Standard Specification Coming to Help Drive Efficiencies into the BIM Process
Enthusiasts of building information modeling have developed a standard specification that they say will help eliminate poor communication and misunderstandings within project teams using BIM. The 132-page document, coming out this summer, will offer users a common language for determining the specific content of design, construction and fabrication BIMs.
The 2013 Level of Development Specification, which is being formulated by the Associated General Contractors (AGC) BIM Forum, will be available free of charge. It is intended as an attachment to any contract as an aid for practitioners to specify and articulate with a "high level of clarity" the content and reliability of BIMs at various stages of design and construction, says the LOD spec.
"The overarching goal is to enhance the predictability of outcome while reducing the disappointment of unmet expectations," says Ronald F. Dellaria, chief compliance officer for architect-engineer and design-builder Astorino, Pittsburgh. Dellaria, a member of the all-volunteer LOD Working Group, is the inspiration behind the spec.
Another goal is to encourage design firms to make their models a contract document. "This is our aspiration," says architect Jan Reinhardt, a principal of ADEPT Project Delivery, Pittsburgh, and co-chairman of the 20-person LOD Working Group, made up of designers and contractors.