Abstract—The emersion of computer applications in construction such as Building Information Modeling (BIM) has evolved the estimating process. Many studies have evaluated the benefits of using BIM in preconstruction phase, however, no researches have been conducted for Iranian construction industry where companies are obligated to follow the National Bill of Quantity (NBQ) book as the standard classification in the bid process and estimating for government projects. Current BIM tools are adaptive with major construction classifications such as Uniformat. This paper evaluated the possibility of aligning current BIM tools with the Iranian NBQ using a case study. A 3D model was created considering the items defined in NBQ. The quantities were extracted from the model and a cost analysis was performed to determine the resources required for this project. The result of this study shows that it is practical to incorporate NBQ classification in current BIM tools in the estimation process.
Index Terms—Building information modeling, cost estimation, tender, structural modeling, 3D modeling, quantity takeoff.
Milad Ashtab is with Shahid Beheshti University, Iran (e-mail: milad.ashtab@googlemail.com).
Mohammad Reza Farzad is with Texas A&M University, USA (e-mail: mrf_ahwaz@tamu.edu).
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Cite: M. Ashtab and M. R. Farzad, "Aligning Tender Cost Estimation Practices in Iran with BIM," International Journal of Engineering and Technology vol. 10, no. 4, pp. 329-334, 2018.