Dirt Talk: The Move Toward Infrastructure Construction and BIM
by Harry O. Ward , PE
July 8, 2009
Infrastructure projects are going to be our bread and butter for the foreseeable future. If you are looking for growth in the land development market I suggest looking elsewhere, because it isn’t going to be there. The land development pie has shrunk to a fraction of what it was a couple years ago. Let’s face it, how many more Starbucks do we need?
What we do desperately need are improved transportation systems, water supplies, drainage, levees, power production and so on. You have probably already heard that the American Society of Civil Engineers has rated America’s infrastructure between D and D-. How humiliating for the “greatest country on earth.”
Our situation has deteriorated to this level over time as the government redirected funds to other causes rather than improving the backbone health of our country. With this vicious economy, the government is stepping in to assist--and not soon enough! By funding the Infrastructure we keep smart, skilled people working and we improve our backbone for commerce at the same time.
If you are a contractor performing significant land development projects and you want to grow your company and improve profits, then look into the world of infrastructure. There are many ways a contractor can participate and find a strong niche. The first prerequisite is the ability to do the work: Do you have the equipment and skilled staff? Second, do you have the right software to compete in this arena? And third, do you have the experience in this line of work? Many contractors can say yes to the first question but are weak in the second and third when it comes to the infrastructure world. But deficiences in software and experience can be easily rectified.
To work in the infrastructure market, you may need to acquire and use new software. The land development world often uses AutoCAD-based solutions, which have served that market well. However, in the infrastructure world much of the client base uses Bentley solutions. The reasoning behind this confuses some people but really it is quite simple. Bentley products (formerly Intergraph) began the CAD revolution back in the late ’60s and early ’70s But only large organizations could afford these multi-million dollar solutions--and many of these large organizations were government agencies. The Autodesk platforms didn’t arrive until the PC world in the ’80s--at least a decade later. By then these huge agencies had a legacy of data that was entrenched in their software applications. As we all know, Bentley acquired most of the applications from Intergraph (such as MicroStation and InRoads) along with Geopak and some others. The net result now stands that Bentley commands a large piece of the infrastructure world.
Our studied thinking on this is that if the client wants Autodesk products, use them. If the client wants Bentley products, use them. Be a real player to your clients, not an amateur who spends project dollars on conversions and risks QA/QC issues.
Another huge market is BIM (Building Information Modeling). In April 2008, the Corps of Engineers selected Bentley BIM as its software of choice. BIM can’t be easily converted between the two major players, Autodesk’s Revit and Bentley’s Triforma, Architecture and MicroStation. So again, you either get with the program, so to speak, or spend someone’s money on conversion attempts and QA/QC issues. Clearly, clients are not stupid and will soon select a more serious firm from among the massive competition out there.
Here is a great example I recently heard of the importance of using the right software, at the right time, by the right people.
A large, well-known architectural firm designed a major complex, which was reviewed and approved. It went out for construction and was awarded to a very mature contractor. When they received the plans, they immediately sent them overseas to have them “BIMmed” (Is that a word? It is now!).
Well, when the kickoff meeting occurred, the architects arrived in nice shiny suits with smiles on their faces since their “baby” was going to be built. The contractors sat there quite seriously. When the leader kicked off the discussion with a wonderful vision of the project, the contractor said, “Excuse me, but there is a serious conflict issue in the West wing.”
The architect shrugged it off and said, “OK, we can address that later.” As they progressed, the contractor kept interjecting comments about more and deeper issues with the design. Soon the “ching, ching” of change order money began to permeate the room.
At last the architect caught on, stopped and said, “Whoa, how do you know all of this when you haven’t even begun building the project yet?” The contractor told him they had the data BIMmed and it revealed many design conflicts, hence change orders.
The moral of the story here is that the architect should have used the technology and identified these issues ahead of time, but didn’t. Rather, the contractor used this technology for his own benefit. Since he won the job as low bidder, he makes significant profits based on the change orders. So for all contractors, here is a great technology in addition to the others you have at your disposal. Do you plan to move in this direction? Post your comments below.
For more details about getting into infrastructure and BIM, feel free to contact me at hward@harken-reidar.
Harry O. Ward , PE
hward@harken-reidar.com
Harry O. Ward, PE, is a registered professional engineer, a state licensed contractor and certified in machine control. He is president of Harken-Reidar, a new infrastructure solutions company. He has been a member of the engineering faculty at George Mason University since 1997.
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