An Investigation on the Cost and Benefit of BIM Application Among Suzhou Construction Professionals

Existing studies indicated that Building Information Modelling (BIM) has been widely researched and adopted in developed countries, but BIM application in China is still in the preliminary stage, and the study on the cost/benefit of BIM application is vacant. The cost/benefit of BIM application has become a critical factor for construction enterprises to determine whether BIM can be implemented in construction projects. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the perceptions of the cost and benefit of BIM application among construction professionals in Suzhou, China. A mixed method was employed in this study to achieve the research aim. First, a critical literature review was conducted to identify 10 cost factors and 15 benefit factors that affect BIM application. Second, a questionnaire survey was undertaken to collect perceptions of each factor of BIM application from 42 construction professionals in Suzhou. Relevant Importance Index (RII) was performed to determine the ranking of the most influential factors. Statistical analysis results showed that managerial personnel compensation (0.84), BIM design costs (0.83) and model development time (0.82) are the most important cost factors for BIM application; while reducing project cost (0.86), improving communication efficiency (0.84) and enhancing project quality (0.82) are perceived as top 3 significant benefits for BIM application. Interviews were further conducted to verify the findings. This research enriches the study on cost/benefit of BIM application in the field of construction management, and provides potential recommendations based on empirical results for enhancing BIM application in China.