BIM is Building Information Modeling. It’s the process of designing a construction project using one coherent system of computer modeling instead of separate sets of drawings for the various parts of the project. The use of BIM in vertical construction has been growing for the past several years and has also been catching on for site preparation, dirt moving, and road projects.
Here’s a video introduction to BIM from Autodesk:
A recent report done by Research and Markets, titled “World Building Information Modeling (BIM) Market—Opportunities and Forecasts, 2015–2022,” anticipates the international BIM market will reach $11.7 billion by 2022. That would mean a compound annual growth rate of 21.6% from 2016 to 2022.
The study found that the BIM market should grow at a substantial rate because of government regulations that mandate the use of BIM software for construction projects. It also found that the software segment would be a major player with nearly a 3/4 overall market share by the year 2022. And the contractors segment I expected to grow at the fastest CAGR.
Some of the companies that are expected to lead the global reach of BIM solutions are Autodesk, AECOM, Trimble Navigation Ltd, Bentley Systems, and Asite Solutions Ltd.
From the “World Building Information Modeling (BIM) Market—Opportunities and Forecasts, 2015–2022” report:
“The commercial and infrastructure construction industry have been witnessing increasing demand for automation of technical drawings and database in the recent years. Further, the supportive government regulations pertaining to mandating the use of BIM in commercial projects, booming real estate industry and growing awareness of the benefits of BIM, among architects and contractors, would drive its adoption, globally. In the current scenario, BIM has emerged as an ideal alternative to traditional CAD software, owing to its suitability over a variety of operational issues such as cost management, handling raw data & information and alignment of processes associated with construction projects. Thus, BIM is expected to exhibit an upward growth trend across widespread verticals.
“The North America region occupies the majority of the market share in the current market scenario. However, Asia-Pacific region is forecast to dominate the market by 2021. Growing construction activities and government mandates are expected to contribute to the fast growth of the region. Moreover, the growing commercial and infrastructure construction activities in countries such as China, India and U.A.E, offer lucrative market opportunities in Asia-Pacific and LAMEA regions.”
Keep your eyes on BIM. We are. Coming up in the July/August 2016 issue of Grading and Excavation Contractor magazine, we’ll have a feature article outlining the basics of BIM technology. In the meantime, tell us what your experiences have been with it so far.
