The Relationship between BIM Implementation and Individual Level Collaboration in Construction Projects

Abstract

Collaboration is a vital requisite in a multi-participant and multi-disciplinary working environment such as in building design with BIM in the fragmented building construction industry. The design professionals in a project team need to closely collaborate with each other to obtain integrated and high performance design outcomes. However, it is not always possible for construction professionals to achieve a high level of collaboration under the usually chaotic circumstances prevalent in the construction projects. Divergent perceptions at individual, team, and firm levels and the divergent interests of the parties inhibit effective collaboration. The main purpose of this paper is to evaluate the relationship between individual level collaboration and BIM implementation. An extensive literature review was conducted to investigate the characteristics of BIM implementation and to research the factors that affect collaboration at individual level. Metrics were developed to quantify the characteristics of the collaboration between the members of project team and the characteristics of BIM implementation. A questionnaire survey was administered to 256 building design professionals including architects, structural engineers, electrical engineers, mechanical engineers, and the like. The results were analyzed and the relationship between BIM implementation and individual level collaboration between the members of the project team was evaluated. The paper comments on the characteristics of the collaboration, and discusses the factors that affect this collaboration in BIM implementation. It was found that all suggested observed variables well explain the individual level collaboration and BIM implementation. The hypothesized model is significant at p ≤ 0.001 level. The model fit is good. There is a positive relationship between individual level collaboration and BIM implementation. In future studies, it is recommended that the analysis will be carried out on the other levels of collaboration to assess the relationship with BIM implementation and collaboration in construction projects.