In the building design and
construction industry, construction documentation forms an important phase
between design development and on-site construction administration. In
scenarios where architectural practices decide to transition to object-oriented
BIM modelling or there is a need to turn around more projects than can be
executed by the internal team, firms decide to look for experienced architectural BIM modelling support
partners. Whilst such collaboration models provide cost-effective and
high-quality access to CAD and BIM expertise, issues can crop up if your
support partner does not have appropriate processes and quality standards in
place.
As a result, to make the BIM outsourcing engagement work
successfully for your architectural practice, there is a need to ensure that
the following are in place:
A
Dedicated Point of Contact
A dedicated point of contact in the form
of a project manager serves as an integral link between your firm and the
outsourcing partner. He/she liaises with the architectural firm’s
representative (in most cases the project’s chief architect or the design head)
to gather and analyse in detail the project’s requirements, construction
specifications, and CAD/BIM standards followed.
Well
Defined Project Flow
After a comprehensive needs analysis
by the project manager, a clear process should be in place to break down the
client’s 3D architectural modelling and
construction documentation requirements into a tangible project scope. The
scope then dictates the roles/responsibilities and the turnaround schedules of
each of the senior team members, including team leader, senior BIM technicians,
senior CAD technicians, BIM coordinators, and draftsmen.
Production
Planning Roadmap
Depending on the resources at hand,
the project manager along with team leader should map out a timeline for
documentation delivery. Traditional CAD-based processes necessitate clear
guidelines pertaining to drawing scales, dimensions, symbols, targets, annotations,
and abbreviations. Modern BIM-enabled workflows also require establishment of
protocols and standards for master model worksharing, data exchange, library
creation, and model coordination.
Multi-Tier
Quality Checks
Rigorous quality check protocols are
an integral part of delivering accurate standards-compliant architectural
BIM modelling and construction documentation support to architectural
practises. The first tier entails draftsmen involved to cross-review their
peer’s work followed by an inspection by the team leader on local models. The
final tier of quality check phase requires the project manager to undergo a
detailed review of the master model. Once the central master model gets a
go-ahead from the project manager, it is used to extract construction
documents. Finally, the construction documents are reviewed to check whether
they fulfil the construction specifications set by the client.
Ability
to Coordinate Online with Clients
The success of your outsourcing
partnership will also depend on the associate firm’s ability to hold regular
update and doubt-solving virtual sessions. Focussed meetings ensure both you as
well as those on the outsourcing team are on the same page as far as the
project progress is concerned.
To know about how our architectural BIM
modelling and proven BIM/CAD
outsourcing model, contact us.
