Measuring the Impact of Design Errors Prevented by Using Building Information Modeling in Syrian Construction Projects

Abstract

Construction projects are constantly striving to avoid design errors because they have a negative impact on cost, scheduling, and project performance as a whole. Engineering design is the art of producing plans and documents for a project before its implementation. The outputs are different types of engineering drawings and documents, which in turn lead to a wide and diverse spectrum of errors.. Building information modeling (BIM) technology is considered one of the most important techniques in reducing design errors and rework. This paper investigates the impact of design errors that can be detected using BIM in design in construction projects in Syria. A case study was chosen for a construction project in Syria (the expansion project of the Faculty of Arts - University of Damascus). It was modeled within a BIM environment. By comparison and data analysis, all errors that BIM can avoid before implementation were identified. To measure the impact of these errors, three main measurement indicators were developed for each error (likelihood of identifying errors, error’s impact on scheduling, error’s impact on cost). The data was collected and analyzed, and the results showed seven groups of errors that BIM can avoid before implementation: (lack of information - omissions, lack of information - ambiguity and contradiction, conflicts among engineering specialties, quantities-takeoff , constructability, need for alternative design, illogical design ) .And by measuring the effect of previous errors within the main measurement indicators, errors of the type of conflicts among engineering specialties and the accuracy of finishing quantities had a critical impact on the cost and scheduling of the project. Errors such as lack of information – omissions, ambiguities and contradictions – had the least impact on project implementation.