A Bim Guy Speaks (ft. Trevor Owens)

Construction Brothers

Before we go any further, here are three movie scenes that we refer to in today’s discussion. If you haven’t seen these in a while, you might want to refresh your memory:

• Billy Madison milk scene
• Cousin Eddie and his RV
• Matt Foley, Motivational Speaker

Some hail Trevor Owen as the BIM Guru. Some call him BIM Boy. Whatever term you use, Trevor knows BIM. Specifically, he’s the BIM specialist for Hilti. Today we hear Trevor’s thoughts about the influence of building-information modeling on the construction industry. We start out with some light Christmas-related banter and an introduction to our guest star, Ralph, Jr. Check out the Youtube version of this episode to see Ralph. Trevor shares how Hilti aims to cut across business units in order to look at each business’s entire workflow. They want to be a productivity partner and solutions provider. We discuss the need for this increased form of efficiency and consolidation because “you can’t throw people at problems anymore. You can’t find the people.” Hilti’s BIM efforts are focused on model maturity: “If we’re going to leave it in the building, it should be in the model because we have to buy it.” They want to envision and plan the entire process, from prefab all the way to delivery. Trevor explains that the goal is not just to include more detail but to include more attributes and then process estimates from that. As a construction guy, Eddie raises some concerns he has with certain aspects of BIM, and we explore those. Trevor calls upon Billy Madison to explain that when it comes to means and methods, there’s sometimes a dynamic that asks “Who owns it?” He says we need to move from “What’s in it for me?” to “What’s in it for us?” Eddie speaks up to express his desire for greater automation in the BIM process and points out that BIM is increasingly functioning as the database that we use with automated construction processes. We discuss the challenges of finding the right people to fill design positions and then to train and retain them. Trevor says “constructability knowledge” is an important skill. Hilti offers a BIM Masterclass that involves 15 weeks of training, culminating in a closing week in The Netherlands. Eddie and Tyler compare Hilti’s training timeline to Tyler’s as a detailer. Eddie says it was seven years before he was able to declare Tyler “mature” as a detailer (not necessarily mature as a person.) Trevor’s Megaphone Message: The construction industry has never been as fun as it is now. Construction is fun and has a lasting effect on our children’s lives and their children’s lives.
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