Sharing Documents outside the firm

[cphubb]

We have had a discussion come up in our office about sharing electronic drawings with outside people. We were wondering what other firms in the US and around the world were doing and what their policy on sharing drawings.

Do you share electronic documents with consultants not under your contract? i.e. Owner's consultants.

Do you share electronic documents with contractors and sub-contractors?

Do you provide electronic documents to owners?

The electronic documents I am talking about are CAD drawings not .pdf or .dwf etc.

We have been getting many requests by contractors for drawings that they can use and have some problems with that request. We also have been getting requests from other Architects and developers for electronic documents.
It seems the idea behind BIM (if I can use that term) is to begin to integrate the design and building industry and use the model for everything. Obviuosly we are not there yet but seem to be heading in that direction. It raises some interesting economic and legal questions that we have not yet answered. I'd be interested to know how other people are dealing.

Thanks

Chris

[gregcashen]

My way of thinking is that the product that is sold by an architect to a client is typically a set of CDs. It is usually stated that the design remains the property of the designer and that the client has "licensed" the design for a single use. If the client wants the electronic drawings, that is one thing and must be decided by each firm. but as far as I am concerned, there is no way I would give up the Revit Model to a contractor who was not under our contract or to the client without charging them an additional hefty sum for the rights to use and alter the model.

Case Study: a grocery store could use the revit model to manage inventory and optimize floor layout. Should that be provided for free, or is it a service worth charging for?

[AbigayleAEC]

I agree with Greg, you should probably charge for providing the electronic documents, because your client receives added value from the Revit model because it allows the continuation of lifecycle management. According to Autodesk, there's more money made in facilities managment over the life of the building than in the short period of designing the building. One of the main benefits of BIM is to extract the information from the model for future use.

I see a strong similarity between architects & photographers. Many times they will sell you proofs, but not the negatives. IF the photograher is willing to provide negatives, they usually charge extra. The same thing goes for your drawings.

[David Sammons]

Chris,

You raise some very important issues that we as design professionals will need to sort through and address.

Approximately two years ago, I prepared an article for Structure magazine regarding the exchange of electronic drawings for shop drawing preparation. You will find this article at the following link:

http://www.structuremag.org/archives...sPractices.pdf

When I prepared this article, I was thinking in terms of AutoCAD (2D drafted electronic documents) and not Revit (building information models) since I had not yet used Revit at the time. The use of the BIM by others in addition to the design professional responsible for preparing the BIM raises many other issues that I am sorting through in my mind. In any case, I believe you will find many of the issues and suggestions discussed in my article applicable to exchanging the BIM.

The main point being: the exchange of the BIM is inevitable since owners and contractors will insist on it and design professionals must address the legal and other issues associated with this practice. The BIM can add significantly to the success of a project from design to construction and into facility management and owners and contractor will continue to request use of the BIM to capitalize on these advantages. However, we as design professionals must mitigate the risk this exchange poses to the design profession and we must request adequate compensation for exchanging such documents. There is a tendency for design professionals to "give away" information so as to be team player. I believe we need to work as part of the construction team without compromising the profession.

Dave S.