AN INVESTIGATION IN TO CRITICAL BUILDING

INFORMATION MODELING /BIM/ IMPLEMENTATION

BARRIERS IN ETHIOIAN CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY IN CASE
OF ADDIS ABABA

MSc THESIS

HENOK HAILU HABTE

HAWASSA UNIVERSITY, HAWASSA, ETHIOPIA

JUNE 2019
AN INVESTIGATION IN TO CRITICAL BUILDING INFORMATION
MODELING /BIM/ IMPLEMENTATION BARRIERS IN ETHIOIAN
CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY IN CASE OF ADDIS ABABA

HENOK HAILU HABTE

A THESIS SUBMITTED TO

DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

FACULTY CIVIL ENGINEERING AND BUILT ENVIRONMENT

INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES

HAWASSA UNIVERSITY

HAWASSA, ETHIOPIA

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE

REQUIREMENTS FOR THE

DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE

(CONSTRUCTION TECHNOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT)

JUNE 2019
 SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES

HAWASSA UNIVERSITY

ADVISORS’ APPROVAL SHEET

This is to certify that the thesis entitled “An Investigation in to Critical Building

Information Modeling /BIM/ Implementation Barriers in Ethiopian Construction

Industry in Case of Addis Ababa” submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements

for the degree of Master‟s with specialization in Construction Technology and

Management, the Graduate Program of the department of Civil Engineering, and has

been carried out by Henok Hailu Habte (ID. No. PGCoTM/022/09) under our

supervision. Therefore, we recommend that the student has fulfilled the requirements

and hence hereby can submit the thesis to the department.

___________________________ _________________ _____________

Name of Co Advisor Signature Date

 SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES

HAWASSA UNIVERSITY

EXAMINERS’ APPROVAL SHEET

We, the undersigned, members of the Board of Examiners of the final open defense by

Henok Hailu Habte have read and evaluated his thesis entitled “An Investigation in

to Critical Building Information Modeling /BIM/ Implementation Barriers in

Ethiopian Construction Industry in Case of Addis Ababa”, and examined the

candidate. This is, therefore, to certify that the thesis has been accepted in partial

fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master‟s.

___________________________ _________________ _____________

Name of the Chairperson Signature Date
___________________________ _________________ _____________
Name of Major Advisor Signature Date
___________________________ _________________ _____________
Name of Internal Examiner Signature Date
___________________________ _________________ _____________
Name of External examiner Signature Date
___________________________ _________________ _____________
SGS Approval Signature Date
 DECLARATION

I hereby declare that this MSc thesis entitled: “An Investigation in to Critical

Building Information Modeling /BIM/ Implementation Barriers in Ethiopian

Construction Industry in Case of Addis Ababa” is my original work, and has not

been presented by any other person for an award of a degree in this or any other

university, and all sources of material used for this thesis have to be duly acknowledged.

Candidate: Mr. Henok Hailu

Email: [email protected]

Phone: +251-916620328/+251-926343597

Hawassa University, Hawassa

Signature: _________________

Date: _____________________
 Acknowledgements

First of all, I am grateful to God the Almighty for blessings in this life and for giving

me power and ability that were necessary to achieve this goal. All thanks and praise to

God.

I would like to express my great appreciation to my research advisor Dr. Ephrem

Girma , Doctor of Construction Management and Technology, for his patient guidance,

enthusiastic encouragement and useful critiques of this thesis. I am proud to have the

opportunity to be under his supervision.

I would also like to express my sincere gratitude to Dr. Denamo Addissie, Assistant

Professor at, Ethiopian Institute of Architecture Building Construction and City

Development (EiABC), Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, for his valuable and

constructive advice during the planning and development of this research work.

I am deeply grateful to Ato Feleke Assefa, Ethiopian Construction Project Management

Institute, Technology Transfer Directorate, Vice Director and Ato Mekoya Alemayehu,

Addis Ababa Construction Bureau, Contract Management Department for their valuable

ideas, comments and supply of reference material.

Last but not the least; there are no words to describe how I„m so grateful to my beloved

family and friends for the endless encouragement, support and attention throughout all

my studies at university, and especially while conducting this thesis.

Thank you,

Henok Hailu

I
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................... I

Abbreviations ................................................................................................................... V

List of Tables .................................................................................................................. VI

List of Figure ................................................................................................................. VII

Abstract ........................................................................................................................ VIII

1. Introduction ................................................................................................................1

1.1. Background .........................................................................................................1

1.2. Statement of the Problem ...................................................................................1

1.3. Significance of the Research ..............................................................................3

1.4. Objectives ...........................................................................................................3

1.4.1. General Objectives ......................................................................................3

1.4.2. Specific Objectives ......................................................................................3

1.5. Research Questions.............................................................................................4

1.6. Scope and Limitations ........................................................................................4

2. Literature Review .......................................................................................................6

2.1. Introduction to BIM ............................................................................................6

2.2. BIM tools and Process ........................................................................................8

2.2.1. Software tools ..............................................................................................9

2.2.2. Parametric Object Modeling .....................................................................10

II
 2.2.3. Interoperability ..........................................................................................11

2.2.4. BIM maturity .............................................................................................12

2.2.5. Dimensions of BIM ...................................................................................14

2.3. BIM benefits and importance ...........................................................................16

2.4. BIM barriers/ challenges to BIM use ...............................................................20

3. MATERIALS AND METHODS .............................................................................28

3.1. Description of the study area ............................................................................28

3.2. Study design .....................................................................................................28

3.3. Method of Data collection ................................................................................29

3.3.1. Questionnaire ............................................................................................30

3.3.2. Interview ....................................................................................................32

3.4. Population and Sampling ..................................................................................32

3.4.1. Population..................................................................................................32

3.4.2. Sampling....................................................................................................33

3.5. Validity and Reliability ....................................................................................36

3.6. Data Management and Analysis .......................................................................38

3.6.1. Data Management .....................................................................................38

3.6.2. Data Analysis ............................................................................................38

4. Analysis and Discussion ..........................................................................................41

4.1. Questionnaire Response Rate ...........................................................................41

III
 4.2. Respondents demographic data ........................................................................41

4.3. Professional‟s level of awareness and extent of usage of BIM ........................47

4.4. Building Information Modeling Barriers ..........................................................50

4.4.1. The Strength of BIM barriers ....................................................................50

4.4.2. The strength of BIM Implementation barriers for Consultants .................51

4.4.4. Spearman‟s coefficient of correlation for Contractors and Consultants ...54

4.4.5. Combined Strength of BIM barriers ..........................................................55

4.3. Interview results and analysis ...........................................................................58

4.3.1. BIM barriers identified ..............................................................................59

4.3.2. Suggestions by Interviewees .....................................................................60

5. Conclusion and Recommendation ...........................................................................63

5.1. Conclusion ........................................................................................................63

5.2. Recommendation ..............................................................................................64

References .......................................................................................................................67

Appendices ......................................................................................................................72

Appendix A: Questionnaire .........................................................................................72

Appendix B: Interview Questions ...............................................................................79

Appendix C: Spearman correlation .............................................................................80

IV
 ABBREVIATIONS

Abbreviations Interpretation

2D Two Dimensional : X, Y

3D Three Dimensional : X, Y, Z ( the height, length and width)

4D Four Dimensional: 3D model plus schedule or time line

5D Five Dimensional: 4D model plus cost estimate

6D Six Dimensional: 5D model plus facility management

AEC Architectural, Engineering and Construction

AIM Asset Information Modeling

BIM Building Information Model / Modeling / Management

BOQ Bill of Quantity

BSc Bachelor of Science

CAD Computer Aided Design

Cα Cronbach‟s Coefficient alpha

ECPMI Ethiopian Construction Project Management Institute

GDP Growth and Development Plan

iBIM Integrated Building Information Modeling

IT Information Technology

MSc Master of Science

nD nth Dimension ( any other Dimension)

PHD Doctor of Philosophy

rs Spearman‟s Correlation Coefficient

SD Standard Deviation

SPSS Statistical Package for Social Sciences

UK The United Kingdom

US The United States

V
 LIST OF TABLES

Table 2.1: Benefits of BIM at different project life cycle stages ....................................19

Table 2.2: Summary of BIM implementation barriers ....................................................25

Table 3.1: Population ......................................................................................................33

Table 3.2. Cronbach‟s Alpha coefficient ........................................................................37

Table 4.1: Questionnaires distribution and responses .....................................................41

Table 4.2: Summary of respondents personal information .............................................46

Table. 4.3: Distribution of the respondents aware about BIM ........................................48

Table 4.4: Strength of BIM implementation barriers for consultants .............................51

Table 4.5: Strength of BIM implementation barriers for contractors .............................53

Table 4.6: the combined strength of BIM barriers ..........................................................57

Table 4.7: BIM implementation barriers mentioned by interviewees .............................60

VI
 LIST OF FIGURE

Figure 2.1: Bew - Richards Maturity model ...................................................................14

Figure 4.1: Age distribution of the respondents. .............................................................42

Figure 4.2: The specialization of the respondents ...........................................................43

Figure 4.3: Sector distribution of respondents ................................................................43

Figure 4.4: Types of projects the respondents are working on .......................................44

Fig. 4.5: Job description of Respondents ........................................................................45

Figure 4.6: No of respondents from each sector and their work experience ...................45

Figure 4.7: The used software tool by respondents to carry out projects ........................50

VII
 ABSTRACT

Building Information Modeling (BIM) is one of the most promising developments in

the construction industry. Even if it is the second most contributor to Ethiopian

economy, the construction industry is characterized with low productivity. Many

researches worldwide have suggested the use of BIM to address the inefficiencies in the

construction industry. Yet, with all its benefits and potentials its adoption in Ethiopian

construction industry has been slow. This research aimed to identify the critical BIM

implementation barriers in the Ethiopian construction industry in case of Addis Ababa.

This has been achieved by identify professionals‟ level of awareness of BIM and extent

of usage of BIM and investigating BIM implementation barriers in Ethiopian

construction industry in case of Addis Ababa. A mixed research approach that used

questionnaire survey and semi- structured interview was adopted for this research. The

questionnaire was distributed to construction professionals in Addis Ababa. Stratified

random sampling technique was used to select construction professionals in Addis

Ababa. The questionnaire was distributed to 142 construction professionals and 109

questionnaires were received from the respondents with a response rate of 76.76%. To

draw significant results from the questionnaire, the collected data was analyzed using

quantitative data analysis techniques (mean score ranking, spearman correlation

analysis, and others) by using IBM SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Science)

version 25. A semi structured interview was conducted with BIM experts in Addis

Ababa to help explain the results of the questionnaire survey. The study found that the

awareness level of BIM by professionals and extent usage of BIM in Ethiopian

construction industry in case of Addis Ababa was low. The study indicated the presence

VIII
BIM implementation barriers in Ethiopian construction industry. Lack of awareness by

stakeholders about the benefits, tools, processes and workflows, required to implement

BIM; lack of client demand for the use of BIM technology; lack of government‟s

lead/direction; shortage of professionals with experience, knowledge and skills on BIM

tools and BIM implementation; and the high costs to buy BIM software and costs of the

necessary hardware updates were found to be the critical BIM implementation barriers

in Ethiopian construction industry in case of Addis Ababa.

Keywords: Building Information Modeling (BIM), Awareness level of BIM, extent of

usage of BIM, BIM barriers

IX
 1. INTRODUCTION

1.1. Background

The construction industry is often known for being a low-tech industry, which can be

inefficient and wasteful. Difficulties and restrictions in communication, coordination

and standardization are some of the major problems facing the industry (Ingibjörg et.al,

2017).According to Dana (2007) the construction industry was a three Trillion dollar

industry where some have estimated 30 percent waste.

In Ethiopia, construction sector is crucial in ensuring the successful transformation of

the economy, since it is the second most important sector in Ethiopian economy in

terms of workforce and 9.5 percent of the GDP in 2016. Shortage of competent,

registered and certified human resources together with lack of effective construction

project management and the change resistant behavior of the industry to adopt the

dynamism of the technology have resulted in low productivity (ENA, 2018).

Building Information Modeling (BIM) is one of the most promising developments in

the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industries. Although the concepts,

approaches and methodologies that we now identify as BIM can be dated back nearly

thirty years, it is first now that BIM is beginning to change the way we plan, design and

construct buildings and other infrastructure (Ingibjörg et.al, 2017).

1.2. Statement of the Problem

The construction industry, the second most important sector in Ethiopian economy in

terms of workforce and 9.5 percent of the GDP in 2016, is critical in ensuring the

successful transformation of the economy. The industry is facing challenges such as

1
quality related problems, time and cost overruns that attribute to its poor performance.

Shortage of competent, registered and certified human resources together with lack of

effective construction project management and the change resistant behavior of the

industry to adopt the dynamism of the technology have resulted in low productivity

(ENA, 2018).

The level of construction project management practice in Ethiopian construction

industry in terms of adapting general project management procedures, project

management functions, tools & techniques is unsatisfactory. This is negatively

influencing the industry, manifested by schedule delay, cost overrun, low quality

products etc. The amount of schedule slippage ranges between 61-80% and that of

planed costs and other variables such as risk, quality, resources utilization and safety

deviates in the range of 21-40% from predetermined requirements, planned or

anticipated at the beginning (Tadesse et.al, 2016).

The need to know how to solve these problems in Ethiopian construction industry has

been the drive for many researches in recent years. Tadesse et.al (2016) suggested

application of modern construction management practices, stakeholders‟ collaboration,

experience sharing and information capitalization, training, enhanced project finances

as potential solutions to alleviate these problems in the industry.

BIM is construction management practice that is being implemented in many countries

throughout the world with a goal to increase field productivity, to increase effectiveness

of design, to track progress during construction, to review design progress, to eliminate

field conflicts etc. (Mansi, 2011).

2
BIM has recently attained widespread attention in Ethiopian construction industry, and

its use is growing in this industry. However, there is little evidence about

implementation barriers to BIM in the industry. This paper aims to identify the critical

BIM implementation barriers in Ethiopian construction industry.

1.3. Significance of the Research

This study will provide documentation of reference for BIM situation in Ethiopian

construction industry. It will serve as a comparative guide for future development of

BIM use in the country. It will play a role in increasing the use of BIM in Ethiopian

construction industry by proposing suitable recommendations to solve BIM

implementation barriers which are faced in the industry.

1.4. Objectives of the research

1.4.1. General Objectives

The main objective of this research is to determine critical BIM implementation barriers

in Ethiopian construction industry in case of Addis Ababa.

1.4.2. Specific Objectives

In achieving this aim, three specific objectives have been outlined as follows

 To identify professionals‟ level of awareness of BIM, and extent of usage of

BIM in Ethiopian Construction industry in case of Addis Ababa.

 To investigate BIM implementation barriers in Ethiopian Construction

industry in case of Addis Ababa.

3
  To determine the critical BIM implementation barriers in Ethiopian

Construction industry in case of Addis Ababa.

1.5. Research Questions

This research will answer the following questions;

 What is the level of awareness of BIM in Ethiopian Construction industry in

case of Addis Ababa?

 Are BIM barriers affecting the adoption of BIM in Ethiopian construction

industry in case of Addis Ababa?

 What are the critical BIM implementation barriers in Ethiopian construction

industry in case of Addis Ababa?

1.6. Scope and Limitations

This research is conducted in Addis Ababa City Administration to study BIM

implementation barriers in Ethiopian construction industry in case of Addis Ababa; and

asses the level of BIM awareness and extent of usage of BIM by construction

professional in the City.

Since Addis Ababa is the largest and capital city of Ethiopia the city is home to many

construction professionals employed in the private sector (consultants and contractors)

and public sector (the federal government, the Oromia regional government, etc.). To

remove bias and uncertainty with in the collected data and capture the real case of BIM

implementation barriers in Addis Ababa, among the public and private organizations the

scope was reduced to those professionals employed in Addis Ababa city administration

4
offices and in higher level (level I –IV) private contracting and consulting firms that

have worked with the city administration from the year 2008 – 2011.

5
 2. LITERATURE REVIEW

This section is aimed to establish a theoretical understanding of the concept of Building

Information Modeling (BIM) and the barriers limiting its implementation. It has been

used to show the researchers understanding of the subject and to use to make

comparison with the empirical data. The sources include: books, research journals,

dissertation or theses, and websites.

2.1. Introduction to BIM

The Acronym BIM stands for Building Information Modeling. The B (Building) does

not represent just the noun rather it represents the verb „to build‟, the action of

constructing things (Stefan et al., 2016). BIM can be applied to infrastructure, civil

engineering, and landscape, along with large-scale public and private projects. The „I‟

(Information) represents information about the project. Unless you have information

embedded throughout the project content, the work you‟re producing is telling only half

of the story (Stefan et al., 2016).

Information in a building model can be primary, secondary or tertiary (Chuck et al.,

2011). Primary information is those which the design team produces first hand such as

the geometry or drawings. Secondary information is those which review the primary

ones as part of its production such as energy analysis or a health and safety plan.

Tertiary information links primary to secondary information to create outputs

specifically for end-users, for example a fire escape map that requires to link a ground

floor plan and the fire strategy.

6
„M‟ stands for modeling. It is not just about a tangible model or about the physical size

and shape of a project. It is an analogy, a representation of the real thing (Stefan et al.,

2016). The Model is a 3D object database that can be easily visualized, has rich data

and structured information (BuildingSMART Australasia, 2012).

There is an argument whether BIM stands for Building Information Modeling or

Building Information Management (Stefan et al., 2016). The different meanings of the

same acronym are due to the fact that the applications of BIM have evolved over time

and that the potential of BIM was wider than initially foreseen. Through time Building

Information Modeling became Building Information Management (ADEB-VBA, 2005).

BIM is a process, so we could easily use both Modeling and Management in our

definition (Stefan et al., 2016).

The concept, approaches, and methodologies that we now identify same as BIM have

been studied for many years but still there is no common definition adopted by the

industry (Chengshuang et al., 2017). Many scholars have defined BIM. Some are:

 “BIM is a Process for combining information and technology, to create a digital

representation of a project. It Integrates data from many sources and evolves in

parallel with the real project across its entire timeline, including design,

construction, and in-use operational information.” (Ingibjörg et al., 2017)

 “BIM is a process in which different actors work together, efficiently exchange

information (data and geometry) and collaborate to provide a more efficient

construction process (e.g. less errors, faster construction) but also more efficient

7
 buildings that produce less waste and are cheaper but also easier to operate.”

(ADEB-VBA, 2005)

 Building Information Modeling is a process of representing building and

infrastructure over its whole life cycle from planning, design, construction,

operations, maintenance and recycling. (BuildingSMART Australasia, 2012)

 BIM is a digital form of construction and asset operations which brings together

technology, process improvements and digital information to radically improve

client and project outcomes and asset operations. (EUBIM Task Group, 2017)

The simplest way to explain BIM is that the project should be built twice: once fully

modeled digitally and then again for real on the construction site (Stefan et al., 2016).

The key is not the 3D model itself but the information that is developed, managed and

shared, in support of better collaboration (ADEB-VBA, 2005). It is not just technology

and it is definitely not just software. BIM is a best-practice process and to be successful

it requires people and technology to work together (Stefan et al., 2016). It offers a basis

for collaboration, a multi-disciplinary environment that brings together all the parties

that design, construct and operate a facility (BuildingSMART Australasia, 2012).

2.2. BIM tools and Process

BIM is a relatively recent switch in design and documentation methodology in the

construction industry (Eddy and Bradley, 2008). Some describe BIM as a disruptive

technology, since it has the potential to affect the construction industry by upsetting

traditional process and wiping out some obsolescent systems (Stefan et al., 2016).

8
It moves the industry forward from traditional task based and paper based processes

(such as: 3D CAD, spreadsheets, and 2D CAD drawings) to an integrated and

interoperable workflow where these tasks are wrapped into a coordinated and

collaborative process (Chuck et al., 2011). To achieve these goals BIM uses certain

tools and process. Some of the basic tools and processes are discussed in the sections

that follow.

2.2.1. Software tools

In the architectural, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry, there is a

misunderstanding by some that BIM is only a piece of software, although the software

is a necessary part of this process, it is much more than an application (Eddy and

Bradley, 2008). Software companies use the word platform to describe their BIM

products and that‟s what software is: a platform for building on, taking off from, or

creating something new (Stefan et al., 2016).

Stefan et al. (2016) groups BIM software tools in to groups such as: specification tools,

file sharing and collaboration tools, Construction management tools, model viewers and

checkers, quantity takeoff and estimating tools, shop drawing and fabrication tools,

facility management tools, administrative tools, analysis tools, and BIM authoring tools.

File sharing and collaborative tools as the common data environment (CDE) are the

base for BIM and they provide document management. Construction management tools

provide a way to take an overview or holistic review of model information like

scheduling. Model viewers and checkers allow combining and viewing models and

some may provide clash detection. Quantity takeoff and estimating tools automatically

9
extract information and necessary quantities from 3D geometric data and produce cost

estimates. Shop drawing and fabrication tools are used to create shop drawings to

provide additional information for fabrication teams. Facility management tools are

focused on providing information and aiding facility management. Administrative tools

are tools that aid the administrative process such as portable document format (PDF),

spreadsheets and word processing. BIM analysis tools allow you to undertake a variety

of analyses in the design and development of an asset. BIM authoring tools or BIM

platforms are usually used to generate data for multiple uses.

2.2.2. Parametric Object Modeling

Parametric object modeling is a revolutionary way of doing design (Randy, 2011). It is

one of the major changes in the building industry that is highly facilitating the move

from the traditional drawing based and handcraft technology, to a modern trend based

on digitally readable models that can deliver reliable drawings, schedules, and other

data (Chuck et al., 2011).

Parametric object modeling delivers a powerful method to produce and edit geometry,

without which model production and design would be extremely bulky and susceptible

to error (Chuck et al., 2011).

Parametric authoring tools combine graphics and information to develop a project from

concept to construction documentation (Stefan et al., 2016). Tools which allow users to

develop building models that contain parametric objects are considered BIM authoring

tools. In architecture, BIM software companies provide predefined sets of object classes

for users, which if necessary be modified (Chuck et al., 2011).

10
Understanding the concept of parametric objects is critical to understanding BIM and its

difference from traditional 3D objects. Chuck et al. (2011), describes parametric BIM

objects by listing their characteristics. They consist of geometric and associated data

and rule. Their geometry is non- redundant and allows for no inconsistencies. The rules

automatically modify related geometries when inserted into the model or when changes

are made to related objects, and even can identify when a particular change violated the

objects feasibility. These objects can be defined at different levels of aggregation and

have the ability to receive, show or export sets of attributes to other models or

application.

2.2.3. Interoperability

The construction industry is mentioned as one of the last sectors of global business to

implement standardization and refine information management processes to improve

efficiency (Stefan et al., 2016). In the industry many problems arise due to difficulties

in communication, coordination and standardization (Ingibjörg et al., 2017).

Construction projects are full of data or information such as costs, quantities, standards

etc. which increases as the project progresses from concept to demolition Somehow this

information need to be managed (Chuck et al., 2011).

In section 2.2.1 „software tools‟ the types of BIM software applications are discussed.

Building model production requires the use of different applications by different project

teams. The applications require different types of data to accomplish numerous tasks of

design and construction (Chuck et al., 2011). This often needs transfer of data from one

11
application to another (Stefan et al., 2016). Thus requires data to be interoperable

(Ingibjörg et al., 2017).

Interoperability can be defined as is the software‟s ability to exchange and make use of

BIM data (Ingibjörg et al., 2017). Chuck et al.(2011) defines interoperability as the

ability to pass or exchange data between applications, and for multiple applications to

jointly contribute to the work at hand. Communicating project information effectively

plays a big role in overcoming these interoperability issues and this is where BIM can

play an important role. (Ingibjörg et al., 2017)

2.2.4. BIM maturity

BIM maturity levels are used to describe the maturity of a BIM project. BIM maturity

can be measured using the Bew - Richards‟s maturity model also known as the BIM

wedge (Stefan et al., 2016). The model provides a simple identification for the levels of

BIM a business or project is using (Mark and Jason, 2010).

The model provides simple way of measuring and communicating of BIM use

expectations of users (Stefan et al., 2016). The BIM wedge identifies four (4) levels of

BIM maturity as depicted on figure 2.1, the levels are described below:

Level 0. Unmanaged CAD or Pre BIM

This stage is the starting point, the status before the implementation of BIM, and means

no collaboration between project team (Stefan et al., 2016). Probably uses 2D, with

paper as the most likely data exchange mechanism. 3D visualizations can be used but

2D is the basis for all documents. Quantities, cost estimates and specifications are

12
generally not linked to the visualizations model or documentation (Ingibjörg et al.,

2017).

Level 1. Object based modelling

Here object-based 3D parametric software tool is used to produce models. Users

produce models within all stages of a construction, and the model is the basis for 2D

documentation and 3D visualization (Stefan et.al, 2016). At this level a mixture of 3D

CAD for concept work and 2D CAD for documentation and product information are

utilized (Ingibjörg et al., 2017). Electronic sharing of data is carried out from a common

data environment, often managed by the contractor. Collaboration between different

disciplines does not occur (Mark and Jason, 2010).

Level 2. Collaborative BIM

At this level BIM is a managed 3D environment held in separate discipline “BIM” tools

with attached data. Each discipline is building its own model, instead of single shared

model (Ingibjörg et al., 2017). It is defined as file-based collaboration and is a series of

domain specific models (architectural, structural, etc.) within a single environment

where the project team can share structured data (Stefan et al., 2016). The approach

may utilize 4D Program data and 5D cost elements (Mark and Jason, 2010).

Level 3. Integrated BIM (iBIM)

In this level, rich network based integrated models are created, shared and maintained

collaboratively (Ingibjörg et al., 2017). The models here are interdisciplinary nD

models where complex analyses are allowed at an early stage, which are shared to

provide two way access to project stakeholders (Mark and Jason, 2010). The precise

details and aspects of Level 3 are yet to be defined, but are likely to be centered on open

13
standards. The deliverables of this level include; business intelligence, lean construction

principles, green policies and whole life-cycle costing (Stefan et al., 2016).

Figure 2.1: Bew - Richards Maturity model

(source: https://blog.areo.io/bim-levels-and-asset information-management)

2.2.5. Dimensions of BIM

The different levels of definitions show that 3D CAD model alone is a small part of

BIM and the tools that create data and enable processes to act on that data are the vital

differentiator in the world of true BIM (Mark and Jason, 2010).

A BIM model is more than a 3D model; it is a multi-dimensional model, every time a

specific type of information is included into the model a different dimension is set. So,

there could be various dimensions, infinite dimensions (Ingibjörg et al., 2017). The

different dimensions are listed below are (Mark and Jason, 2010 and Stefan et al., 2016):

14
1. 3D BIM model: contains 3D objects which contain information, as a
minimum, on length, width and height. Other information such as material

and finish can be applied.

2. 4D BIM model or Model-based scheduling: refers to adding time to the

3D. It is created by linking objects from the 3D model to a task in the

construction schedule by using 4D scheduling tools like Vico Office21,

Synchro22 or Navisworks23.

3. 5D BIM Model or Model-based estimating: is the 4D model plus cost

information. The 5D estimations can be done in the form of a take-off,

where the model is used to extract quantities of materials and associate

costs with those materials for estimating purposes.

4. 6D BIM Model (Facilities Management or Asset Information Models

(AIM)): focuses on leveraging the model information to reduce owners‟

cost over the life cycle of the building or structure. It does not necessarily

contain all the information from previous dimensions. The model should

contain information on the color of a wall, types of doors, frequency of

maintenance on the roofing, type of light bulbs etc., but size of reinforcing

bars is generally not necessary.

5. nD Modeling or Model based analysis: refers to information models that

are used for various analyses driven by qualitative costs, like environmental

and sustainability issues. These analyses can also be fire safety, acoustics,

and orientation of the building, with regard to wind direction, heat gain for

natural ventilation, daylight analysis or Life-cycle costing (LCC).

15
 2.3. BIM benefits and importance

Significant changes in the delivery process, selection of service providers, and approach

to projects are necessary to fully realize BIM‟s benefits (Chuck et al., 2011). Today,

parties are revising contracts, specifications, and project requirements to include use of

BIM technologies and processes on their projects (Stefan et al., 2016). BIM provides

numerous benefits to the construction industry as a whole and to different stakeholders

and phases of the construction industry. This section presents the benefits of BIM.

Some literatures such as: Willem (2008), Han and Peter (2008), Stefan et al. (2016) and

ADEB-VBA (2005) have generalized the importance of BIM in to some main headings.

Others such as; Mehmet (2011) and Abdul-Majeed et al. (2018) has described the

benefits of BIM to the various participant in the construction sector. Chuck et al. (2011)

further provide the benefits on different stages of the construction life cycle.

Willem (2008) labels visualization, collaboration, and elimination as the three main

headings under which the benefits of the BIM are organized. He describes, although

they are overlapping aspects they are the main ideas around which all the benefits can

be better understood. Visualization primarily addresses the benefit to an individual and

the improvement in her or his personal understanding as a result of using the BIM.

Collaboration refers to the cooperative action of several team members as that is

encouraged and facilitated by the BIM. Elimination addresses mostly project-related

benefits, such as reduction of conflicts, waste, and risk.

Han and Peter (2008) conducted a survey in UK and US and found that; reduced time,

reduced human resource, reduced cost, improved quality, sustainability, and creativity

are the major benefits of BIM in the construction industry. Stefan et al. (2016) have

16
labeled the benefits of BIM are due to the following aspects of BIM which are; better

information, data exchange across the project timeline, communication, new efficiency,

carbon saving, and health and safety.

ADEB-VBA (2005) lists the benefits of BIM to the industry as: it provides support for

the project‟s decision making process, it helps parties to have a clear understanding of

the project objectives & interfaces with other related trades/stakeholders, it helps

visualize design solutions, it assist in design and the coordination of designs, it increase

and secures the quality of the building process and the final product, it make the process

during construction more effective and efficient, it improves safety during construction

and throughout the building‟s lifecycle, it support the cost and lifecycle analysis of the

project and it support the transfer of project data into data management software during

operation.

Abdul-Majeed et al. (2018) has summarized the benefits of BIM to various participants

such as: clients, designers, quantity surveyors, contractors and sub-contractors,

manufacturers, and facility managers. The benefits to clients include: Improved

visualization, Enhanced client requirement capturing and better quality of as-built

information at handing-over for facilities management. Benefits to designers include:

increased clarity in design intent, easy testing of design options, easily handled and

distributable design documentation and communication across the teams and informed

decision making for optimizing sustainability, cost, health and safety objectives. The

benefits to quantity surveyors include: linking construction schedule data to BIM,

extracting quantities from a BIM model to prepare estimates and costs for project, using

17
BIM data to minimize project costs and enhance value for money and using BIM to

keep track of any variations to the contract. The benefits to contractors and sub-

contractors include: better quality information for estimation and bidding, early

involvement to contribute to constructability and effective scheduling, clash-free

construction. The benefits to manufacturers include: ease of usage of model data for

downstream activities (i.e. manufacturing/assembling), product specification

compliance during design stage better coordination and incorporation of product data

for operation and maintenance. The benefits to Facility managers include: enhanced

quality of as-built and handing over information and easier integration into computer

aided facilities management (CAFM) systems, easy post-occupancy evaluations for

analysis of current use, space and energy assessments, easier communication of

maintenance requirements during design.

A master‟s thesis by Mehmet (2011), labels the benefits of BIM for construction

managers in to six activities as: visualization, 3d coordination, prefabrication,

construction planning and monitoring, cost estimation, and record model. The research

further describes these benefits as follows: visualization is the simplest use of a BIM

such as renderings; 3D coordination is utilized to detect and eliminate trade clashes and

conflicts; detailed prefabrication drawings can be generated to review and coordinate

work between trades; BIM based 4D scheduling helps understanding of the construction

components and schedule progress that in turn results better construction planning;

planning techniques and 3D model are combined with other BIM enabled tools to

provide construction monitoring services; the record model is the final progress of the

construction progress as the as-builts are completely updated in the model.

18
Chuck et al. (2011) have listed the benefits of BIM in different stages of the
construction life cycle which are summarized in table 2.1 below.

Table 2.1: Benefits of BIM at different project life cycle stages

Project life cycle stage Benefits

Concept, Feasibility, and Design Benefits
Preconstruction benefits to Increased Building Performance and Quality
owners Improved Collaboration Using Integrated Project
Delivery
Earlier and More Accurate Visualizations of a Design
Automatic Low-Level Corrections When Changes Are
Made to Design
Generation of Accurate and Consistent 2D Drawings at
Design Benefits
Any Stage of the Design
Earlier Collaboration of Multiple Design Disciplines
Easy Verification of Consistency to the Design Intent
Extraction of Cost Estimates during the Design Stage
Improvement of Energy Efficiency and Sustainability
Use of Design Model as Basis for Fabricated
Components
Quick Reaction to Design Changes
Construction and
Discovery of Design Errors and Omissions before
Fabrication Benefits
Construction

Synchronization of Design and Construction Planning

Better Implementation of Lean Construction Techniques
Improved Commissioning and Handover of Facility
Information
Post Construction Benefits
Better Management and Operation of Facilities
Integration with Facility Operation and Management
Systems

19
 2.4. BIM barriers/ challenges to BIM use

Implementation of BIM is showing that there is lots of room to grow and potential for

even greater innovation and bigger savings. However, thinking that all this come risk

free would be foolish (Stefan et al., 2016). Any change to a work process is

accompanied with associated risks, BIM application on projects is no exception it is

accompanied by realistic and perceived barriers (Chuck et al., 2011).

Successful BIM implementation is impeded by the existence of many barriers (Stefan et

al., 2016). Research demonstrates that identification of the barriers and challenges to

BIM implementation is important to successful BIM implementation (Mohammed,

2017).

To ensure the achievement of BIM objectives, there is the need for a systematic

evaluation of the barriers and challenges to ensure understanding for optimization of

functions, business processes flow and effective communication among project teams

(Timothy et al., 2018). Many studies were conducted to identify these barriers of BIM

implementation in the construction industry. The results of some studies will be

presented below.

Timothy et al. (2018) investigated the profound barriers faced by construction

stakeholders and established the following as barriers to the successful implementation

of BIM; the lack of awareness and collaboration among project stakeholders,

inadequacy of requisite experience, knowledge, and skills from the workforce, longer

time in adapting to new technologies (steep learning curve), lack of understanding of

the processes and workflows required for BIM and sustainability, low level of research

20
in the industry and academia, fragmented nature of the construction industry, the risk of

losing intellectual property and rights, difficulty in allocating and sharing BIM-related

risks, lack of legal framework and contract uncertainties, increased risk and liability,

incompatibility issues with different software packages, absence of industry standards

for BIM, insufficient level of support from the BIM software developers, user-

unfriendliness of BIM analysis software programs.

In her master‟s thesis AbuHamra (2015) have identified several BIM implementation

barriers through a survey and have revealed the top 10 BIM barriers in the AEC

industry in Gaza Strip which are: Lack of the awareness of BIM by stakeholders; Lack

of knowledge of how to apply BIM software; Lack of the awareness of the benefits that

BIM can bring to Engineering offices, companies, and projects; Lack of interest in Gaza

strip to pursue the condition of the building over the life after completion of

implementation stage; Lack of Architects/ Engineers skilled in the use of BIM programs;

Lack of the education or training on the use of BIM, whether in the university or any

governmental or private training centers, Lack of demand and disinterest from clients

regarding with using BIM technology in design and construction of the project; Lack of

the governmental regulations for full support the implementation of BIM; Professionals

think that the current CAD system and other conventional programs satisfy the need of

designing and performing the work and complete the project efficiently; Lack of the

real cases in Gaza strip or other nearby areas in the region that have been implemented

by using BIM and have proved positive return of investment. She recommended;

education and training to increase BIM awareness and interest, to Change

21
organizational culture and providing appropriate governmental support to resolve these

barriers.

Mohammed and Ahmad (2017) have analyzed the barriers and challenges in BIM

implementation in the Jordanian construction industry. They found that lack of training

staff on new process and workflow; lack of training staff on new software and

technology; absence of effective implementation of the new process and workflow; the

lack of establishing the new process, workflow and client expectations; lack of

understanding BIM enough to implement it (challenges); the lack of familiarity with

BIM use; reluctance to initiate new workflows or train staff; lack of the capital to invest,

the risky nature of BIM tools from a liability standpoint; resistance to culture change are

some of the challenges and barriers of BIM implementation in the Jordanian

construction industry. To alleviate these barriers they recommended; trainings, client

and government support to effectively mitigate the barriers and challenges to

implementation and they highlighted an implementation guideline to help address BIM

implementation issues.

Caroline (2014) suggested improving the uptake of BIM support from government /

professional bodies such as providing guidance on the use of BIM, defining levels of

BIM working, providing training, developing data exchange standards and developing

new form of contract to solve the barriers of implementing BIM in designers in Hong

Kong. She found that: lack of qualified in-house staff to carry out the BIM related

works; lack of training/education; lack of standards; lack of client demand; lack of

government‟s lead/direction; lack of incentive to have subcontractors and suppliers

(lower part of the supply chain) to adopt BIM; High cost; uncertainties over

22
interoperability of BIM software with other software; lack of IT infrastructure;

uncertainties over ownership of data and responsibilities; lack of new and/or amended

forms of construction contracts; current professional indemnity and insurance terms are

some of the prevalent BIM barriers in designers in Hong Kong.

Different documents have classified these BIM implementation barriers in to different

sections. Chuck et al. (2011) classified them into two categories: process barriers to the

business, including legal and organizational issues that prevent BIM implementation;

and technology barriers related to readiness and implementation. Majed (2015)

classified them in to six sections as: personal barriers, BIM process barriers, business

barriers, technical barriers, organizational barriers, and market barriers. Abdul-Majeed

et al. (2018) classified these barriers as; BIM-specific, design specific, team oriented,

project related, organizational, industry related and cost related.

A study by Shijing et al. (2015) aimed to identify, classify, and prioritize barriers to

BIM implementation in the AEC industry have categorized these barriers into five

groups. These major groups are further divided into sub groups. The five major groups

and their sub groups are: lack of a national standard (incomplete national standard, lack

of information sharing in BIM); the high cost of application (high initial cost of

software, high cost of implementation process); the lack of skilled personnel (lack of

professionals, high cost of training and education); organizational issues (process

problems, learning curve, lack of senior support); and legal issues (ownership,

responsibility for inaccuracies, licensing problem).

23
Javad et al. (2018), reviewed over a 100 studies to summarize available information

related to the implementation of BIM. They found that various issues manifest when

implementing BIM, some of these issues have been largely eliminated over time and by

the advancement of related technologies. Contract and legal barriers, cultural problems,

management system, and economic and security issues are the most important

challenges against implementing this technology. They concluded that many barriers

would be solved over time by knowing the issues of today and providing more real

world examples. They pointed out that the support and guidance of governments plus

the mandatory use of BIM in specific projects will increase the speed of BIM

implementation.

Chengshuang et al., (2017) collected, reviewed, and analyzed previous researches

related to the factors limiting the application of BIM in the construction industry and

classified the barriers in to five categories as: Technology factors, Cost factors,

Management factors, Personnel factors, and Legal factors. The technological factors

refer to BIM tool-related factors limiting the application of BIM, such as: imperfect or

immature BIM software; a lack of standards and protocols, etc. Cost factors refer to the

money-related limiting factors in the process of BIM application which include buying

the BIM-based software and hardware, the software service charges, and training costs,

etc. Management factors refer to the process and organization-related limiting factors

and include: participants’ attitudes toward BIM applications; the lack of existing

successful cases and management standards for reference; fragmented nature of the

construction industry; the inappropriate business models and lack of cooperation from

other industry partners. Personnel factors refer to the professional-related limiting

24
factors such as; lack of experienced personnel who are familiar with BIM and

professionals hesitation to use BIM. Legal factors refer to the limiting factors caused by

the immaturity of contractual/regulatory environment.

Table 2.2 summarizes the BIM implementation barriers identified from different
sources. For the purpose of this, the five point classification of Chengshuang et al.
(2017) has been adopted to group the barriers, which are: technology factors, cost
factors, management factors, personnel factors, and legal factors.

Table 2.2: Summary of BIM implementation barriers

BIM barrier Source

I. Cost related
B1 The high costs to buy BIM software and Abdul-Majeed et al.(2018),
costs of the necessary hardware updates. Caroline (2014), Chengshuang
et.al (2017), Javad et al. (2018),
Majed (2015), Mohammed and
Ahmad (2017), Shijing et al.
(2015) and Zahrizan et.al (2014)
B2 High cost of implementation process which Abdul-Majeed et al. (2018),
include: hiring new employees with BIM Bahareh and Elmira (2017),
competence, hiring a BIM consultant to train Caroline (2014), Chengshuang et
existing employees al. (2017), Javad et al. (2018),
Majed (2015), Shijing et al.
(2015) and Zahrizan et al. (2014)

B3 Lack of adequate feedback on existing Abdul-Majeed et al. (2018),

successful real cases in Addis AbuHamra (2015), Javad et al.
Ababa/Ethiopia that have implemented BIM (2018), Shijing et al. (2015) and
and have proved positive rate of return. Zahrizan et al. (2014)
II. Management related
B4 Lack of awareness by stakeholders about the Abdul-Majeed et al. (2018),
benefits, tools, processes and workflows, AbuHamra (2015), Bahareh and
required to implement BIM. Elmira (2017), Majed (2015),
Mohammed and Ahmad (2017),
Javad et al. (2018), Timothy et al.
(2018) and Zahrizan et al. (2014)

25
B5 Difficulty of finding project stakeholders Bahareh and Elmira (2017) and
with the required competence to participate Majed (2015),
in applying BIM
B6 Lack of effective collaboration among Abdul-Majeed et al. (2018),
project stakeholders to exchange necessary Bahareh and Elmira (2017),
information for BIM application, due to the Chengshuang et al.(2017),
fragmented nature of the AEC industry in Mohammed and Ahmad (2017),
Addis Ababa. Javad et al.(2018), Majed (2015),
Shijing et al. (2015) and Timothy
et al. (2018),
B7 Resistance to change. Resistance by Abdul-Majeed et al. (2018),
companies and institutions for any change Bahareh and Elmira (2017),
that occur in the workflow system and the Chengshuang et.al (2017), Javad
refusal of adopting a new technology et al. (2018), Majed (2015),
Mohammed and Ahmad (2017)
and Zahrizan et al. (2014).
B8 Lack of client demand for the use of BIM AbuHamra (2015), Caroline
technology (2014), Majed (2015) and
Zahrizan et al. (2014).
B9 Lack of government‟s lead/direction Caroline (2014)
B10 Lack of senior management support to BIM Majed (2015) and Shijing et al.
implementation in Consultant and (2015)
Contracting firms
B11 Lack of interest in Addis Ababa to pursue AbuHamra (2015)
the condition of the building over the life
after completion of implementation stage
B12 Lack of incentives to use BIM in projects Caroline (2014)
B13 Low level of research in the industry and Timothy et.al (2018)
academia related to Building Information
Modeling (BIM)
B14 Lack of appropriate business models, Abdul-Majeed et al. (2018),
procurement routs (project delivery method) Chengshuang et al. (2017), and
and new and/or amended forms of Majed (2015)
construction contract forms for BIM
implementation.
III. Technical Barriers
B15 Lack of interoperability due to the software Abdul-Majeed et al. (2018),
incompatibility between the different Caroline (2014), Chengshuang et
programs for design and analysis and hence al. (2017), Majed (2015),
the lack of integrated models and Mohammed and Ahmad (2017),

26
 collaborative working Javad et al. (2018), and Timothy
O. et al. (2018)
B16 Insufficient IT infrastructure in Addis Ababa Caroline (2014) and Majed (2015)
B17 Complicated and time-consuming modeling Abdul-Majeed et al. (2018),
process implementation Javad et al. (2018), Majed (2015)
and Zahrizan et al. (2014)
IV. Personal Barriers
B18 Shortage of professionals with experience, AbuHamra(2015), Caroline
knowledge and skills on BIM tools and BIM (2014), Chengshuang et al.
implementation. (2017), Majed (2015), Shijing et
al. (2015) and Timothy et al.
(2018),
B19 Professionals think that the current CAD Abdul-Majeed et al. (2018),
system and other conventional programs AbuHamra (2015), Majed (2015)
satisfy the need of designing and performing and Zahrizan et al. (2014)
the work and complete the project
efficiently
B20 Longer time in adapting to new technologies Shijing et al. (2015) and Timothy
(steep learning curve) et al. (2018)
V. Legal Barriers
B21 Absence, Incompleteness or unclear national AbuHamra (2015), Caroline
Standard and strategies for BIM (2014), Chengshuang et al.
(2017), Javad et al. (2018), Majed
(2015), Shijing et al. (2015),
Timothy et al. (2018) and
Zahrizan et al. (2014)
B22 BIM is too risky from a liability standpoint Abdul-Majeed et al. (2018),
to warrant its use Caroline (2014), Chengshuang et
al. (2017), Majed (2015),
Mohammed and Ahmad (2017),
Javad et al. (2018), Shijing et al.
(2015) and Timothy et al. (2018)
B23 Uncertainties over ownership of data and Caroline (2014), Javad et al.
responsibilities (2018), Javad et al. (2018), Majed
(2015), Shijing et al. (2015) and
Timothy et al. (2018)

27
 3. MATERIALS AND METHODS

This chapter provides description of the step-by-step procedure used in collecting data

for the study to address the objectives of the research and to arrive at research findings

and conclusions. The chapter provides description about the study area, methods of data

collection, the target population and sampling technique, validity and reliability and the

data analysis techniques used.

3.1. Description of the study area

The study area of this research is Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Addis Ababa is the capital city,

the seat of the Ethiopian federal government and the largest city in the country. As a

chartered city (Ras gez astedader), Addis Ababa has the status of both a city and a state.

The city lies at an elevation of 2,200 meter above sea level located at 9°1′48″N

38°44′24″E. The city is divided into 10 subcities (“kifle ketema”), and 99 wards

(“Kebele”).

3.2. Study design

To achieve the objectives of this research mixed research approach is used. Mixed

method approach involves incorporation of qualitative and quantitative research and

data in a research study. The “mixing” or blending between quantitative and qualitative

approach provides a stronger understanding of the problem or question than either by

itself (Creswell, 2004).

Research designs also called as strategies of inquiry are types of inquiry within

qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches that provide specific direction

28
for procedures in a research design (John, 2014). From the mixed method research

designs this research adopted the explanatory sequential mixed research design.

The explanatory sequential mixed methods approach is a design in mixed methods that

appeals to individuals with a strong quantitative background or from fields relatively

new to qualitative approaches. It involves two phases in which the researcher collects

quantitative data in the first phase, analyzes the results, and then uses the results to plan

the second, qualitative phase. The overall intent of this design is to have the qualitative

data help explain in more detail the initial quantitative results (John, 2014). For this

research the first phase (i.e. quantitative data collection) involved a questionnaire

survey followed by the second phase (i.e. qualitative data collection) a semi - structured

interview.

3.3. Method of Data collection

The study is based up on both primary and secondary data. Primary data was collected

through a questionnaire survey and semi structured interviews. The secondary sources

of data were obtained using relevant books, journals, magazines, videos and research

papers.

As mention in section 3.2 (study design) the study was conducted using a mixed

research approach which utilizes both quantitative and qualitative data collection

techniques. The quantitative tool used was a questionnaire survey whereas the

qualitative tool was a semi – structured interview.

29
 3.3.1. Questionnaire

The method of quantitative data collection employed is a questionnaire survey

developed after an intensive literature review. A copy of this questionnaire is presented

in “appendix A” for reference. The questionnaire is structured in to three parts. The first

part of the questionnaire provides the background of the respondents including the

respondent‟s gender, age, year of experience, educational qualification (BSC, MSC or

PHD), educational background, nature of their work place (Public or Private /

consultant or contractor), type of project or construction work sector they are involved

(building, infrastructure or both), and current job description (designer, site, supervisor,

etc.).

The second part measures the level of awareness and extent of usage of BIM of the

respondents. This section includes questions about the software tools used to perform

their daily project activities, awareness about major BIM implementation tools,

awareness & familiarity about BIM itself, and if they have implemented BIM in any of

their projects. This section also asks to list the projects if they have implemented BIM.

The third part is designed to weight the attitudes of the respondents towards the effect

of BIM implementation barriers. This section is structured in such a way that the score

of individual‟s responses assigns him a place on a scale meaning scaling is used.

Scaling describes the procedures of allocating numbers to various degrees of opinion,

attitude and other concepts. Ranjit (2011), defines scaling as a procedure for the

assignment of numbers to a property of objects in order to impart some of the

characteristics of numbers to the properties in question.

30
There are three major types of scales. i.e.; Summated rating scale, Thrustone scale,

Guttman scale (Kotheri, 2004 and Ranjit, 2011). The summated rating scale is adopted

for this research. The summated rating scale also known as Likert scale is based upon

the assumption that each statement on the scale has equal attitudinal value, „importance‟

or „weight‟ in terms of reflecting an attitude towards the issue in question (Ranjit, 2011).

Likert scales consist of a number of statements which express either a favorable or

unfavorable attitude towards the subject to which the respondent is asked to react. The

respondent indicates his/her agreement or disagreement with each statement in the

instrument. Each response is given a numerical score, indicating its favorableness or un-

favorableness, and the scores are totaled to measure the respondent‟s attitude (Kotheri,

2004).

A 5-point Likert scale (from 1- 5) was used to gauge the attitude of the respondents

about effect of the barriers on the implementation of BIM in Ethiopian construction

industry in case of Addis Ababa. This was intended to rank the BIM implementation

barriers. Respondents were asked to rate the barriers as:

1. Very weak

2. Weak

3. Average strength

4. Strong

5. Very Strong.

31
 3.3.2. Interview

The other data collection technique used in this study is an interview. In this study semi-

structured interviews were conducted with BIM experts in Addis Ababa. A copy of the

interview questions is presented in „appendix B‟. The aim of the interview was to

collect expert‟s opinion on BIM implementation barriers in Ethiopian construction

industry in case of Addis Ababa and to summarize the expert‟s suggestions to alleviate

these barriers.

3.4. Population and Sampling

3.4.1. Population

The term population refers to the aggregate or totality of all the objects, subjects, or

members that conform to a set of specifications (Ranjit, 2011). A smaller population

can be studied more extensively at a fixed cost than a larger population, so it is

important to decide what population is really of critical importance and can be

addressed with the resources available (Kotheri, 2004). To address the objectives of this

research the research population was drawn from construction professionals in Addis

Ababa. The population of this research included construction professionals in Addis

Ababa city administration offices and construction professionals from higher level (I -

IV) private contracting and consulting firms who have worked with the city

administration from 2008 -2010 E.C.

The population for the public sector was developed after detail review of Addis Ababa

city administration sector bureaus. A detailed structure of the city administration

32
(obtained from www.addisababa.gov.et) with the help of Addis Ababa city construction

bureau was used to list the population for the public contractors and consultants.

The total population included two hundred (275) organizations. Of which One hundred

thirty nine (139) were private contractors, one hundred nineteen (119) were private

consultants, three (3) were public contractors and Fourteen (14) were public consultants.

Table 3.1 below shows this in detail.

Table 3.1: Population

Contractor Consultant Total

Public
3 14 17
organizations
Private
139 119 258
organizations
total 142 133 275

3.4.2. Sampling

A sample is a set of elements selected in some way from a population. The aim of

sampling is to save time and effort, but also to obtain consistent and unbiased estimates

of the population status in terms of whatever is being researched (Roger and Victor,

2006).

The sampling technique used for this research was random/ probabilistic sampling

design. From the random sampling design techniques stratified random sampling

(disproportionate stratified sampling) is employed. If a population from which a sample

is to be drawn does not constitute a homogeneous group, stratified sampling technique

is generally applied in order to obtain a representative sample (Kothari, 2004). Under

stratified sampling the population is divided into several sub-populations that are

33
individually more homogeneous. The population is stratified based on characteristics

like: working in public or private organizations, working as contractor or a consultant.

The population is stratified in to four non overlapping groups: public consulting firms,

public contracting firms, private consulting firms, and private contracting firms. Then

simple random sampling technique was used to select samples from each stratum. The

sampling calculations are presented below.

Sampling calculations

There are several approaches to determining the sample size. These include using a

census for small populations, imitating a sample size of similar studies, using published

tables, and applying formulas to calculate a sample size (Glen, 1992).

The Sample size for this research was calculated using Slovin‟s formula. Slovin‟s

formula is used to calculate the sample size (n) given the population size (N) and a

margin of error (e). It is computed as;

( )

Where:

n = no. of samples

N = total population

e = error margin / margin of error

The sample size for this research is calculated as follows:

Private Consultants

34
 ( )

( ( ) )

Private Contractors

( )

( ( ) )

Public contractor

( )

( ( ) )

Public consultant

( )

( ( ) )

35
The sample size formulas provide the number of responses that need to be obtained. It is

recommended to add 10% to the sample size to compensate for persons that the

researcher is unable to contact and invalid responses (Glen, 1992). Thus the sample

sizes calculated above are to be increased by 10%. So the number of sample from each

stratum was corrected as: 64, 61, 14, and 3 for private contractors, private consultants,

public consultants and public contractors respectively. Elements from each strata are

selected randomly by using Microsoft excel (Rand function).

A single questionnaire was distributed to each randomly selected element, thus a total of

142 questionnaires are distributed for the purpose of this research. The survey

participants were recruited from these firms randomly. The participants consent to

participate in the study was sought by directly asking the participants for their

willingness. The questionnaires were distributed and collected by the researcher in

person.

3.5. Validity and Reliability

Kothari (2004) defines validity as the extent to which differences found in a measuring

instrument show the true differences among those being tested. It answers the question

whether a research instrument such as a questionnaire or interview actually measures

what it was intended to measure or whether its scores have meaning for a participant.

There are three types of validity to consider: content validity, criterion validity and

construct validity. Content validity is the extent to which a measure “covers” the

construct of interest (Ranjit, 2011). It involves evaluating a survey instrument to ensure

that it includes essential items and eliminates undesirable items. For this study literature

36
review was used to ensure the questions in the questionnaire are essential to meet the

objectives by providing adequate coverage of the BIM barriers, level of awareness and

extent of uses of BIM in Ethiopian construction industry in case of Addis Ababa.

Kothari (2004) also labels, if the instrument contains a representative sample of the

population the content validity is good. The sample for the study is purposefully

selected to represent the population so the content validity is good.

Another important test to the soundness of a research instrument is measuring it

reliability, which shows if it provides consistent results and if the test can be repeated

more than once and the results are the same (Ranjit, 2011). Cronbach„s alpha coefficient

test was used through SPSS software to test the reliability of the questionnaire. The

normal range of Cronbach„s coefficient alpha (Cα) value is between 0.0 and (+) 1.0,

and the higher value reflects a higher degree of internal consistency (Kothari, 2004). If

the value of reliability coefficient is above 0.7 it is considered satisfactory (Ranjit,

2011). The cronbarch‟s Alpha coefficient of the research questionnaire was found to be

0.964 which shows that it is satisfactory.

Table 3.2. Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient

Reliability Statistics

Cronbach's Alpha N of Items

0.964 61

37
 3.6. Data Management and Analysis

3.6.1. Data Management

Once the data has been collected, the data was processed. The first step undertaken in

processing the raw data collected from the respondents was to ensure that the data was

clean, that it is free from inconsistencies and incompleteness. The raw data from the

questionnaires was first edited to identify and minimize as far as possible, errors,

incompleteness, misclassification and gaps in the information. The questionnaires were

checked one respondent at a time during collection in front of the respondents and if

any problem arise the respondent were asked to clarify.

3.6.2. Data Analysis

After the raw data is edited, the information from the questionnaires is transformed in to

codes, so that it can easily be analyzed. Quantitative data analysis techniques were used

to draw meaningful results from the data collected by the questionnaire survey. The data

analyses is going to be undertaken using IBM SPSS Statistics Version 25(IBM).

SPSS is a popular program for statistical analysis. The letters „SPSS‟ used to stand for

statistical package for the social sciences. Because it is now used in a variety of fields

other than the social sciences, SPSS is now an acronym, the letters no longer stand for

anything and its proper name is now IBM SPSS Statistics (Ranjit, 2011).

Descriptive and statistical analysis techniques were used to analyze the data collected

by the questionnaire survey. These include: frequencies and percentiles, the mean,

standard deviation, and mean score ranking, spearman rank correlation.

38
Mean score ranking

Mean score ranking was used to rank the BIM implementation barriers in Ethiopian

construction industry in case of Addis Ababa. Mean score ranking is a ranking

technique that uses the arithmetic means (average score) to rank sets of variables. First

the arithmetic mean of each variable is calculated and it is used to rank the variables. In

case of ties or two equal means the standard deviation (SD) is used to separate the ties,

the variable with the smallest SD is ranked first.

Means are calculated using the formula below, it calculates the mean (M) of „n‟ number

of cases for the variable „X‟

Standard Deviation (SD) is calculated by the formula

∑ ( ̅)
√

Spearman rank correlation

Spearman‟s correlation coefficient was analyzed to test for agreements on BIM

implementation barriers and types of BIM implementation barriers between the parties

(contractors and Consultants). Spearman‟s correlation coefficient is a statistical

measure of the strength of a monotonic relationship between paired data; it measures

both the strength and direction of the relationship between the ranks of data (Roger and

Victor, 2006). Its main objective is to determine the extent to which the two sets of

39
ranking are similar or not. It can be any value from -1 to 1, and the closer the absolute

value of the coefficient to 1, the stronger the relationship (1 is a perfect positive

correlation, -1 is a perfect negative correlation, 0 is no correlation) (Yogesh K. 2006).

The strength of the correlation can be verbally described using the following guide for

the absolute value of rs:

 0.00 to 0.19 – “Very weak”

 0.20 to 0.39 -“Weak”

 0.40 to 0.59 – “Moderate”

 0.60 to 0.79 – “Strong”

 0.80 to 1.0 – “Very strong”

Spearman‟s coefficient of correlation (or rank correlation) is analyzed using the formula
(Kothari, 2004).

∑
[ ]
( )

Where rs = spearman‟s coefficient of correlation

di = difference between ranks of ith pair of the two variables;

n = number of pairs of observations.

After calculating rs, the value is compared to the critical value ro. The critical value of is

read from table (Kothari, 2004). The table is provided on Appendix C. To determine the

level of agreement in ranking causes, the level of significance 95% (P = 0.05) is used. If

rs is greater than the critical value (ro), it shows a statistically good agreement between

the parties in comparison.

40
 4. ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

This chapter presents the results and analyses of the primary data collected to achieve

the objectives of the research. As discussed in the methodology section, the data

collection method used questionnaire survey and semi-structured interview.

4.1. Questionnaire Response Rate

To achieve the objective of this research one hundred forty two (142) questionnaires

were distributed to construction professionals in Addis Ababa. From this total number

of questionnaires distributed, only 109 were received, representing a total response rate

of 76.76 %. Table 4.1 below shows the number and response rate of professionals in

each category of construction professionals.

Table 4.1: Questionnaires distribution and responses

Respondents Questionnaire Questionnaire

Response Rate
Category Distributed Collected
Public Contractors 3 3 100 %
Public Consultants 14 14 100 %
Private Contractors 64 43 67.18 %
Private Consultants 61 49 80.32 %

Total 142 109 76.76%

4.2. Respondents demographic data

From the respondents 89 individuals (81.7%) were male and 20 individuals (18.3%)

were female. The Age distribution of the respondents is; 65.1% between 20 -30 years,

24.8% between 31-40 years, 9.2% between 41- 50 years, 0.9 % more than 51 years.

Figure 4.1 below shows the age distribution of the respondents.

41
 Figure 4.1: Age distribution of the respondents.

The majority of the respondents (92.7%) have bachelor‟s degree, while the rest 7.3%

have master‟s degree. The educational background has a significant effect on the

validity and reliability of responses in terms of understanding questions, knowing more

technical skills in the construction sector and etc. From the 109 valid responses

101individuals had bachlor‟s degree, 8 had master‟s degree and none had docterate

degree.

More than half of the respondents 60.6% were Civil Engineering Proffessionals,

whereas, construction technology and management, Architects and others

specializations account for 22.9%, 14.7%, and 1.8% of the specialization of the

respondents. Surveying, Road and Highway engineering specializations were the other

specializations listed by the respondents. Figure 4.2 below illustrates this further.

42
 Figure 4.2: The specialization of the respondents

The private sector accounts for the major share 84.4% of the respondents compared to

the public sector 15.6%. 45 % of the respondents were from Private construction

companies, 39.4% were from private consultant companies, 12.8% were from public

consulting firms and 2.8% were from public contracting firms. Figure 4.3 below shows

this in detail.

Figure 4.3: Sector distribution of respondents

43
Figure 4.4 shows the type of projects the respondents are working on: more than three

quarter of them 78.9 % are currently working on building projects; 9.2% are working on

Building and Infrastructure projects; 11.9% are working on Building and infrastructure

projects which include both buildings and infrastructure works.

Figure 4.4: Types of projects the respondents are working on

The job description of the respondents was also collected by the questionnaires. As

shown in Figure 4.5 below, the data collected shows that Office Engineers take the

largest portion of the respondents with a total of 37.6 %. The rest are 16.5 % - Site

Supervisors, 13.8% - Site Engineers, 5.5% - Projects Mangers, and 10.1% - Others

include resident Engineers, Surveyors, and contract administrators.

44
 Fig. 4.5: Job description of Respondents

The data showed that the largest share of the respondents (50.5%) have less than 5(five)

years of experience, while 33 % and 16.5% percent of the respondents have 5(five) to

10(ten) years‟ experience and more than 10 years of experience respectively. The bar

graph in Figure 4.6 below shows the number of respondents in each work experience

category for each sector.

25 Less than 5 years

5 to 10 years
20
Number of respondents

15

10

0
Public Contractor PublicConsultant Private Private
Contractor Consultant

Figure 4.6: No of respondents from each sector and their work experience

45
Table 4.2 summarizes the respondents personal Information

Table 4.2: Summary of respondents personal information

General Information
Categories Frequency Percentage
about respondents

Male 89 81.7%
Gender
Female 20 18.3%
20-30 yrs 71 65.1%
31-40 years 27 24.8%
Age
41-50 yrs 10 9.2%
more than 51 years 1 0.9%
Bachelor 101 92.7%
Educational Qualification Masters 8 7.3%
PhD 0 0.0%
Architect 16 14.7%
Civil Engineer 66 60.6%
Specialization
Construction Technology
25 22.9%
& Management
Others 2 1.8%
Public Contractor 3 2.8%
Public Consultant 14 12.8%
Nature of workplace
Private Contractor 43 39.4%
Private Consultant 49 45.0%
Building Projects 86 78.9%
Work sector Infrastructure Projects 10 9.2%
Building and
13 11.9%
Infrastructure together
Designer 18 16.5%
Supervisor 18 16.5%
Current field
site Engineer 15 13.8%
Project Manager 6 5.5%

46
 Office engineer 41 37.6%
Others 11 10.1%
<5 years 55 50.5%
Years of experience from 5 to 10 years 36 33.0%
>10 years 18 16.5%

4.3. Professional’s level of awareness and extent of usage of BIM

Professional‟s level of BIM awareness was assessed by asking the respondents if they

are aware of BIM implementation tools (such as BIM dimensions, parametric modeling

and interoperability) and if they are familiar with BIM itself.

The survey shows that the awareness of respondents about BIM tools is minimal. The

data collected shows that only 63.3% of the respondents are familiar with 3D modeling.

The data also shows even lower results for 4D modeling (14.7%), 5D modeling (13.8%),

6D modeling (11%), Parametric Modeling (4.6%) and Interoperability (4.6%).

From the 109 valid respondents for this research, only 17 (seventeen) respondents

(15.6%) knew about BIM. Which shows that majority of the respondents is not aware of

BIM. Of the 17 respondents; 13 (thirteen) work on building projects, 3 (three) work on

building and infrastructure projects, and 1(one) work on infrastructure project. As to

their specialization 13 (thirteen) were civil engineers, 3 (three) were from Construction

technology& management, 2 (two) were Architects. 16 (sixteen) have bachelor‟s degree

and 1 have master‟s degree. Table 4.3 below shows the frequency distribution of the

respondents that are found to be aware of BIM on different personal information

categories. The table also shows the percentage of respondents that are aware of BIM in

each category.

47
Table. 4.3: Distribution of the respondents aware about BIM

Respondent
Total aware
General information Categories
count about BIM

Male 89 15
Gender
Female 20 2
20-30 yrs 71 11
31-40 years 27 5
Age
41-50 yrs 10 1
more than 51 years 1 0

Bachelor 101 16
Educational Qualification Masters 8 1
PhD 0 0
Architectural Engineering 16 2
Civil Engineering 66 12
Specialization Contraction Technology and
25 3
Management
others 2 0
Public Contractor 3 1
Public Consultant 14 1
Nature of workplace
private contractor 43 4
private consultant 49 11
Building Projects 86 13
Infrastructure Projects 10 1
Work sector
Building and Infrastructure
13 3
together
Designer 18 2
Supervisor 18 7
site Engineer 15 1
Job Description
Project Manager 6 0
Office engineer 41 6
other 11 1

The extent of usage of BIM by the respondents has been assessed through three

questions; one of them was if they have implemented BIM in any of their projects.

None of the respondents answered yes for this question, showing the low level of BIM

implementation in Addis Ababa.

48
The second question asks those respondents that are aware about BIM to rate the

implementation of BIM in case of Addis Ababa. They were asked to rate it as very

weak, weak, average strength, strong, and very strong. The majority of them (10

respondents) rated BIM implementation in Addis Ababa as very weak. The rest (7

respondents) rated it as weak. This further supports our finding in the first question.

The other question was about the software application that they use to work on their

projects. The survey shows that 2D software‟s are extensively used by the respondents

corroborating with our finding in the first question which is low level of BIM

implementation by the respondents since 3D software applications are the basis for BIM

implementation. Figure 4.7 illustrates that the more common programs used by the

respondents to conduct their project works are Excel and AutoCAD (2D), where 87.2 %

of the respondents use Excel, and 81.7% use AutoCAD (2D). Excel is the most used

program by the respondents, which is often used in the calculation of quantities and

financial matters. AutoCAD (2D) is used to create engineering drawings by all

Engineers of various specializations.

MS Project is the third program extensively used by the respondents. It is used to

perform schedule planning. It was found that 50.5% of the respondents use MS Project.

The other software‟s used by the respondents include: AutoCAD (3D) – 28.4% ;

ETABS – 20.2%; Primavera – 17.4 %; ArchiCAD – 16.5 %; Revit – 15.6 %; SAP200 –

15%; Google sketch up – 8.3 %. Other software used by the respondents include Civil

3D, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign and CONMIS.

49
 Figure 4.7: The used software tool by respondents to carry out projects

4.4. Building Information Modeling Barriers

4.4.1. The Strength of BIM barriers

The strength of the BIM barriers is measured by using ranking and spearman‟s

coefficient of correlation. The Mean is calculated to weight each barrier of BIM (from

B 1 to B 23) according to the numerical scores obtained from the questionnaire

responses by the professionals and the results have been ranked from the highest degree

(the strongest BIM barrier) to the least degree. Further in cases of tied ranks (equal

means) standard deviation (SD) is used to break the tie. If two variables have a similar

mean the ranking will depend on the lowest SD, the variable with the lowest SD is

ranked higher.

50
The mean of each barrier to parties (consultants and contractors) have been calculated

and presented in the sections below.

4.4.2. The strength of BIM Implementation barriers for

Consultants

As shown in the Table 4.4 below based on the data collected consultants have rated:

Lack of awareness by stakeholders about the benefits, tools, processes and workflows

required to implement BIM; lack of client demand for the use of BIM technology; lack

of government‟s lead/direction; lack of incentives to use BIM in projects; shortage of

professionals with experience, knowledge and skills on BIM tools and BIM

implementation as the five main barriers to the implementation of BIM in Ethiopian

construction industry in case of Addis Ababa respectively.

Table 4.4: Strength of BIM implementation barriers for consultants

Barriers mean SD Rank
B4. Lack of awareness by stakeholders about the
benefits, tools, processes and workflows, required to 4.17 0.553 1
implement BIM.

B8. Lack of client demand for the use of BIM

3.92 0.493 2
technology
B9. Lack of government‟s lead/direction 3.83 0.687 3
B12. Lack of incentives to use BIM in projects 3.67 0.624 4
B18. Shortage of professionals with experience,
knowledge and skills on BIM tools and BIM 3.67 0.850 5
implementation.
B5. Difficulty of finding project stakeholders with
the required competence to participate in applying 3.67 0.943 6
BIM
B1. The high costs to buy BIM software and costs of
the necessary hardware updates. 3.67 1.027 7

B14. Lack of appropriate business models,

3.50 0.866 8
procurement routs (project delivery method) and

51
new and/or amended forms of construction contract
forms for BIM implementation.
B2. High cost of implementation process which
include: hiring new employees with BIM
3.33 0.745 9
competence, hiring a BIM consultant to train
existing employees
B6. Lack of effective collaboration among project
stakeholders to exchange necessary information for
3.33 0.943 10
BIM application, due to the fragmented nature of the
AEC industry in Addis Ababa.
B17. Complicated and time-consuming modeling
3.33 1.027 11
process implementation
B3. Lack of adequate feedback on existing
successful real cases in Addis Ababa/Ethiopia that
3.33 1.106 12
have implemented BIM and have proved positive
rate of return.
B10. Lack of senior management support to BIM
3.25 0.924 13
implementation in Consultant and Contracting firms
B21. Absence, Incompleteness or unclear national
3.25 1.164 14
Standard and strategies for BIM
B7. Resistance to change. Resistance by companies
and institutions for any change that occur in the
3.17 0.373 15
workflow system and the refusal of adopting a new
technology
B13. Low level of research in the industry and
academia related to Building Information Modeling 3.17 0.799 16
(BIM)
B19. Professionals think that the current CAD
system and other conventional programs satisfy the
3.00 0.913 17
need of designing and performing the work and
complete the project efficiently
B11. Lack of interest in Addis Ababa to pursue the
condition of the building over the life after 2.92 0.493 18
completion of implementation stage
B20. Longer time in adapting to new technologies
2.75 0.924 19
(steep learning curve)
B16. Insufficient IT infrastructure in Addis Ababa 2.67 0.624 20
B15. Lack of interoperability due to the software
incompatibility between the different programs for
design and analysis and hence the lack of integrated 2.58 0.493 21
models and collaborative working

B22. BIM is too risky from a liability standpoint to

1.92 0.276 22
warrant its use
B23. Uncertainties over ownership of data and
1.92 0.493 23
responsibilities

52
 4.4.3. The strength of BIM Implementation barriers for

Contractors

The contractors have rated: lack of awareness by stakeholders about the benefits, tools,

processes and workflows required to implement BIM; lack of client demand for the use

of BIM technology; shortage of professionals with experience, knowledge and skills on

BIM tools and BIM implementation; the high costs to buy BIM software and costs of

the necessary hardware updates; lack of adequate feedback on existing successful real

cases in Addis Ababa/Ethiopia that have implemented BIM and have proved positive

rate of return as the five main barriers to the implementation of BIM in Ethiopian

Construction Industry in case of Addis Ababa respectively.

Table 4.5: Strength of BIM implementation barriers for contractors

Barriers mean SD Rank

B4. Lack of awareness by stakeholders about the benefits,
tools, processes and workflows, required to implement BIM. 4.60 0.490 1

B8. Lack of client demand for the use of BIM technology 4.60 0.800 2
B18. Shortage of professionals with experience, knowledge
4.40 0.800 3
and skills on BIM tools and BIM implementation.
B1. The high costs to buy BIM software and costs of the
4.20 0.400 4
necessary hardware updates.
B3. Lack of adequate feedback on existing successful real
cases in Addis Ababa/Ethiopia that have implemented BIM 4.00 0.000 5
and have proved positive rate of return.
B9. Lack of government‟s lead/direction 4.00 0.632 6
B12. Lack of incentives to use BIM in projects 4.00 0.894 7
B21. Absence, Incompleteness or unclear national Standard
4.00 1.095 8
and strategies for BIM
B14. Lack of appropriate business models, procurement
routs (project delivery method) and new and/or amended
3.80 0.748 9
forms of construction contract forms for BIM
implementation.

53
B6. Lack of effective collaboration among project
stakeholders to exchange necessary information for BIM
3.80 0.980 10
application, due to the fragmented nature of the AEC
industry in Addis Ababa.
B19. Professionals think that the current CAD system and
other conventional programs satisfy the need of designing
3.60 0.490 11
and performing the work and complete the project
efficiently
B7. Resistance to change. Resistance by companies and
institutions for any change that occur in the workflow 3.60 0.800 12
system and the refusal of adopting a new technology
B10. Lack of senior management support to BIM
3.60 1.020 13
implementation in Consultant and Contracting firms
B2. High cost of implementation process which include:
hiring new employees with BIM competence, hiring a BIM 3.20 0.400 14
consultant to train existing employees
B17. Complicated and time-consuming modeling process
3.20 0.748 15
implementation
B11. Lack of interest in Addis Ababa to pursue the
condition of the building over the life after completion of 3.00 0.000 16
implementation stage
B13. Low level of research in the industry and academia
2.80 0.400 17
related to Building Information Modeling (BIM)
B16. Insufficient IT infrastructure in Addis Ababa 2.80 0.748 18

B5. Difficulty of finding project stakeholders with the

2.80 0.980 19
required competence to participate in applying BIM
B20. Longer time in adapting to new technologies (steep
2.80 1.327 20
learning curve)
B15. Lack of interoperability due to the software
incompatibility between the different programs for design
and analysis and hence the lack of integrated models and 2.60 0.490 21
collaborative working

B22. BIM is too risky from a liability standpoint to warrant

1.80 0.400 22
its use
B23. Uncertainties over ownership of data and
1.80 0.748 23
responsibilities

4.4.4. Spearman’s coefficient of correlation for Contractors and

Consultants

Spearman‟s coefficient of correlation (rs) between consultants and contractors for the
rank of BIM implementation barriers (B1 – B23) was found to be 0.97, this value is

54
greater that the critical value which is 0.415, this shows that this correlation is
statistically good correlation. Thus a very strong positive relationship exists between the
two parties.

4.4.5. Combined Strength of BIM barriers

The findings indicated that “lack of awareness by stakeholders about the benefits, tools,

processes and workflows required to implement BIM” (B4) is the strongest barrier to

BIM adoption in Addis Ababa. It has been ranked first with mean of 4.29 according to

the combined response of the respondents. The lack of knowledge about BIM by the

construction industry stakeholders affects BIM implementation in Addis Ababa because

without the knowledge about the benefits BIM implementation gives to each

stakeholder, the parties will be reluctant to implement BIM out of fear of increased

costs.

This finding is similar to AbuHamra (2015), she found lack of the awareness of BIM by

stakeholders and lack of the awareness of the benefits that BIM can bring to

Engineering offices, companies, and projects to be the top barrier to the AEC industry

in Gaza strip. Zaharina et al. (2014) has found that lack of knowledge about BIM in

terms of benefit to the operation and maintenance phase in the project‟s life cycle has a

significant role on why clients, consultants, contractors and others parties that are

involved in construction projects are reluctant to use BIM in their construction projects.

The second BIM barrier according to the survey is lack of client demand for the use of

BIM technology (B8). From many survey results, the largest impediment to BIM

adoption is lack of client demand (Caroline, 2014). Client demand is a powerful force

that drives BIM implementation, as the financiers of projects clients can demand the use

55
of BIM on their projects or choose only to work with BIM capable companies then

other stakeholders will implement BIM to compete in the market.

The barrier found as the third critical barrier was lack of government lead or direction.

Majed (2015) has also found that lack of support from the government is a major barrier

to the adoption of BIM in Libya. Government support is the largest enabler to BIM

adoption. The government should take the lead to increase the demand for BIM

implementation in their projects.

The shortage of professionals with experience, knowledge and skills on BIM tools and

BIM implementation is the barrier ranked four with a mean of 3.88. In the earlier

section this survey has also found that there is low level of awareness about BIM in

Addis Ababa this finding corroborates with the lack of expertise and knowledge about

BIM being selected as critical. Denamo and Theo (2016) have conducted a research to

explore the preparedness of Architecture, Engineering and Construction management

undergraduate students at a prominent state owned university in Ethiopia to use BIM in

the construction industry up on their graduation, the results of the study indicated that

awareness and preparedness of the graduating students to use BIM in the Ethiopian

AEC industry is very low.

Some researchers have recommended not seeing BIM costs as barriers to BIM

implementation, rather as an investment that will drive significant financial benefits in

the long run. On the contrary to this the survey have found that “ the high initial costs to

buy BIM software and costs of necessary hardware updates” is the fifth critical BIM

implementation barrier in Addis Ababa with a mean response of “3.82”. Some of the

costs associated with BIM implementation are costs required for: software licensing; the

56
costs to improve server capacity to suit having such a high IT requirements; ongoing

maintenance fee; and the costs of training employees (Smart Market Report, 2012).

Table 4.6: the combined strength of BIM barriers

Barriers Mean SD Rank
B4. Lack of awareness by stakeholders about the benefits, tools,
processes and workflows, required to implement BIM. 4.29 0.588 1

B8. Lack of client demand for the use of BIM technology 4.12 0.697 2
B9. Lack of government‟s lead/direction 3.88 0.697 3

B18. Shortage of professionals with experience, knowledge and

3.88 0.928 4
skills on BIM tools and BIM implementation.
B1. The high costs to buy BIM software and costs of the
3.82 0.951 5
necessary hardware updates.
B12. Lack of incentives to use BIM in projects 3.76 0.752 6
B14. Lack of appropriate business models, procurement routs
(project delivery method) and new and/or amended forms of 3.59 0.870 7
construction contract forms for BIM implementation.
B3. Lack of adequate feedback on existing successful real cases
in Addis Ababa/Ethiopia that have implemented BIM and have 3.53 1.007 8
proved positive rate of return.
B6. Lack of effective collaboration among project stakeholders
to exchange necessary information for BIM application, due to 3.47 1.007 9
the fragmented nature of the AEC industry in Addis Ababa.
B21. Absence, Incompleteness or unclear national Standard and
3.47 1.231 10
strategies for BIM
B5. Difficulty of finding project stakeholders with the required
3.41 1.064 11
competence to participate in applying BIM
B10. Lack of senior management support to BIM
3.35 0.996 12
implementation in Consultant and Contracting firms
B7. Resistance to change. Resistance by companies and
institutions for any change that occur in the workflow system 3.29 0.588 13
and the refusal of adopting a new technology
B2. High cost of implementation process which include: hiring
new employees with BIM competence, hiring a BIM consultant 3.29 0.686 14
to train existing employees
B17. Complicated and time-consuming modeling process
implementation 3.29 0.985 15

57
 B19. Professionals think that the current CAD system and other
conventional programs satisfy the need of designing and 3.18 0.883 16
performing the work and complete the project efficiently
B13. Low level of research in the industry and academia related
3.06 0.748 17
to Building Information Modeling (BIM)
B11. Lack of interest in Addis Ababa to pursue the condition of
the building over the life after completion of implementation 2.94 0.429 18
stage
B20. Longer time in adapting to new technologies (steep
2.76 1.091 19
learning curve)
B16. Insufficient IT infrastructure in Addis Ababa 2.71 0.686 20
B15. Lack of interoperability due to the software incompatibility
between the different programs for design and analysis and 2.59 0.507 21
hence the lack of integrated models and collaborative working

B22. BIM is too risky from a liability standpoint to warrant its

1.88 0.332 22
use
B23. Uncertainties over ownership of data and responsibilities 1.88 0.600 23

4.3. Interview results and analysis

Semi structured interview is the second data collection technique used for this research.

This section presents the results collected through these semi structured interview

presented on appendix B. The aim of the interview was to show some of the major BIM

implementation barriers in Ethiopian construction industry in case of Addis Ababa and

to cross reference with those barriers collected through literature review and

questionnaire survey. The other objective is to introduce the suggestions of BIM experts

on ways to resolve and reduce BIM implementation barriers.

Interviews were conducted with four BIM professionals and experts in Addis Ababa

here after addressed as Interviewee „I‟, „II‟, „III‟ and „IV‟. The educational qualification

of the interviewees included: one with Doctorate degree (PHD), one with Master‟s

degree (MSc) and two interviewees with bachelor‟s degree (BSc). The educational

background of the interviewees was: one BIM manger, one Civil engineer and two from

58
construction technology and management. Two of the interviewees were from the

public sector were as the other two are from the private sector, a researcher and an

employee in a consulting company.

All the interviewees have used BIM in their projects. AutoCAD Revit (full package)

was the software tool used by all interviewees as a platform. Other BIM capable

software tools used by the interviewees included: Naviswork, SYNCHRO, SOFiSTiK,

and NEMETSCHEK: Allplan. Naviswork and SYNCHRO were used by Interviewee (II)

whereas SOFiSTiK, and NEMETSCHEK: Allplan were used by Interviewee (I).

Three of the interviewees (II, III, and IV) are implementing 5D modeling and

Interviewee (I) has implemented 3D modeling with some aspects of 5D such as BOQ

preparation. The Interviewees agreed that the extent of usage of BIM in Addis Ababa is

low.

The Interviewees were asked if they were aware of any national strategy by Ethiopian

authorities for the adoption of BIM in the construction industry. All interviewees agreed

that there is no BIM implementation strategy developed by Ethiopian authorities

directly focused on BIM, but the second Growth and transformation Plan (GTP II)

promises the use of modern technologies to modernize the construction industry. The

Ethiopian Construction Project management Institute (ECPMI) has strategized a new

BIM implementation Road Map in the country which is not yet approved and published.

4.3.1. BIM barriers identified

The BIM barriers that were mentioned by the interviewees include: lack of awareness

about BIM; lack of effective collaboration among project stakeholders; shortage of

59
professionals with BIM knowledge and experience; the construction project delivery

method used in projects; lack of demand for BIM in the construction market; financial

barriers such as software, hardware and training costs; and lack of finding genuine

software tool. Table 4.7 below shows the barriers mentioned by the interviewees.

Table 4.7: BIM implementation barriers mentioned by interviewees

Barriers Mentioned by
Interviewees I, II,
1 lack of awareness about BIM
III
2 lack of effective collaboration among project stakeholders Interviewees I, IV
shortage of professionals with BIM knowledge and Interviewees I, II,
3
experience IV
4 the construction project delivery method used in projects Interviewees I, IV
Interviewees I, II,
5 lack of demand for BIM in the construction market
III
financial barriers such as software, hardware and training
6 Interviewees I, III
costs
7 The lack of ready knowledge pool for BIM learning Interviewee II
8 lack of finding genuine software tool Interviewee IV

4.3.2. Suggestions by Interviewees

The other interview question was what the interviewee would suggest to resolve and

reduce the impacts of BIM implementation barriers in Ethiopian construction industry

in case of Addis Ababa. Suggestions forwarded by the interviewees to be discussed in

the paragraphs that follow.

Interviewee (III) suggested that educational institutions should include BIM learning in

their curriculum for engineering professionals. Interviewee (I) supported this by

60
recommending the teaching of BIM for engineering students in educational institutions

before they are introduced to the construction industry market. Interviewee (I) further

explains the reasons for this as: it is cheaper for professionals to learn BIM in school

while they are students; it is easier to learn new concepts while they are in the learning

environment since once they are in the market they will develop reluctance to learn

BIM due to work load and out of fear of wasting working time.

Interviewee (I ) also suggested that the government should take the initiative to promote

and enforce BIM use in Addis Ababa, since the government has the most to benefit

from BIM implementation in the construction industry.

Interviewees (I, II & III) suggest the government should be involved in creating the

demand for BIM in the construction market. Interviewee (III) explains this is until the

private sector fully understands the benefits BIM implementation has for their success.

Interviewee (II) amplifies this by suggesting the government should provide incentives

and recognition for those companies that implement BIM.

Interviewee (IV) suggests that the Ethiopian construction council should own the BIM

agenda and be on board with the other parties trying to facilitate the adoption of BIM at

the country level.

Interviewee (IV) suggests that the private sector should not judge the benefits of BIM

by its initial cost rather they should see the cost as an investment that holds a better

outcome in the near future.

Interviewee (I) suggests that the government should facilitate the availability of BIM

capable software tools. In this regard the interviewee implicated the government can

61
buy software packages in high quantity since the cost reduces when buying in bulk and

distribute them in to the construction market at a reasonable price.

Interviewee (I) recommended the government to prepare trainings, seminars and

workshops to create and improve the awareness of the construction industry

stakeholders about BIM and its implementation.

62
 5. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

This research aimed to identify the critical BIM implementation barriers in Ethiopian

construction industry in case of Addis Ababa. The research used mixed research

approach to achieve this aim. Questionnaire survey and semi structured interviews were

used as tools for this research. The results that are obtained from these tools have been

presented and discussed in the previous chapter. This chapter summarizes the research

findings and provide recommendation to reduce the impact of BIM implementation

barriers on Ethiopian construction industry in case of Addis Ababa.

5.1. Conclusion

 The results of the questionnaire showed that out of the 109 respondents for the

questionnaire only 17 respondents (15.6%) are aware about BIM. This shows that

the largest portion of the respondents (84.4%) is not familiar or aware about BIM,

indicating a low level of BIM awareness in Ethiopian construction Industry in case

of Addis Ababa. This is further supported by the low awareness of the respondents

to BIM tools such as 4D modeling (14.7%), 5D modeling (13.8%), 6D modeling

(11%), parametric modeling (4.6%) and interoperability (4.6%).

 58.9 % of the respondents have rated BIM implementation in Addis Ababa as very

weak while the rest 41.1 % rated it as weak. The results from the questionnaire

survey show that none of the respondents (0%) has ever used BIM in their projects.

This proves as an indication to low extent of BIM implementation in Ethiopian

construction industry in case of Addis Ababa. The result from the interviews also

supports this, all the interviewees have agreed to the low extent of BIM usage or

implementation in the Ethiopian construction industry in case of Addis Ababa.

63
 The low level of BIM implementation in Ethiopian construction industry in case of

Addis Ababa has proved the existence of BIM implementation barriers in the

industry. The researcher after conducting a literature review found 23 (twenty three)

BIM implementation barriers that impede use of BIM in the construction industry.

Using a questionnaire survey this research has used mean scores to rank barriers by

the effect they have on BIM implementation in the industry in case of Addis Ababa.

The research found that the five critical BIM implementation barriers in Ethiopian

construction industry in case of Addis Ababa are:

1. Lack of awareness by stakeholders about the benefits, tools, processes and

workflows, required to implement BIM;

2. Lack of client demand for the use of BIM technology;

3. Lack of government‟s lead/direction;

4. Shortage of professionals with experience, knowledge and skills on BIM

tools and BIM implementation; and

5. The high costs to buy BIM software and costs of the necessary hardware

updates.

5.2. Recommendation

Based on the conclusions of this research stated in section 5.1, the following

recommendations were drawn to improve the adoption or implementation of BIM in

Ethiopian construction industry in case of Addis Ababa. The recommendations are as

follows:

64
 1. Education and training to increase BIM awareness and interest

The key to facilitating implementation of BIM is to create a work force willing and

capable to harness the fruits of BIM. Educational institutions and Addis Ababa city

administration should provide workshops and trainings; to educate and train

stakeholders and professionals about BIM. Educational institutions must not only focus

on teaching how to design and detail, they should involve with others to provide BIM

process and implementation courses to their students. Engineering students in

universities and other institutions should be thought about BIM implementation before

they join the work force. Construction professional should avoid reluctance and ready

themselves to explore and teach themselves about BIM.

2. Providing appropriate governmental support

Appropriate support and emphasis should be given to BIM implementation by Addis

Ababa city administration. Adoption of BIM in Addis Ababa will provide immense

benefits to the city administration, thus the city administration should take the leading

role and initiative to promote the implementation of BIM by creating the demand for its

use in the market. The city administration should prepare a clear implementation road

map to implement BIM in collaboration with other stakeholders in the industry.

3. Attitude change by the private sector

The private institutions (contracting and consulting companies) should not be

discouraged by cost of BIM implementation, the costs are short term and they should

think of these costs as investments for better future gain. They should stop using lack of

65
client demand as an excuse to put off BIM adoption rather start implementing to rip its

rewards by starting to implement it now.

66
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 APPENDICES

Appendix A: Questionnaire
Survey introduction letter
Dear Participant,
The purpose of this research thesis is to determine critical Building Information
Modeling (BIM) implementation barriers in Ethiopian construction industry in
case of Addis Ababa. This thesis identifies professionals‟ level of awareness of BIM
and extent of usage of BIM; investigates BIM implementation barriers and determines
the critical BIM implementation barriers in Ethiopian Construction industry in case of
Addis Ababa. This questionnaire is distributed to Construction Industry professionals in
Addis Ababa.
Filling in the questionnaire does not require prior knowledge about Building
Information Modeling (BIM). If you decide to participate in the survey, you are only
required to fill the questionnaire with precision according to your perspective and
experience, in light of the actual reality in Ethiopian Construction Industry; in case of
Addis Ababa. There is no known risk for participating in this survey.
By completing this questionnaire survey, you are giving your consent for the researcher
to include your response in the data analysis. Your participation in this research thesis is
strictly voluntary. Individual responses will be treated confidentially, and all raw data
will be kept in a secured place by the researcher. No individually identifiable
information will be disclosed, and all results will be presented as aggregate, summary
data.
You have the right to review the research results if you wish. To request a copy of the
research results, please feel free to contact the researcher: Ato Henok Hailu; Email-
[email protected]. You may also contact the research advisor: Dr. Ephrem Girma;
Assistant Professor at Arba Minch University; Email- [email protected]. Thank
you in advance for your valuable time and contribution to this research.
Sincerely,
Henok Hailu,
MSc candidate in Construction Technology and Management, Hawassa University

72
(April, 2019)

Part 1: Respondent’s demographic data

Please tick (√) the appropriate option in the following questions:

Name (optional): ____________________________________

1 Gender Mal Female
e

2 Age 20-30 31-40 41- more

years years 50 years than 51
3 Educationa
l
Bachel Master PhD
qualificatio or
n

4 Specializati
on
Archite Civil CoT Other  
ct M (
)
5 Nature of
the
Public Public Priva Private
workplace contractor consultant te consultant
contract
or
6 Work
sector
Buildin infrastruct Building and Infrastructure 
g projects ure projects together

7 Current
field -
Design Super- Site Projec Offic Other
present job er visor Enginee t e (…..)
r manager engineer 
8 Years
experience
of
Less From 5 to 10 years and more
than less than 10
5years years

73
Part 2: Professionals’ level of awareness and extent of usage of Building

Information Modeling (BIM)

1. Which software tool do you use to carry out projects? (Please tick (√) the
appropriate options; you can select more than one choice.)

AutoCAD (2D) Sketch up Revit Excel MS Project

AutoCAD (3D) 3D Max ArchiCAD Primavera ETABS

SAP2000 Others
(………..)

2. Are you familiar with any of the terms listed below? If your answer is yes please
briefly describe each term on the space provided below. (Please tick (√) the
appropriate options)

2.1. Parametric modeling  Yes No

2.2. 3D Modeling  Yes No
2.3. 4D Modeling  Yes No
2.4. 5D Modeling  Yes No
2.5. 6D Modeling  Yes No
2.6. Interoperability  Yes No
3. Are you familiar with Building Information Modeling (BIM)? (Please tick (√)
the appropriate options)
YES NO
If your answer is yes please answer the following questions.

3.1. How did you come by the knowledge of Building Information

Modeling (BIM)? (Please tick (√) the appropriate options; you can
select more than one choice.)

74
 From a colleague

Trainings, seminars and workshops

Took some courses at university level

Read some researches, books or other publications about BIM

Other
_______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
________

3.2. Have you ever implemented Building Information Modeling (BIM) on

a project? (Please tick (√) the appropriate option)
 Yes No
If your answer is yes, please fill the table below

BIM

No Project Name Project Duration Location Dimension

used

3.3. How important do you think Building Information Modeling (BIM) use
is for Ethiopian Construction Industry; in case of Addis Ababa? (Please
tick (√) the appropriate option)
Very important Important Not important

75
3.4. How do you rate the implementation of Building Information Modeling
(BIM) in Ethiopian Construction Industry in case of Addis Ababa?
(Please tick (√) the appropriate option)
Very weak Weak Average strength

Strong Very strong

3.5.Are you aware of any national standards associated with BIM in
Ethiopia? (Please tick (√) the appropriate option)
 Yes No
3.6.What roles should the government play in promoting BIM
implementation? (Please tick (√) the appropriate option)

Leading role  Guiding role

General role Not involved

76
Part 3: Building Information Modeling Barriers

How would you rate the effect of the following BIM implementation barriers in

Ethiopian Construction Industry in case of Addis Ababa? (Please tick (√) the

appropriate option that reflects your point of view)

3. Average
strength
4. strong
2. Weak
weak
1. Very

strong
BIM barrier

5. Very
B1 The high costs to buy BIM software and costs of
the necessary hardware updates.
B2 High cost of implementation process which
include: hiring new employees with BIM
competence, hiring a BIM consultant to train
existing employees
B3 Lack of adequate feedback on existing successful
real cases in Addis Ababa/Ethiopia that have
implemented BIM and have proved positive rate of
return.
B4 Lack of awareness by stakeholders about the
benefits, tools, processes and workflows, required
to implement BIM.
B5 Difficulty of finding project stakeholders with the
required competence to participate in applying BIM
B6 Lack of effective collaboration among project
stakeholders to exchange necessary information for
BIM application, due to the fragmented nature of
the AEC industry in Addis Ababa.
B7 Resistance to change. Resistance by companies and
institutions for any change that occur in the
workflow system and the refusal of adopting a new
technology
B8 Lack of client demand for the use of BIM
technology
B9 Lack of government‟s lead/direction

B10 Lack of senior management support to BIM

implementation in Consultant and Contracting
firms

77
B11 Lack of interest in Addis Ababa to pursue the
condition of the building over the life after
completion of implementation stage
B12 Lack of incentives to use BIM in projects

B13 Low level of research in the industry and academia

related to Building Information Modeling (BIM)
B14 Lack of appropriate business models, procurement
routs (project delivery method) and new and/or
amended forms of construction contract forms for
BIM implementation.
B15 Lack of interoperability due to the software
incompatibility between the different programs for
design and analysis and hence the lack of integrated
models and collaborative working
B16 Insufficient IT infrastructure in Addis Ababa

B17 Complicated and time-consuming modeling process

implementation
B18 Shortage of professionals with experience,
knowledge and skills on BIM tools and BIM
implementation.
B19 Professionals think that the current CAD system
and other conventional programs satisfy the need of
designing and performing the work and complete
the project efficiently
B20 Longer time in adapting to new technologies (steep
learning curve)
B21 Absence, Incompleteness or unclear national
Standard and strategies for BIM
B22 BIM is too risky from a liability standpoint to
warrant its use
B23 Uncertainties over ownership of data and
responsibilities
Others
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
________________

78
 Appendix B: Interview Questions

1. Describe Building Information Modeling (BIM)?

2. Has your organization used BIM? If yes,

Name particular programs used?

At what stage of your project you implemented it?

What dimensions of BIM have you implemented?

3. Are you aware of any national strategy by Ethiopian authorities for the adoption of

BIM?

4. What do you think about the extent of usage of BIM in Addis Ababa?

5. What do you think are the critical BIM implementation barriers in Ethiopian

construction industry in case of Addis Ababa? What do you suggest to resolve these

barriers?

6. What do you think should be the role of the government in BIM implementation in

Ethiopian Construction Industry? Do you think the government is playing its part?

79
 Appendix C: Spearman correlation

(Source: Kothari, 2004)

80