The Challenges for Quantity Surveyors to Adopt Building Information Modelling (BIM) in Malaysia

Pian, Annchana Chaiphakdi (2022) The Challenges for Quantity Surveyors to Adopt Building Information Modelling (BIM) in Malaysia. Final Year Project (Bachelor), Tunku Abdul Rahman University College.

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Abstract

Building Information Modelling (BIM) has been introduced to the Malaysian construction industry for more than a decade. However, the adoption rate of BIM in quantity surveying discipline is relatively stagnant and low as compared with other professions such as Architect, Contractor and Engineer. This is because there are many challenges in adopting BIM as it is a relatively new technology to the quantity surveying discipline that culminated in a reluctance to implement BIM among Quantity Surveyors (QSs). Therefore, this research highlights the potential benefits of BIM in the quantity surveying discipline and subsequently discusses the challenges of BIM adoption faced by the QSs and the effectiveness of effort made by the Construction Industry Development Board Malaysia (CIDB) in enhancing the adoption of BIM. A comprehensive literature review was conducted to shed some light on the issues pertaining to BIM in the construction industry. It provided a launch platform for this study. Quantitative research method was deployed in conjunction with a cross sectional study design. The data were collected using the questionnaire survey. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) was deployed as a statistical tool in the data analysis. Specifically descriptive statistics and frequency distribution were used to analyse the data. The research findings identified 6 potential benefits of BIM in quantity surveying discipline which are “BIM could help Quantity Surveyors to eliminate the lengthy and tedious ways of traditional taking off as well as reducing human error”, “BIM is able to generate a report that allows QSs to identify the changes and update automatically with quantities extracted from the modified model”, “BIM is able to generate Bill of Quantities automatically and subsequently eliminating the tedious and time consuming process”, “BIM allows QSs to visualize and rotate designs in 3D for better understanding of designs”, “BIM is able to provide an accurate cost estimation” and “Clash detection in BIM reduces design errors and cost estimate revision”. Besides, this research also identified 5 challenges of BIM adoption faced by QSs namely “financial burden”, “lack of knowledge and awareness”, “lack of BIM training”, “resistance to change” and “lack of government support”. The research further identified 6 efforts made by the CIDB in an attempt to promote the adoption of BIM in the construction industry. Notable CIDB’s efforts were "recommend the mandatory use of BIM", "seminars, workshops and roadshows" and "BIM guidelines" and these were the top three most effective efforts. The findings of this research would serve as a useful reference for the QS discipline insofar as the issues pertaining to the adoption and implementation of BIM in the construction industry is concerned.