Status of BIM Adoption and the BIM Experience of Cost Consultants in Australia

AbstractThere is anecdotal evidence that the adoption of building information modeling (BIM) is on the increase. However, the extent to which quantity surveyors (QS) (also referred to as cost consultants or cost engineers) are now using BIM features is not clear. The research reported in this paper was aimed at understanding the BIM experience of QS firms and cost consultants in Australia as well as to understand the progress they have made towards the use of BIM features. Data collection was a web-based survey of 180 QS firms with 40 responses and two in-depth interviews. Findings from the study show that BIM features are not readily used by QS firms owing to uncertainties concerning the integrity of three-dimensional (3D) models issued by designers, incomplete information in models, lack of knowledge concerning new business processes to drive the use of BIM use, lack of demand by clients, cost of implementing BIM features within the existing practice and learning time required to adopt BIM features. It ...