BIMForum e-Builder talks BIM value for owners versus contractors Florida Construction News special feature n the construction industry, every- thing is big: the projects, the budgets and, the opportunity to improve productivity and efficiency. Studies have shown that on some projects, as much as 30 percent of every construction dollar is wasted, ex- ceeding one trillion dollars annually. In an effort to put a stop to this, brothers Ron and Jon Antevy created e-Builder, which is currently used to manage more than $200 billion in active con- struction projects. The company pro- vides fully integrated, cloud-based construction program management software that helps its customers, the building owners, improve project exe- cution to make the process faster, more efficient, and less expensive. I BIM is one of the latest technolo- gies employed by the construction in- dustry to address inefficiencies, but its advantages differ across market stakeholders. While the idea of BIM has been around for a few decades, it has only recently come to the fore- front as a practical addition to the proj- ect execution process. While most BIM tools approach the industry from the designer and contractor’s per- spective, e-Builder believes the spe- cific needs of the facility owners should also be considered. By break- ing down individual needs, specific best practices and useful functionali- ties become more apparent. For instance, clash detection is a major BIM benefit for contractors as it 4 – SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2015 — Florida Construction News allows them to identify issues before construction begins, which were pre- viously only discovered during the ac- tual building process. Most owners’ on the other hand, do not delve into the same level of detail as the contrac- tor during the construction process, but they naturally remain tied to the project even after the building is com- plete. Therefore, owners have differ- ent needs for access to project information before, during and after construction. They also have a need to ‘connect’ BIM data to other project in- formation before, during and after construction. For owners, the ability to store and easily access BIM data in the cloud and connect that data to other project or building asset infor- mation is an important benefit. While the topic of BIM for contrac- tors versus owners is still new, it’s growing and will likely become a more significant topic of conversation as owners think about the tools and tech- nologies available that can assist them throughout the entire life cycle of a project. BIMForum attendees interested in learning about how owners can utilize BIM for project optimization can visit e-Builder at booth 309.