a proposed design and manually perform material take-offs and estimating. This process contributes to misinterpretation and subsequent estimating errors. Advanced computer tools can be used to prepare smart designs which integrate these models and coordinate the cross-disciplinary tools used for design and cost estimating. The research described in this paper is intended to support the industrialized (manufactured) construction process of residential buildings, coordinating cross-disciplinary knowledge through the utilization of building information modelling (BIM)-based 3D-paremateric modelling. A case study is also presented in this paper in order to illustrate the effectiveness of the methodology and highlight potential applications of the 3D BIM model.