Investigating Factors that Influence the Implementation of Model-based Estimation

Abstract

Model-based estimation (MBE) has become more common in recent years in the construction industry, with many seeking to capture the potential of Building Information Modeling (BIM). However, MBE is neither utilized as widely as expected nor implemented as efficiently as it could be in current industry practice. Aiming to give advice to the future industry in improving MBE implementation, the present study target to find a list of factors that have positive impacts on MBE implementation. Previous studies attributed the low level of MBE implementation to a low level of model sharing and lack of required information in models, largely due to lack of integration between design and construction and the absence of effective communication among project participants. Thus, the cooperation between two major project participants, namely designing team and general contractor, appears to be a crucial factor in determining the level of utilization of MBE. To this end, the present study mainly focuses on testing a hypothesis that a correlation exists between the level of project integration and the level of MBE implementation. This study used an online survey as a main research methodology to collect responses from industry practitioners, and a statistical analysis was conducted to test the hypothesis. The study results will support project teams in devising ways to improve the level of MBE implementation for future projects.