Building Information Modeling

Never before have we experienced a pandemic of this magnitude. It sometimes seems that the entire world has come to a standstill. However, despite the reigning uncertainties, the lockdowns across India are slowly getting lifted and economic activity is gradually beginning. While the crisis still looms, it also gives us the chance to turn it into opportunity. The Government of India, under the direction of the honourable Prime Minister, has laid an impetus on ‘infrastructure’ and ‘technology-driven systems’, as a part of India’s future strategy to come out of this crisis. It is abundantly clear that building infrastructure will be crucial to develop and accelerate the economy. The highway construction sector is already seeing tremendous focus and there seem to be major plans to commence work on a war footing on highway projects. However, we also need to bear in mind that the world of work that we will enter post-lockdown will be very different from the world of work that was. For starte...

  Conceptual estimating has always been a crucial aspect while planning a new construction project. Developers assign costs for every stage of the planning to determine the costs, feasibility, and the direction of the project. That enables the construction company to build a perspective of how the project will come together over time. Construction companies call it part-science and part-art. There are two main approaches to it. The cost approach: Cost estimation can safely be called the cornerstone of conceptual estimating. Over  70% to 80%  of the costs are determined during the pre-construction stage itself.  It gives the developers an overview of the total budget and the potential for cost overruns in the project. It also enables developers to start planning for ways to work within a limited budget. In the current economic scenario, it is definitely advisable to have a cost estimate prepared for the projects on the floor to have a template to aim for at all times....

I have been a part of the construction industry for many years, and in all that time, I have observed something unexpected about the industry. As much as the feeling is that the industry resists change, it has evolved steadily and constantly. Who could have thought that we could not only identify clashes but also rectify them before the construction began or that construction doesn’t need to happen at the construction site? It would have been hard to imagine a few years ago. But, here we are, and this is just the beginning of how technology is going to revolutionize the way we think and do things in our industry. The ever-increasing infrastructure demands, and tight spaces on-site have opened the gates to offsite construction. As per  one definition , “Offsite construction is the completion of elements or components of a construction project at a different location from where they will be permanently installed.” The offsite construction involves planning, design, and fabrication of...