Barriers and benefits of implementing Building Information Modeling (BIM) in the construction industry in Iran

By performing a case study, this article tries to identify the barriers and benefits of the implementation of Building Information Modeling (BIM) in the delivery of a sample construction project in Iran. The study shows that the most important barriers of implementing this method in this project are difficulty in changing the structure of the organizations, refusal of experienced staff to learn and use new methods, and difficulty in changing the design and construction process. Also, some of the most important benefits of implementing this method in this project are better project results by implementing interoperability concepts in the project, higher productivity, clash detection, and reducing change orders and rework. It is concluded that using BIM in the delivery of construction projects in Iran can potentially address some of the most critical problems faced by the practitioners in the Iranian construction industry. In the end, several strategies that can be used to overcome the key barriers of the implementation of BIM in Iran are proposed. Adopting these strategies can help organizations develop the capabilities to effectively implement this method.