Purpose This study aims to empirically analyze the symmetries and asymmetries among the critical factors affecting building information modeling (BIM) implementation between countries with different income levels. To achieve that aim, the study objectives are to identify: critical factors affecting BIM implementation in low-, lower-middle-, upper-middle- and high-income countries; overlapping critical factors between countries with different income levels; and agreements on the critical factors between countries with different income levels. Design/methodology/approach This study identified potential BIM implementation factors using a systematic literature review and semi-structured interviews with architectural, engineering and construction (AEC) professionals. Then, the factors were inserted into a questionnaire survey and sent to AEC professionals in Afghanistan, India, Malaysia and Saudi Arabia. The collected data was analyzed using the following techniques and tests: mean, standard deviation, normalized value, Kruskal–Wallis, Dunn and Mann–Whitney. Findings Five critical factors overlap between all countries: “availability of guidelines for implementing BIM,” “cost-benefit of implementing BIM,” “stakeholders’ willingness to learn the BIM method,” “consistent views on BIM between stakeholders” and “existence of standard contracts on liability and risk allocation.” Also, the criticality of the factors often differs between income levels, especially between low- and high-income countries, suggesting a significant gap between low- and high-income countries in BIM implementation. Originality/value This study differs from prior works by empirically analyzing the symmetries and asymmetries in BIM implementation factors between countries with different income levels (i.e. low-, lower-middle-, upper-middle- and high-income countries).

Purpose Rejecting building information modeling (BIM) can negatively impact the architectural, engineering and construction (AEC) industries. While BIM is trending globally, its implementation in post-conflict low-income economies is still limited. The purpose of this paper is to identify the critical factors for implementing BIM in a post-conflict low-income economy, using Afghanistan as a case study. Design/methodology/approach This study identifies potential affecting factors for BIM implementation through reviewing existing literature and interviewing AEC professionals in Afghanistan. Then, the factors are inserted into a questionnaire survey and disseminated with Afghanistan’s AEC practitioners. The collected data was analyzed to determine the critical factors. Also, the underlying relationships between the critical factors were established through factor analysis. Findings A total of 11 critical factors are affecting BIM implementation in Afghanistan. From those, nine factors can be grouped into the following three components: technological, environmental and organizational. Two factors, “cost-benefit of implementing BIM” and “market demand for BIM,” are recurring in low- and middle-income economies. Conversely, the “presence of appropriate projects to implement BIM” is the unique critical factor for Afghanistan that might affect other post-conflict low-income economies. Originality/value This study focuses on affecting factors for BIM implementation in post-conflict low-income economies, using Afghanistan as a reference rather than other types of economies that have been widely studied.

1. INTRODUCTION Afghanistan is a developing country with rapid urbanization and population growth in which construction sector has a tremendous influence on the progress and infrastructure of the country. Housing is a massive need in all Afghanistan. Likewise, the demand for the residential homes, more schools, public buildings, health facilities, roads, irrigation canals are required for the enhancement of socioeconomic conditions in Afghanistan. Currently, in Afghanistan, most of the new buildings are made of reinforced concrete. Ministry of Urban Development and Housing (MUDH) has the plan to build 185,175 residential units to fulfill the demand for housing need [1]. Furthermore, the private sector is investing in building small townships in the ABSTRACT Design criteria for reinforced concrete structures consist of safety, economy, functionality, and aesthetic. Site-adapt or assumption method is a semiengineering practice for the designing of reinforced concrete structures in Kandahar, Afghanistan that relies on adapting earlier designed projects into the new ones. It is obvious that application of this approach influences safety and economy of constructions, therefore, consequences of site-adapt practice are studied through comparing it with ACI standard design method. A school building that had been designed by site-adapt method was selected as the case study and redesigned as per ACI 318M-11 code using STAAD PRO and STAAD RCDC software. Lastly, differentiating cost estimation of materials that show the variability due to the application of these two approaches by cost analysis. From the findings of the comparison, all the structural members that had been designed via site-adapt method resulted in overdesign condition. Other than that, the cost analysis of both approaches proved the costliness of the site-adapt design in which the increments in the expenses of the school building are 37% due to steel cost and 25% due to concrete.

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