BIM and the small construction firm: a critical perspective

Abstract

The need for technological and administrative innovation is a recurrent theme in the UK construction reform agenda, but generic improvement recipes are beginning to give way to a more focused prescription; Building Information Modelling (BIM). The current strategy is to mandate the use of BIM for government projects as a way of integrating the design, construction and operation of publically procured buildings. This aspiration represents a partial turn away from a focus on managerialist agendas towards a belief in the power of digital practices to achieve the aspiration of integrated working, collaboration and innovation, a trend that is being reflected globally in relation to both national and firm-level policy interventions. In this paper we subject this 'BIM revolution' to critical scrutiny. By drawing on theories of the digital divide we develop a critical discourse around the ways in which political reform agendas centred on BIM might not stimulate innovation on a wider scale, but could act to disenfranchise small firms who are unable (or unwilling) to engage with them. This critical analysis presents important new research questions around the technocratic optimism which pervades the current reform discourse, the trajectory of industry development that it creates, and the policy process itself.

Roadmap to Mature BIM Use in Australian SMEs: Competitive Dynamics Perspective

“…Eadie et al (2013) proffered that company size is an important determinant of BIM use while Jaradat and Sexton (2016) and Hosseini et al (2016) claimed that construction management research conducted has favored BIM adoption in large practices and megaprojects -such work has inadvertently created the impression that BIM is for large organizations. In support of this largely unsubstantiated conjecture, Dainty et al (2017) Dainty et al (2017) implies that a cavernous 'digital divide' has transpired between SMEs, large firms and their respective BIM adoption level -caused by insufficient resources, finance and/ or knowledge or skills inherent within the workforce (Eadie et al 2013). Large firms are eager to adopt BIM because it is considered as strategically important to drive business growth (Acar et al 2005;Shelton et al 2016); (Barata and Fontainha 2017).…”

“…Various factors can hinder BIM use (Eadie et al 2013;Lee and Yu 2016) albeit, there is a dearth of research from an SME's perspective (Dainty et al 2017;Hosseini et al 2016). Barriers identified can be categorized into three thematic categories, namely: i) demand for, and inter-organizational capabilities to supply BIM work; ii) intra-organizational resources; and iii) firms' perceived benefits of BIM implementation (Lee and Yu 2016).…”

“…Likewise, in the European Union (EU), around 99% of firms within the Architectural, Engineering, Construction and Owner-operated (AECO) sector are SMEs , where 95% are micro-enterprises (Ueapme 2017). Therefore, studying BIM use within SMEs has global significance and impact reach (Dainty et al 2017) because they are the cornerstone of a nation's economy's prosperity and dominate the construction market on a global scale (Chen and Miller 2012;Killip 2013). Compared against their larger counterparts, SMEs are typically: nimbler in terms of their structure; are more agile and can move faster to exploit new business opportunities in the market (Engineers Australia 2014; Rosenbusch et al 2011).…”

“…Almost 75% of SME-contracting firms are among non-adopters and only around 5% have accrued experience of fully integrated forms of BIM (Dainty et al 2017). Nevertheless, embedding widespread and mature use of BIM is essential to an industry that is heavily reliant upon engaging SMEs (Hosseini et al 2016;Lam et al 2017).…”

“…Such realization has stimulated increasing interest amongst practitioners and academics who have sought to discover the level of BIM adoption and implementation amongst SMEs and moreover, identify the barriers and enablers to such (Lam et al 2017). Therefore, promoting both BIM adoption and implementation in SMEs is an important mediator for BIM proliferation throughout the construction industry (Dainty et al 2017).…”