September 23, 2009

Model Based Estimating to Inform Target Value Design

Saurabh Tiwari, Josh Odelson, Alan Watt, Atul Khanzode
DPR Construction

The use of Target Value Design (TVD) or Target Costing is one of the focus areas of the application of Lean Construction methods to large healthcare projects. The Lean Construction Institute defines Target Costing as a practice which incorporates cost as a factor in design to minimize waste and create value. The cardinal rule is that the Target Cost for a project should never be exceeded. In most traditional project delivery approaches, cost follows design, but on projects where the TVD approach is used, cost should dictate what gets designed to ensure that the target cost is not exceeded. As a result, rapid cost feedback to the design team is paramount in this process. One mechanism for providing this rapid cost feedback is extracting quantities from the virtual model and model-based estimates. In this article, we discuss the lessons currently being learned in applying Building Information Modeling (BIM) tools, such as model-based estimating, for TVD on a large healthcare project in Northern California.

Project Background
Sutter Medical Center Castro Valley (SMCCV) is a $320 million, six-story, 130-patient bed replacement hospital in Castro Valley, CA, for Sutter Health. Sutter Health adopted Lean Project Delivery for all its projects in early 2003 and has been promoting the use of the Integrated Form of Agreement (IFOA) as the contract method for project delivery. The IFOA approach is similar to the Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) framework promoted by the AIA. DPR Construction is the general contractor and one of 11 members of this IFOA/IPD team for the SMCCV project. DPR was selected as the builder and part of the IPD team for this project having successfully completed a variety of Sutter Health projects, including the Camino Medical Office Building in Mountain View, CA. The Camino Mountain View project has served as an early, and very successful, example of the implementation of Lean Construction methods and the use of Building Information Modeling (BIM) for healthcare projects.

excerpt reprinted by permission of www.aecbytes.com. For the complete article click
http://www.aecbytes.com/buildingthefuture/2009/ModelBasedEstimating.html

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