Applied Mathematics and Nonlinear Sciences, 9(1) (2024) 1-19

Applied Mathematics and Nonlinear Sciences

https://www.sciendo.com

Application of BIM technology in dynamic management and control of construction

project costs

Na Liu1, Liying Yu2, Guoyun Tong3,†

1. Department of Art and Architectural Engineering, Zhengding Advanced Normal College of Hebei,
Shijiazhuang, Hebei, 050800, China.
2. College of Civil Engineering, Hebei Polytechnic Institute, Shijiazhuang, Hebei, 050091, China.
3. Department of Building Engineering, Hebei Vocational University of Industry and Technology,
Shijiazhuang, Hebei, 050091, China.

Submission Info

Communicated by Z. Sabir
Received January 16, 2023
Accepted June 12, 2023
Available online December 2, 2023

Abstract
This paper analyzes and summarizes the difference between BIM technology and traditional methods in cost management,
subdividing the cost index of construction projects into elemental price index, bill of quantities price index, index cost
index, and calculating dynamic cost index of construction projects. Based on the cost performance index and schedule
performance index, the schedule-cost two-dimensional model of BIM technology is formed to complete the assessment
and control of cost performance in order to realize the value analysis of BIM technology in the dynamic cost management
of the whole process of construction engineering. Analyze the dynamic cost management of BIM technology in the
decision-making stage, design stage, and construction stage of construction projects with examples, focusing on the
exploration of engineering cost problems in the construction stage, and analyze the project benefit rate of cost
management with BIM technology. Through BIM modeling for collision and error checking and deepening the
construction stage design, a total of 503 design collision and error problems are found in total, 15 design change orders
are reduced, and about 1,629,480,000 yuan of economic benefits are generated.

Keywords: BIM technology; Engineering cost index; Cost performance; Dynamic cost management; Construction
phase.
AMS 2010 codes: 90B50

†Corresponding author.
Email address: [email protected] ISSN 2444-8656
https://doi.org/10.2478/amns.2023.2.01314
© 2023 Na Liu, Liying Yu and Guoyun Tong, published by Sciendo.
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution alone 4.0 License.
2 Na Liu, Liying Yu and Guoyun Tong. Applied Mathematics and Nonlinear Sciences, 9(1) (2024) 1-19

1 Introduction

Cost management is a guarantee for the smooth start and completion of construction projects, and it
is also an important condition for improving the economic efficiency and cost control of construction
enterprises. In the process of dynamic management and control of construction project cost, it is
necessary to ensure that the cost activities meet the actual situation of society, and the implementation
of dynamic cost management is conducive to better stabilization of project cost [1-3]. With the
continuous acceleration of the pace of social and economic development, the project cost
management system has also begun to become more perfect, which also exposes a lot of potential
problems [4-5]. The lack of unification of the management of various links in some construction
projects has resulted in a low level of overall cost management. There is also a lack of perfect
inspection mechanisms within the construction enterprise, which leads to the project cost funds not
being accurately budgeted, the cost increasing, and some construction content that does not match the
construction regulations is also regarded as qualified [6]. If the development scale of the construction
enterprise is large, but the cost management can not follow the trend of the times, the overall
construction quality of the construction project and the cost management effect will be limited [7-9].
Most of the construction projects have third-party supervisory departments do not implement the
supervision and management responsibilities, so that the lack of perfect dynamic management and
control methods can easily lead to the construction side of the project cost problems, which in turn
causes a certain amount of economic losses, affecting the overall construction quality of the
construction project, and the cost investment will be correspondingly increased [10-11].

Construction design provides guidance and reference for the implementation of specific work and
plays a guiding role in the construction building process [12-13]. The unscientific design of the
construction party will lead to construction difficulty rise, the construction cycle is prolonged, and
even the construction process is misplaced and many other problems [14]. Dynamic management of
construction project cost prioritizes material management as the top priority. At this stage, the cost
management staff in the material management still has a large shortage. Often, facilities and
equipment maintenance and repair are not in place, the materials are stacked and placed
indiscriminately, and other problems arise, resulting in unnecessary waste of resources and cost losses
[15]. Construction project cost management work on the relevant staff has professional requirements,
but there is often relevant staff due to innovation, and dynamic control consciousness is insufficient,
can not according to the actual situation of the construction site, construction demand for timely
adjustment of the control program and disposal program, resulting in construction project cost
dynamic management management management efficiency and scientific greatly affected, which in
turn affects the dynamic management and control of the cost of the construction project. The final
effect of management control [16-17].

Conventional construction project cost management methods often only carry out preliminary
statistics in the pre-construction period and formulate a corresponding management program, which
has a poor management effect and produces a high ring price index, which does not meet the current
needs of construction project cost management [18]. Therefore, there is an urgent need to design a
new dynamic management method for managing construction project costs. In this paper, a new
dynamic cost management method for construction projects is designed using BIM technology to
further improve cost management [19]. Yin, Y. et al. based on the fact that there are fewer overall
studies on determining the final economic plan in terms of accelerating scheduling, cost, and other
related aspects of highway projects, developed and designed a method to reduce disruptions and
improve construction by selecting the most effective construction program and contract time time in
a seven-step approach [20]. Lin, T. et al. argued that accurate cost prediction can help to reduce project
operating costs and improve investment efficiency, thus proposing a new cost prediction methodology
for hybrid substation projects [21]. Plebankiewicz, E. et al. proposed a cost overrun risk prediction
 Application of BIM technology in dynamic management and control of construction project costs 3

model and analyzed the model with detailed arithmetic [22]. Yang, K. et al. analyzed and discussed
the construction industry construction work and concluded that various accident risk factors such as
type of activity, previous accident records, and number of workers on the construction site need to be
considered when determining the safety budget [23]. Abdul Nabi, M. et al. argued that the lack of
understanding and proper management of modular construction risks can lead to poor performance
of modular construction projects. Although there have been many studies focusing on modular
construction, they do not address the key risks that affect the cost and schedule of modular
construction projects [24]. Ding, X. et al. argued that price control is an important component of
construction projects and has become an important factor for construction firms to manage
construction projects. However, there is a lack of advanced technology for in-house construction price
management, which led to the proposal of a construction cost management strategy with BIM and
neural network modeling [25].

In view of the complexity and multifaceted nature of the current cost management, comparing the
management advantages of BIM technology, this paper proposes that BIM technology is applied to
construction project cost management to realize dynamic control of project cost. Combined with the
cost-schedule model, it completes the tracking assessment and control of project performance at all
stages of construction projects, realizes the operation of BIM technology in the process of dynamic
cost management of construction projects, and analyzes the value of BIM technology in the dynamic
management of construction project cost. The cost dynamic control effect of BIM technology in the
decision-making, design, and construction stages is analyzed using specific construction project
examples. Focus on examining how engineering cost is implemented in the construction phase and
analyzing the benefits of BIM technology on project enhancement benefit rate in construction
engineering cost management.

2 Comparison of BIM technology and traditional methods in cost management

A long construction cycle, large scale, and high cost characterize construction projects. Therefore, the
project cost should be carried out in stages according to the construction procedure, and multiple
pricing should be carried out in the corresponding stages to ensure the scientific nature of the
determination and control of the project cost.

Although multiple pricing can ensure that the level of project cost gradually deepens, is gradually
refined and gradually close to the actual cost, but also to the project cost management work has
brought a great burden, resulting in the reality of a large number of construction companies can only
focus on one end of the two prices, the process of cost management is completely given up, so often
the project is completed only to find that the actual cost of the budget with a large discrepancy
between the previous. However, suppose the BIM technology model is used. In that case, it is able to
save the complete and effective information of the building, structure, mechanical and electrical from
the beginning of the project, and it can accurately and quickly count the amount of work and put
forward an analysis report, so as to effectively control the cost of the project [26-27].

Since the formation causes of the existing problems in current cost management are complex and
multifaceted, the degree of solution of these problems by BIM technology is also different. The extent
to which the existing problems in costing are solved by applying BIM technology is shown in Table
1. The table compares the differences between BIM technology and traditional methods in cost
management and evaluates how BIM technology has resolved these problems.
4 Na Liu, Liying Yu and Guoyun Tong. Applied Mathematics and Nonlinear Sciences, 9(1) (2024) 1-19

Table 1. Use BIM to solve the existing problems of the cost

Order To solve the
Existing problems Apply the BIM technology
number degree
Cost management is not closely
1 Insolubility Insolubility
related to the market
The manual calculation is time- BIM automatically calculates the data more Complete
2
consuming and laborious punctual, the data is more accurate solution
Cost personnel internal, as well Cost data based on IFC standards can be
Complete
3 as with other positions with low directly shared directly with other personnel and
solution
efficiency positions
Cost data of different dimensions It can realize the extraction of cost data of
Complete
4 need to be calculated multiple different dimensions, which is beneficial for
solution
times multiple calculation and comparison
Multiple pricing in the whole The information model is conducive to the Part of the
5
cycle is difficult to do whole-process cost management solution
The change of the BIM model will be directly
Slow update and maintenance of Part of the
6 reflected in the cost data, without the need for
cost data solution
double calculation

3 Dynamic management of BIM costs for construction projects

3.1 Construction cost index

3.1.1 Factor price indices

The factor price index is the most basic part that reflects the change in project costs, and here, we
mainly study the labor price index and material price index.

1) The labor price index includes the individual price index of major labor categories and the
composite price index of labor. The main labor price index is the ratio of the price of each
type of work in the calculation period and the base period. The formula is shown in equation
(1):

pijr
I ijr = (1)
p0r j

where Iijr is the labor price index for job type j in reporting period i .

pijr and p0r j represent the prices of job family j for reporting period i and base period 0
respectively.

The composite labor price index is the ratio of the weighted average price of each job type in the
calculation period to the price of each job type in the base period. The formula is shown in equation
(2):
n

a
j =1
r
kj pijr
I ikr  = n (2)
 akjr p0r j
j =1
 Application of BIM technology in dynamic management and control of construction project costs 5

where I ikr  is the composite price index of labor for i category k work in the reporting period.

akjr is the weight of the labor cost of the j th type of work for the k th type of work in the labor cost
Vkjr n
of all major types of work, akjr = n
and a r
kj =1.
V
j =1
r
kj
j =1

The formulas for calculating the composite price index for labor by the weighted average method are
given in (3) and (4):

Iikr  =  Iijkr wkj (3)

where I ikr  is the composite price index for labor for Type k work for the reporting period i .

Iijr is the individual price index for labor for Type j work in the reporting period i .

wkj is the proportion of labor costs for Type j work types in the total labor costs for Type k work
types.

Vkjr qkj pkj

wkj = n
= n

V q
r (4)
kj kj pkj
j =1 j =1

Where Vkjr is the labor cost of Type j work for Category k work.

V
j =1
r
kj is the total labor cost of category k works.

qkj and p kj indicate the consumption and labor price of the j th type of work of the k th type of
project respectively.

Considering the ease of cost data collection, and obtaining the labor cost per unit floor area or the
cost of each labor category is relatively easy. The weights can be calculated by using the proportion
of the cost of each labor category per unit of floor area of a typical project to the total labor cost, and
the calculation formula is shown in equation (5):

Vkj qkj qkj

* pkj
W= A = A = A (5)
Vkj qkj qkj
 A  A
* pkj  A
qkj
Where A
is the floor area consumption per unit of work for Type k work, Type j .

qkj
 A is the unit floor area consumption of manual labor for Category k projects.
6 Na Liu, Liying Yu and Guoyun Tong. Applied Mathematics and Nonlinear Sciences, 9(1) (2024) 1-19

2) The method of compiling the material price index is similar to that of the labor price index,
including the individual and composite material price indices. The individual material price
index is the ratio of the price of each major material in the reporting period to that in the base
period. The formula is shown in equation (6):

Pijc
I ijc = (6)
p0 j

The composite material price index can be directly calculated by weighted average method based on
the existing individual material price index, and the calculation formula is shown in equation (7):

(q / A) pkj
*
qkj pkj
I ijc =  I ijc wkj =  I kjc =  I ijc *
kj
(7)
 qkj pkj (  qkj / A) pkj
*

Where I ijc is the composite material price index.

wkj is the proportion of the cost of Type j materials to the total material cost for Type k works.

I kjc is the individual material price index for the j th material of the k th type of works.

qkj
is the unit construction area consumption of the j th material for Category k works.
A

qkj
 A
is the consumption per square floor area of materials for Category k works.

3.1.2 Bill of quantities price indices

The bill of quantities price index is categorized according to the composition of the list into the cost
index of sub-elements, the cost index of measures and the cost index of other items. Here, we focus
on analyzing the cost index of sub-projects and the cost index of measures.

1) The cost index of sub-projects, using a weighted approach to calculate the standard list of
items of the comprehensive unit price index, the formula is shown in formula (8):

qij
pi =  pij wij =  pij n

q
(8)
ij
j =1

where pi is the weighted consolidated unit cost indicator for the i nd standard list item.

pij is the consolidated unit price indicator for the j th list item under the i th standard list item.

wij is the weight of the consumption of the j th list item over all consumption of the i th standard
list item.
 Application of BIM technology in dynamic management and control of construction project costs 7

qij is the consumption of the j th list item under the i th standard list item.

The average consolidated unit price indicator for standard list items for the selection of similar works
for calculation is shown in equation (9):
n

p kni
(9)
pki = n =1
n

Where pki is the average consolidated unit price index of the i th standard list item of the n
typical projects of Category k works.

pkni is the weighted comprehensive unit price index of the i th standard list item of the n th typical
project of category k .

Calculation of the cost index of sub-projects is shown in formula (10):

pki 1
I ki = (10)
pki 0

where I ki is the cost index for the i standard list item for Category k projects.

pki 1 and pki 0 indicate the average comprehensive unit price index of the i th standard item of the
k th category of works in the reporting period and the base period respectively.

2) The cost indices of measure items in the list of measure items which can be calculated in terms
of quantity of works are compiled in accordance with the cost indices of sub-projects.
Measures can not be calculated in the list of measures to "item" as the unit of measure items,
here apply the unilateral cost index to calculate the cost index, the unilateral index can be
removed from the impact of changes in the amount of work. The formula is shown in equation
(11):

V (dw)ikj
I (dw) kj = (11)
V (dw)0 kj

Where I (dw)k is the cost index for the j rd measure of Category k unit works.

V (dw)ikj and V ( dw) 0 kj represent the unit cost of measure j for Category k works in the
reporting period i and base period 0 respectively.

3.1.3 Indicator cost indices

Indicator cost indexes are mainly compiled for unit project cost indexes and individual project cost
indexes.

1) The total unit project cost index is the ratio of the total cost of a unit project in the reporting
period to the base period, reflecting the trend of change in the total cost. The formula is shown
in equation (12):
8 Na Liu, Liying Yu and Guoyun Tong. Applied Mathematics and Nonlinear Sciences, 9(1) (2024) 1-19

V (dw)ik
V (dw)
j =1
ikj

I (dw)ik = = n (12)
V (dw)
V (dw)0 k
0 kj
j =1

Where I (dw)ik is the total cost index for Category k unit works for the reporting period i .

V (dw)ik and V (dw)0 k represent the total cost of unit work in category k for reporting period i
and base period 0, respectively. V (dw)ikj and V ( dw)0 kj represent the total cost of the j th unit
project in category k for reporting period i and base period 0 respectively.

The unit cost index of unit works is the ratio of the unit cost index of unit works in the reporting
period to the base period. The formula is shown in equation (13):

v(dw)ik
I (dw)ikf = (13)
v(dw)0 k

Where I ( dw)ikf is the unit cost index for Type k unit works for the reporting period i . v(dw)ik ,
v(dw)0 k , respectively, said the reporting period i and the base period 0 category k unit cost of
n Vikj Vikj
construction. Where v(dw)ik =  v(dw)ikj * wikj , v(dw)ikj = , wikj = n
, v(dw)ikj denotes the
V
j =1 Qi
ikj
j =1

unilateral cost of the j th unit project in the k th category of works in the reporting period i , Qi
denotes the total floor area of the single project in which the j th unit project is located in the k th
category of works in the reporting period i , wikj denotes the proportion of the cost of the j th unit
project in the k th category of works in the reporting period i to the total cost of the unit project in
n V0 kj
that category. Similarly, v(dw)0 k =  v(dw)0 kj * w0 kj , w0 kj = n .
j =1
V0kj j =1

2) The cost index of individual projects mainly gives the total cost of individual projects and the
cost index of individual parties. The formula for calculating the total cost index of individual
projects is shown in formula (14):
n

V (dx)ik
 V (dx)
j =1
ikj

I (dx )ik = = n (14)

 V (dx)
V ( dx)0 k
0 kj
j =1

Where I (dx)ik is the total cost index for category k individual projects for the reporting period i .

V (dx)ik and V (dx)0 k represent the total cost of individual projects in category k for reporting
period i and base period 0, respectively.
 Application of BIM technology in dynamic management and control of construction project costs 9

V ( dx)ikj , V ( dx) 0 kj represents the total cost of the j th individual project in category k for reporting
period i and base period 0 respectively.

The formula for calculating the unit cost index for individual projects is shown in equation (15):

v(dx)ik
I (dx)ikf = (15)
v(dx)0 k

where I ( dw)ikf is the unilateral cost index for category k individual projects. v(dx)ik and
v(dx)0 k represent the unilateral cost of the k th category of individual projects for the reporting
n Vikj
period i and the base period 0, respectively, where v(dx)ik =  v(dx)ikj * wikj , v(dx)ikj = ,
j =1 Qi
Vikj
wikj = n , v(dx)ikj represents the unilateral cost of the j th individual project in the k th category
Vikj
j =1

of projects for the reporting period i , Qi represents the total floor area of the j th individual
project in the k th category of projects for the reporting period i , and wikj represents the proportion
of the cost of the j th individual project in the k th category of projects in the reporting period i to
the total cost of that category of individual projects, similarly,
n V0 kj
v(dx)0 k =  v(dx)0 kj * w0 kj , w0 kj = n .
j =1
V0kj
j =1

3.2 Calculation of dynamic cost index for construction works

The project cost index is an important index affecting the effect of project cost management, which
can reflect the state of influence of project price change on the cost in a period, so this paper calculates
the dynamic cost index of construction project according to the principle of project cost management.
Combined with the principle of dynamic settlement of project price can be adjusted to the existing
index to calculate the adjusted contract price P , as shown in equation (16):

  F F F  
P = P0  A +  B1  1 + B2  2 ++ Bn  n  − 1 (16)
  F0 F0 F0  


Formula (16), P0 on behalf of the amount of completed construction work, A on behalf of the
adjustment weights, B1 , B2 Bn on behalf of the variable weights, F0 on behalf of the price index,
F1 , F2 Fn on behalf of the basic price parameters. Affected by the labor price index, the dynamic
price index of the project is always undergoing dynamic changes, at this time the formation of the
labor price measurement model L as shown in (17):

Ll
L= (17)
L0
10 Na Liu, Liying Yu and Guoyun Tong. Applied Mathematics and Nonlinear Sciences, 9(1) (2024) 1-19

In Equation (17), Ll represents the price index of the i nd labor category and L0 represents the
price in the base period. The model is still affected by the engineering environment and is not accurate
enough, so it needs to be re-corrected, and the corrected model LA is shown in (18) below:

LA
LN (18)
LA =
L0 A

In Equation (18), LA represents the weight of labor price, LN represents the scale of project
construction M , and the material index measurement formula can be designed according to the
above correction results, so as to obtain the dynamic cost index of construction project Q , as shown
in the following (19) and (20):

mi
M= (19)
m0

QMI  min
Q= (20)
p

In equations (19) and (20), mi represents the amount of material unit area, m0 represents the
reported material cost, QMI represents the material cost in the base period, min represents the price
value, and p represents the weight of material measurement, so that the above indices can be used
to judge the management direction, and to serve as a reference for the dynamic management of the
subsequent construction process cost.

3.3 Dynamic cost management process of construction projects and the application of BIM

By combining the cost-schedule model with the actual cost of the construction process, project
performance can be tracked, evaluated and controlled at all stages. Using the Earned Value Curve to
analyze the performance of the project, important information on construction performance can be
analyzed by comparing the actual value, earned value and budgeted value.

Cost performance index:

CPI = BCWP  ACMP (21)

Progress performance index:

SPI = BCWP  BCWS (22)

The application of BIM technology can significantly improve the efficiency and quality of the
settlement so as to provide effective solutions. The core of the BIM idea is to give information to the
building structure or components, the use of BIM to manage the cost of the idea and realize the
deconstruction of the object elements as well as the progress of the dimensional control. That is to
get the basic element information of cost control in the actual operation process of the project and at
different finalization milestones, according to the construction situation statistics, to get the total price
under the current node.
 Application of BIM technology in dynamic management and control of construction project costs 11

P = pQ (23)

In the BIM idea, the object element of the work shall be the component and not the subitem, and the
composition of the unit price contains details of personnel, materials, machinery, management, profit,
etc., the implemented cost of the subitem at a certain moment shall be:

P =  Pi =  pi Qi ,
i i
(24)
pi =  Rl +  Cm +  J n + G + L,
l m n

Where, i - the number of the component, R , C , J , G , L - the corresponding personnel,

materials, machinery, management and profit costs, l , m , n - the number of the specific
composition of the work materials and machinery, respectively.

A real BIM model not only requires the work object to be refined to components, but also should be
able to take into account the impact of the duration and schedule on the cost, so that it becomes a two-
dimensional model of schedule-cost, which facilitates the introduction of the Earned Value Method
and other means of cost performance evaluation and control, and provides support for truly effective
management decision-making.

For the i st component I in a particular sub-project, its BIM model can be abstracted as a tuple
array Pi , Ti  , where Ti is the time schedule matrix, and the information contained can be expressed
by the following equation:

Ti = t j  = t1 , t2 ,, td  , j = 1, 2,, d (25)

1d

Where ti - the date when the component started to carry out construction, which can be measured
by the length of time since the start of the project to that date, for example, it was started on the 10th
day after the start of the project, ti = 10 . d -a positive integer d is the number of days of time
required for construction.

It is important to emphasize that the information on individual components as foundation elements is

essentially stable, e.g., their construction is mostly ongoing and uniformly billed, so assuming that
their daily workloads are equal, the cumulative cost progress matrix Pi completed on each day of
that construction cycle can be expressed by the following equation:

1 2 
Pi =  Pi , Pi , , Pi  (26)
d d 

For any given time node t0 , a determination can be made by traversing the time schedule matrix
elements for each building block and comparing the size of t0 and t j ( j = 1, 2, , d ) :

1) When t0  t j holds for any t j , the component has not yet been started, and the amount of
work completed at this point is 0.

2) If t0  t j holds for any t j , the component is complete, and the amount of work accomplished
is Pi .
12 Na Liu, Liying Yu and Guoyun Tong. Applied Mathematics and Nonlinear Sciences, 9(1) (2024) 1-19

3) The existence of t j such that t0 = t j holds indicates that the component is under
construction, and the amount of work accomplished at this time can be determined by the Pi
matrix element corresponding to the location of t j .

As a result, the actual cost of the project at any point in time can be obtained by summarizing and
adding up the individual components of all the subcomponents.

On the other hand, any adjustments or changes that occur during the operation of the project can be
realized by updating the above digitized information, including:

1) Increases or decreases in workload, new or deleted Pi , Ti  arrays of related components.

2) Material substitution, fluctuations in labor, machinery, or material costs - substitute the R ,

C , J , G , and L values of the corresponding components.

3) Schedule delays, let the number of days of delay be d y , occurring from time point t y , then
the time schedule matrix Ti and cost schedule matrix Pi of the relevant components are
corrected to have:

Ti = t1 , t2 ,, t j −1 , t j + d y , t j +1 + d y , td + d y  , t j = t y (27)

As well:

1 2 j −1 j j +1 
Pi =  Pi , Pi , , Pi , P + Py , P + Py , , P + Py  ,
d d d d d  (28)
Py = ( Ry + J y + G y ) d y

Where R y , J y and G y are the daily labor, machinery and management costs incurred during the
period of missed work, respectively.

Whether applying commercial BIM software, making homemade reports in EXCEL or self-
programming interface programs, the above calculation process can be realized. Especially when all
parties can share the same project BIM model, it can greatly reduce the disputes and
misunderstandings in the communication and review process, improve the efficiency of changes, on-
site visas, additional funding, claims, etc., so that the construction party can effectively manage and
control the project cost.

3.4 Analysis of the value of BIM in the dynamic management of construction project costs

The whole process of project cost management requires not only the owner or construction unit to
pay attention to the project cost management, the government construction department, design units
and supervision cost consulting units should have cost management thinking in the cost management
work to be clear about the focus of each participant, to find their cost management work on the
positioning of the work.

The application points and roles of BIM-related software in different construction stages are shown
in Table 2. In the whole process of cost management, it is necessary to consider the social effects,
 Application of BIM technology in dynamic management and control of construction project costs 13

political effects, and cultural effects, as well as the law and ethics of the social system and the
environment. The whole process of cost management requires cost staff to estimate the investment in
the planning stage, calculate the project estimate in the scheme design, calculate the bidding control
price or bidding price in the bidding, and dynamically calculate and summarize the project quantity
in the construction process. Therefore, the whole process of cost management requires BIM
technology and related software to play an important role from the decision-making stage of the
project to the completion and acceptance of the construction and even the operation stage.

Table 2. Application of BIM in cost management in each construction stage

Construction The value of BIM technology is
Cost work objectives Which BIM software is used
stage reflected
Investment Prepare investment BIMMAKE Initial modeling, model
decision estimates /REVIT maintenance, and cost estimation
Design BIMMAKE 3D modeling, visual display, and
Prepare the design estimate
phase /REVIT /NAVISWORKS reduce design conflicts
Trading Prepare the bidding control GloT CTJ2020 civil engineering Fast and accurate calculation, fast
stage price and tender quotation measurement platform pricing
Construction Preparation progress and GloT CTJ2022 civil engineering Precise allocation of construction
stage interim settlement measurement platform resources to reduce waste
Final Prepare completion GloT CTJ2022 civil engineering Rapid calculation of change claims,
account settlement measurement platform statistics

The 3-dimensional 8-calculation comparison based on the BIM model is shown in Table 3.

The advantages of BIM in cost management informatization are mainly reflected in the fast and
accurate processing of quantity information, changing traditional thinking as well as the way of work.

After the use of BIM technology, based on the parametric model, according to the spatial topological
relationship and Boolean arithmetic rules, the cost personnel only need to adjust the deduction
calculation rules accordingly in the software based on the local quantity calculation rules, the system
will automatically complete the component deduction calculation, more accurate and fast statistics of
the quantity information. At the same time, it can be recognized that the design changes can be linked
to the model, which is fast and accurate.

Traditionally, we only pay attention to the price at both ends, but in the BIM model, each component
is endowed with parameterized information, such as progress, material, location, working hour
consumption, process arrangement, etc., and we can arbitrarily combine the information of each
component, which provides strong technical support for the comparison of the multi-calculation of
the project.

Table 3. The three dimensions of eight compared calculation

Three WBS WBS(put Data
8 Calculate Calculate the basis ERP
dimensions (tender) into effect) base
Contract price √ Contract, tender √
Project contracting budget √ Enterprise quota √
Arrangement and method for
Time Programmed costs √ √
construction
Production Actual cost √ The actual project √
processes
The owner confirms √ Owner visa √
Region
Settlement cost √ Closing audit √ √
Make collections √ Finance √
Pay √ Finance √
14 Na Liu, Liying Yu and Guoyun Tong. Applied Mathematics and Nonlinear Sciences, 9(1) (2024) 1-19

4 Construction project BIM cost dynamic control example analysis

This section mainly analyzes a hospital building project in Zhejiang Province, with a land area of
9,550 square meters and a construction scale of 1,000 beds. The total project investment is estimated
at 336.19 million yuan. The required construction funds are 257.8 million yuan, the hospital funds
are 257.8 million yuan, the provincial financial subsidies are 40 million yuan, and bank loans finance
the rest.

4.1 Analysis of dynamic control of project cost at the decision-making stage

The investment decision of the project has an impact on the project cost of the whole construction
project, some of which are as high as 75% or more, so the good or bad investment decision will
directly affect the cost of the whole project and the return on investment. The key to this stage is to
determine the feasibility of the construction project, strengthen the depth and accuracy of the
feasibility study at the stage of investment decision-making, improve the accuracy of the project
investment estimate, and make a relatively accurate investment estimate, which is used as the ceiling
price of the whole project.

The investment estimation data of the hospital ward building project is shown in Table 4. This project
is based on the construction data of the adjacent ward building, combined with the engineering data
of other similar hospital buildings to make analogies and calculations of the unilateral cost in
accordance with the construction market conditions, using the coefficient estimation method and the
method of univariate linear regression analysis to realize the dynamic control of the project's
investment estimation.

Table 4. Project investment estimation data of the hospital ward building

Order number Project name Estimated investment amount (ten thousand yuan)
Engineering cost 27587
1 Part of the above-ground civil engineering 8721.72
2 Basement civil engineering 3596.23
3 Indoor secondary decoration project 4887.63
4 Indoor water supply and drainage works 996.25
5 Indoor electrical engineering 1130.12
6 Fire protection engineering 675.33
7 HVAC engineering 2210.30
8 Weak current engineering 1213.05
9 Civil air defence works 1285.32
10 Medical gas engineering 953.03
11 Exterior components 285.02
12 Elevator equipment 968.36
13 Pump room equipment 106.32
14 Transformer and distribution equipment 558.32
Other engineering fees 3953.26
1 Construction management fee 1153.06
2 Feasibility study fee 50.00
3 survey and design expense 745.63
4 Environmental impact assessment fee 20.00
5 Site preparation and temporary facility fee 178.00
6 Site leveling and other early costs 652.03
7 Engineering insurance premium 56.23
8 Construction fee of municipal public facilities 1098.31
Basic reserve fee 1578.74
Loan interest 500.00
Amount to 33619
 Application of BIM technology in dynamic management and control of construction project costs 15

4.2 Analysis of dynamic control of project cost at design stage

After the project has made the right investment decision, the design stage becomes the key stage for
the implementation of dynamic costing. This project in the design phase cost dynamic control of the
main problems:

1) The project did not go through public bidding, and the design unit was selected directly. The
design scheme lost the condition that the scheme must be selected, and the goal of the design
unit was to complete the design work of the project without considering the optimization of
the scheme and the economic index of the project.

2) The design supervision system and design claims are not implemented, and there is a lack of
supervision, rewards and penalties for design units. The design unit cannot propose
rationalization proposals because design changes are arbitrary, and they do not conduct value
engineering comparisons of project functions.

In view of the problems in the design stage of the project, in order to effectively control the project
cost, the following measures are taken to strengthen the dynamic control of the project cost:

1) Introduce design supervision, implement a design supervision system, and carry out third-
party consulting for cost control in the design stage.

2) Establishing a design reward and punishment system.

3) Apply a limit design to control project cost.

4) Strengthen the management of project design changes.

Establish the concept of active cost control and dynamic management in the design stage of the project,
analyze the possibility of deviation from the investment target in advance, and take corresponding
preventive measures in advance to ensure the realization of the planned target. Use the limit design
according to the advancement of the project, timely comparison and analysis with the investment
limit so as to make corresponding adjustments to realize the dynamic control of the project limit
design.

4.3 Analysis of dynamic control of project cost in the construction stage

4.3.1 Cost analysis of construction stage works

In view of the various problems in the construction process, this paper proposes to actively adjust the
strategy and take a variety of measures to strengthen the control of the cost of the project:

1) Review the bidding documents and procurement contracts of equipment and materials
beforehand.

2) Strict control of engineering design changes and site visas, the project is vulnerable to a variety
of internal and external factors, inevitably, the occurrence of design changes or site visas, each
key work before the construction, the relevant units are required to organize personnel to carry
out a drawing review, technical briefing, to avoid undue rework.
16 Na Liu, Liying Yu and Guoyun Tong. Applied Mathematics and Nonlinear Sciences, 9(1) (2024) 1-19

3) Strengthen the on-site project management, do a good job in the coordination of the project,
strengthen the management of the use of materials, the implementation of the quota system,
and control the consumption of A-supplied materials to avoid the phenomenon of wastefulness.

4) Utilize the principle of winning value to jointly monitor the cost and progress of the project.

4.3.2 BIM cost management project benefit rate analysis

BIM modeling is utilized for collision and error checking, and the design is refined during the
construction phase. Through collision and error checking, a total of 503 design collision and error
problems were found in this project. After preliminary statistics, 15 design change orders can be
reduced through BIM collision checking, which generates economic benefits of about 1,629,480,000
yuan, and the calculation process is as follows:

Based on the cost analysis of the BIM 5D management platform, the reduction of collision problems
can save an average of 2,100 yuan of material cost fees, 100 collision points save 30d/labor, the
construction team is an average of 30 people/each, and the information price of technical labor day is
200 yuan/labor day. On this basis, the calculation and analysis is carried out to determine the cost
savings of BIM collision checking:

1) Direct material cost savings: 503 2100 10000 = 105.63 (million yuan)

2) Direct labor cost savings: 503 100  30  200 10000 = 3.018 (million yuan)

3) Reduction in the number of working days: 503 100  30  30 = 5.03 (days)

The planned duration of the main project is 1,500 days, with a total investment of 336,190,000 yuan.
According to the average overhead rate of 5% set for the project, the overhead cost saved by the
reduction in the number of working days is: 33619  5.03 1500  5% = 5.64 (million dollars)

4) Through BIM collision checking, the communication between designers and constructors is
strengthened, and 15 design change orders can be reduced. According to the statistics of the
design institute in the past years, the average cost generated by the actual change orders of the
project is 36,500 yuan, the average delay is 0.7 days of the construction period, the reduction
of direct cost is 386,000 yuan, the construction period is saved for 10 days, and the indirect
cost is 100,600 yuan.

Total economic benefits generated by the application of BIM technology:

105.63 + 3.018 + 5.64 + 38.6 + 10.06 = 162.948 (million dollars)

This project uses BIM technology to deepen the masonry and secondary structure, export CAD
bricklaying drawings, and place the required blocks according to the accurately calculated masonry
dosage combined with the location of the wall, with fixed points to ensure that the number of broken
bricks is minimized in compliance with the specifications, which improves the masonry efficiency
and results in a total cost saving of $145,445,000, calculated as follows:

Cost savings: (580  200 + 4530  6.5) 10000 = 14.5445 (million dollars)

BIM technology application benefit index calculation is shown in Table 5. This project through BIM
technology in advance for the steel support erection construction process simulation, verify the
feasibility of the process and adjust and optimize the grasp of the key points, and for the actual
 Application of BIM technology in dynamic management and control of construction project costs 17

operation of the site in advance to sort out the process, put forward the solution, and adjust the
construction deployment in a timely manner. Including the simulation of large equipment, simulating
whether the program is reasonable, verifying whether the drawing information is clear and precise so
as to improve the quality of the drawings, pre-control the construction sequence, improve the
efficiency of on-site construction, and reduce construction costs.

Table 5. Benefit efficiency of BIM technology

The standard
Index layer Subindex layer Calculate the results
layer
Improve the efficiency of
engineering quantity Save the time by 93% -95%.
calculation
Improve the efficiency of
Save time by 84% -91%.
project valuation
1. Dynamic management of budget and actual costs
2. Find out the construction cost problem in time
Dynamic cost management 3. Monitor the cost changes
4. Realize multi-end management and improve the
efficiency of cost management
Improve Reduce engineering design
production The change reduction rate was approximately 46%.
changes
Management efficiency Optimization of construction
Reduce the cost by about 1.012 million yuan.
scheme
The construction plan was
The cost was reduced by about 129,400 yuan.
deepened
The starting site of the shield tunneling was
Optimization of site layout transferred 10 days in advance, reducing the indirect
cost by about 160,900 yuan.
Construction simulation The efficiency has been increased by about 14.35%
The 3D disclosure of the Completed the project three-dimensional disclosure
complex nodes for 15 times to reduce the on-site error rate
Coordinate Improve information sharing Multi-platform management
Economic Economic
Improve the efficiency rate The improvement benefit rate is about 3.37%.
aspect indicator

5 Conclusion

In this paper, the results of BIM technology application in the case project are combined to analyze
the economic and management benefits brought to the construction project by using BIM technology.

Different stages of construction project cost dynamic management control can benefit from BIM. In
the decision-making stage, BIM technology cost dynamic control, according to the conception and
requirements of the project, to prepare investment planning, deepen the investment estimation, and
complete the analysis, argumentation and decomposition of the investment objectives of the project.
BIM technology dynamic cost analysis of the total investment of the project is 336,190,000 yuan,
which is in line with the actual value of the operation of the construction project. In the design stage,
BIM technology cost dynamic control, the preliminary determination of the project's investment
control management objectives, optimizing the project design scheme, and control the cost of the
proposed project in each design stage. In the construction stage, BIM technology can be used to
dynamically control costs to adjust the strategy for controlling project costs. Based on the cost
analysis of the BIM 5D management platform, the reduction of collision problems can save an
average of 2,100 yuan in material cost fees. BIM collision checking can reduce design change orders
by 15, generating economic benefits of about 1,629,480,000 yuan, in order to realize the dynamic
effectiveness of the cost control of construction engineering BIM technology.
18 Na Liu, Liying Yu and Guoyun Tong. Applied Mathematics and Nonlinear Sciences, 9(1) (2024) 1-19

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