Integrating Building Information Modelling (BIM) and System Dynamics Approaches to Decrease Cost Overrun in Mass Housing Projects

Cost is one of the most important criteria for evaluating the success of a construction project. Estimating construction costs is an increasing necessity for accurate budgeting and effective allocation of funding since the lack of accuracy in cost estimation could increase the risk of cost overrun. One of the major difficulties in estimating the project cost accurately is the changes occurred in materials price during the project completion period. The aim of this study was to develop a systematic multi-objective knowledge based approach for estimating the project cost with more accuracy and decrease the risk of cost overrun at the conceptual stage. System development methodology comprises a framework to deploy a system that automatically generates conceptual cost estimates by integrating System Dynamics (SD) with Building Information Modelling (BIM) through an external data interchange protocol in synchrony with interoperability standards. The SD module is used to predict the material price during the project completion period whilst using BIM helps enter detailed properties of the materials as well as the quantity take offs. Deployment of the proposed system will minimise the subjectivity whilst making investment decisions related to building projects and assisting designers and cost engineers to obtain results in an integrated quantitative, qualitative, and dynamic manner. The results show that the model can predict the price of the material with a reliable accuracy and they are anticipated to be of major significance to owners, designers, and construction managers. An application of an actual mass construction project is presented in order to illustrate the usefulness and capabilities of the developed approaches.