Ready Or Not, Integrators Must Embrace Building Information Modeling

BIM is here to stay. Will your CI firm be an early adopter or be left behind?

Commercial integrators appear to be gaining steam when it comes to their interest in and understanding of Building Information Modeling (BIM), a collaborative virtual design process that brings all parties together from the beginning of a project with the goal of making it come together more smoothly and generate more profit for everyone involved.

Design consultants are typically thought of as the earliest adopters of BIM, but other key stakeholders—such as architects and engineers—have embraced the concept in recent years. Now, it’s time for CIs to jump on board or be left in the dust.

“It’s changing our industry, that’s for sure,” says Todd Hutchins, chief technology officer at Verrex, an integration firm that offers design, installation and management of conferencing, collaboration and presentation technologies. Hutchins is a member of the InfoComm International BIM Task Force. He expects major interest in the topic among integrators over the next 12 months.

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“We’ve been talking about the integration of A/V and IT for years, and that’s just now hitting home as a result of a couple of big news events,” Hutchins says. “I see the same thing happening in our industry with BIM.”

Joe Bocchiaro, director of InfoComm’s Performance Standards Program, agrees BIM is poised for a major step forward among commercial integrators. He believes the BIM report will help integrators become more passionate about the topic and he expects BIM to play a major role in this summer’s InfoComm show in Orlando.

“Design consultants really understood the business potential for it,” he says. “They were the early adopters and it was boon to their businesses. There’s been more resistance on the integration side, I think because they didn’t know how it would affect the design/build side. It wasn’t really on the radar screen, except for a very few integrators.

“I’m interested in seeing how the sides are going to morph. Integrators now have the chance to work on the end product,” Bocchiaro says.

Architects Leading Charge

Task force chairman David McNell, an associate at architecture/engineering firm RTKL Associates, says his cohorts are “driving” the increased use of BIM. The first step in helping integrators make the most of the process, he says, is educating InfoComm members and others in the field.

The most tangible way to do that, says McNell, is through InfoComm’s creation of a standardized parameter list for all products integrators may use in a project. That list should be posted on InfoComm’s website in the coming weeks, he says.

“A lot of what we’ve done is about compatibility,” says McNell. “If everyone defines height, width and depth in the same manner, we can make an easy comparison in deciding what equipment to use in a particular job.

“Firms that do a lot of work with large architecture firms are being forced to use BIM,” McNell says. “It has people starting to ask questions sooner. You need all of the team there earlier to make decisions.”

He thinks it makes sense especially for purposes of physical space planning and expects to see VidCAD software upgrades in the next couple of years. Bocchiaro notes the “big learning curve” for integrators who are used to using AutoCAD but are now being asked to learn Bentley or Revit to become full participants in the BIM process.

“It’s totally changed how we do things,” he says.

Opportunity Knocks. Will Integrators Answer?

In McNell’s eyes, integrators are squarely in the spotlight when it comes to how successful BIM can be and how quickly it can be fully adopted in the design process.

“BIM is a mindset and a concept,” he says. “Changing the process is very difficult, especially in big firms because there’s going to be a loss of profit at the beginning. Integrators are in a very strong position to take the lead on using BIM to the fullest.”

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While Verrex has yet to employ BIM, Hutchins is looking to hire someone who can lead the move into the next era of design. He hopes to find the right fit within the next six months, with an optimistic target of the InfoComm show in June.

“Someone in the organization really needs to know this, and be very good at it,” he says. “You can’t fake your way through it.”

Hutchins knows some firms wonder about the investment of time and money through training and new equipment, but he’s confident both will be worth it for Verrex.

“Long-term, it will save a lot of time and money,” he says. “The real step is getting all (mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineers) to use it. That’s really going to force our hand.”

Bocchiaro sees even more potential for BIM, saying he’d like to eventually see it used for acoustic modeling and photometric modeling along with testing an A/V system’s energy management. He says integrators love the potential for collision analysis offered through BIM, so “everyone can see what’s there and how it goes together.”

“People see it as a challenge, but they know they have to do it,” Bocchiaro says. “It really encourages everyone to think about the whole project from the outset and encourage A/V people to get in a lot earlier.”