So, raise your hand: how many of us have gotten a “for Dummies” book for our birthday?  How many people learned to juggle using the “for Dummies” kit with the koosh balls?  My den bookshelf includes “Digital Cameras for Dummies” and the kitchen has a copy of “Thai Cooking for Dummies” on the cookbook shelf.

Here at Vico, we thought we could (and should) break down BIM for Construction into a series of relatively easy steps…just like the Dummies books.  So our wildly popular BIM for Dummies series contains four fast-paced and fun videos: 5D BIM for Dummies illustrates the 3D-4D-5D workflow; BIM-Based Estimating for Dummies highlights what changes in an Estimator's workflow when s/he starts working with BIM models; 4D BIM for Dummies illustrates how planners, superintendents, and PEs work together to make sure the baseline schedule is achieved in the field; and Vico Office for Dummies shows how the whole BIM for Construction workflow comes together.

So get your team assembled, get your BIM on, and just press play...

Vico Office for Dummies

This 5-minute video is a great introduction to the new functionality in Vico Office Release 4. As you probably already know, Vico Office is an integrated construction management solution which spans 2D, 3D, 4D, and 5D BIM. In plain English this means design coordination, model coordination, location-based scheduling, cost planning, production control, and layout validation. The integration is critical because it eliminates departmental silos - all the information contained in the BIM (quantities by location, durations, costs, etc.) are shared with all departments, so there's no waste, no rework.

5D BIM for Dummies

This 15-minute video explains the virtual construction workflow from quantity takeoff, to clash detection, to the location breakdown structure, to schedule planning and cost planning, through to the job site for production control. The workflow starts by publishing BIM models Vico Office and assigning a Location Breakdown Structure to get construction-caliber quantities by location. Now the Estimators start building out the cost plan while the Planning Team starts fleshing out the schedule.  With each design change, the estimate and schedule are automatically updated. The schedule is communicated to the subs in the trailer. And the Owner receives cost- and resource-loaded schedules. 

BIM-Based Estimating for Dummies

This 30-minute video illustrates how an estimator would create, maintain, and evolve a cost plan while receiving models from multiple sources from the design team and subs and then visually communicate the impact on the estimate to the Owner, designers and all project stakeholders during the preconstruction phase.  Gone are the stacks of drawings, binders, and spreadsheets - now the presentation tools include a dynamically integrated 5D model. This means that the Estimator can now show the Owner which building elements are contributing the most to the budget. Now the Estimator can show the Owner what happens to the cost and schedule if a new design is implemented. Now the GC, the Owner, and the Designers are not only on the same page - they're on the same team.

4D BIM Scheduling for Dummies

Focused on construction scheduling and production control, 4D BIM Scheduling for Dummies explores how planners, schedulers, superintendents, and project engineers deploy Vico Office. This 14-minute video explains the four tenets of 4D BIM: quantities by location, flowline theory, on-site production control, and 4D simulations. The video also includes an explanation of locations breakdown structures and our patented process for non-destructive element splitting.  Although the Vico use of Location-Based Management might appear novel and new to the construction industry, but the Empire State Building was built using flowline graphs and control charts - the same tools our solution uses to plan the optimal schedule and then manage to it on the jobsite with production control.

Full-Length Vico Office Presentation

Many firms are familiar with BIM for clash detection, but there are so many more advantages when your strategy includes design coordination, scheduling, estimating, layout, and production control...and especially when it is all integrated. We concentrate on that word "integration" because it means that work done in one department can be leveraged in another. It means the work performed in preconstruction can be leveraged out in the field. It means that data from one project can be leveraged for use on another. This 40-minute presentation outlines our integrated construction management solution for 2D-3D-4D-5D BIM. It is very similar to what we would demonstrate if/when we visit your firm.

If this is the direction you want to head with your BIM practice, then the Vico Office Structured Evaluation is the logical next step.