Estimating the construction time and cost of a building project is an essential task of construction manager, which benefits owners, engineers and contractors. Construction duration and cost, in particular, have profound influence on the outcome of a project at the conceptual stage of its life. The conventional methods used to estimate the time and costs of construction projects are based on 2D models, which need much time and effort from engineers, estimators and schedulers who are involved in preparing them because all of this process is done manually, especially when the project has several design alternatives. Considering that, Building Information Modelling (BIM), which is a technology that enhances data transfer and ensures cooperation among designers, engineers, and contractors, can provide an efficient way for cost estimating and schedule planning. On the other hand, sustainability has drawn more and more attention by the construction industry, this is because a project’s construction process has crucial impacts on society, the environment, and the economy. Modular Construction has been proven to ensure sustainable construction by reducing the negative impacts on the environment, reducing construction time, and improving manpower productivity. This research aims at developing an integrated model that interrelates BIM with construction cost estimation, scheduling, and sustainability at the conceptual design stage of projects. The aim is to reduce the preparation time and increase the efficiency of making major decisions for both conventional construction and modular construction.
The proposed model consists of five modules, including a data collection module, a cost estimation module, a scheduling module, a sustainability evaluation module, and a 5D integrated module. Plug-ins were developed in the model to link BIM tool (i.e., Autodesk Revit) with Microsoft Excel to ensure automatic data transfer among these modules all within a BIM platform so that owners and designers can quickly generate a reliable construction cost estimate, construction schedule, preliminary sustainability evaluation, as well as construction process simulation.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uottawa.ca/oai:ruor.uottawa.ca:10393/35292 |
| Date | January 2016 |
| Creators | Li, Jinmin |
| Contributors | Jrade, Ahmad |
| Publisher | Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa |
| Source Sets | Université d’Ottawa |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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