Employability Skills in BIM for Construction Managers: Recommendations for Education
Many mainstream architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) professionals are using Building Information Modeling (BIM) Although more and more firms are using BIM and this trend is forecast to continue, it is unclear what skills and competencies a construction manager will need in five years related to BIM. This research aims to answer that question through the use of a Delphi panel comprised of AEC professionals. The panel consists of members with the following qualifications: a minimum of eight years industry or academic experience or a combination of the two, a minimum of three years BIM experience, and membership in a nationally recognized professional organization. This paper presents findings from a research project based on BIM skills for the construction manager. This paper highlight the results of a three round Delphi study that identified skills and competencies in the following areas related to construction management: cost, scheduling and control, project administration, contract documents, and other skills that were not in other categories. Although many "new" BIM related construction management skills and competencies, "traditional" skills and competencies are a top response in each respective category. Within these "traditional" skills was the reinforcement of soft skills. BIM is a collaborative project management system so many soft skills are more important than with traditional project management systems. BIM requires some efficient communication along with strong soft skills, an area reinforced by the findings of this research. As BIM diffuses into the construction community, social systems interested in increasing BIM usage should augment "traditional" skill sets with the "new" BIM related skills and competencies. Any academic programs seeking to implement BIM related topics into existing courses should do so in a careful manner. This research revealed in five years BIM will continue to enter the mainstream. Building Information Modeling theory suggests that AEC industry will completely change because of BIM. However, this is not the entirely the case. This research discovered that soft skills are more important because of BIM diffusion.