It is a known fact that Virtual Construction, also known as 5D BIM, will help you win work.  It is well-documented and can be read about in this year's "Getting BIM to the Bottom Line."  This report, produced by McGraw-Hill Construction, has two salient points that we at Vico have been telling our customers for years: 

First, when marketing your firm's capabilities to an Owner or a selection committee, "98% of BIM users say that having BIM capability is having an impact on their companies winning new work." (page 18, BIM SmartMarket Report: The Business Value of BIM) 

Interesting enough on the same page it says, "Only 31% of your competitors are marketing themselves as having significant BIM capability.  At Vico we have a new expression, "Do you walk-the-walk, or do you just talk-the-talk?" 

With the availabilty of free modeling systems such as Google's SketchUp allowing anyone to build some nice visual models of a project you have to ask the question: "What constitutes significant BIM capabilities?" 

In a recent decision by an owner to build a new hospital his selection committee said that significant BIM capabilities included:

• - A systematic method to make conceptual pricing and schedule assumptions and evolve them (manage them) as the design progressed. Using Vico Office Cost Planner and Cost Explorer the GC said, "I can do that," and he showed them how!
• - Is there a way you can de-risk the 12 month schedule so that we are highly likely to complete this project on time? Again, using Vico Control the GC was able to pinpoint 2 critical risks to the proposed 12 month construction schedule. Control's optimization capability allowed the GC to lower the risk of a delay from those 2 items from 90% probability to below 10% probability.
• - Finally, the Owner was shown a better way to have the project team collaborate on cost and design together as the Vico Cost Plan can quickly "compare and show" the cost impact of a new piece to the design.

Finally, another quote from page 48 of the BIM SmartMarket Report, "BIM users would rather work with strangers who know BIM than with friends that don't."  This is significant in an industry where repeat business is based upon good working relationships with the many partners in your area. 

To learn more about the latest BIM SmartMarket Report and how you can inspire your firm to "walk the walk," join us on Friday, January 29th at 12 Noon Eastern for Getting BIM to the Bottom Line, a special Fridays with Vico webinar featuring Steve Jones from McGraw-Hill Construction.

In another blog we'll explore the Vico Model Progression Specification which is a another key capability to get your firm setup with significant BIM capabilities.

If you're interested in this topic, you'll also want to research:

Blog: The BIM Washers Versus the Real Deal

Blog: Talk the Talk AND Walk the Walk with BIM

Blog: Differentiating Your Firm with 5D BIM

Blog: BIM Doesn't Come in a Box

Blog: 5D BIM Versus 50-Yard Line Tickets

Blog: The Top 10 Reasons to Do 5D BIM

Blog: The Top 10 Ways to Derail Your BIM Initiatives

Webinar: The BIM Master Class Series

Webpage: The D's of BIM

Webpage: The 5D BIM Checklist