APPLICATION OF 4 D AND 5 D BIM IN COLD FORMED STEEL RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS
Traditional residential building systems are not sufficient to produce the required number of housing units needed every year to solve the current housing problem in many countries. To meet such a challenge, it is necessary to explore the latest construction technologies, and to create innovative building systems that have the potential to bring high performance affordable housing within reach of new markets. Light (cold formed) steel (CFS) framing systems have proven to be a worthy alternative to traditional systems. Recent advances in the application of Building Information Modeling (BIM) into the Architecture Engineering Construction industries present an additional mean to further enhance the efficiency of CFS projects. This paper presents a BIM based integrated approach for project scheduling and cost estimating of cold formed steel residential buildings. The approach integrates the basic 3D BIM model with the construction management tools used for project scheduling and cost estimation to produce a 4D BIM and 5D BIM models that can be used to enhance the project efficiency in both the design and construction phases. The developed models facilitate communication among all project participants and support project management in effectively planning on site construction activities. A case study is presented to demonstrate the methodology.