Site managers’ daily work and the uses of building information modelling in construction site management

TLDR

BIM and related software tools are increasingly used by site managers in construction projects. This study explores early BIM uses in site managers’ tasks and the challenges of deploying digital tools for traditional collaboration. The study used ethnographic shadowing of site managers’ work. Site managers actively used BIM and found it beneficial, but its adoption remains limited due to few BIM‑competent managers, lack of mobile tools, and insufficient model information for construction work.

Abstract

The use of building information modelling (BIM) and related software tools is increasingly expanding in the work of site managers in construction projects. The early uses of BIM in the actual tasks of site managers are explored by examining the utilization of BIM in their work and the challenges in the deployment of the new digital tools for traditional project collaboration. The ethnographic method of the study consists of shadowing the site managers’ work. The site managers actively used BIM and found it beneficial for their daily work. However, the use of BIM in construction sites is still limited because only a few managers have the competence to use BIM software tools, mobile tools are lacking, and the information content of the models needed for construction work is insufficient.