Building information modeling (BIM) localization: tackling the "last mile" problem in BIM adoption

Over the past two decades or so, building information modeling (BIM) has been promoted as one of the most disruptive innovations for information management across the global architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) community. Nevertheless, despite its widely propagated benefits, BIM adoption in various localities is not progressing as well as expected. This study attributes the lukewarm local BIM adoption to the “last mile” problem. BIM innovation developed from a presumed, general context may not fit the specific regulatory, social, and cultural settings of a locality. There is a gap between the general and the local settings to be bridged for better BIM penetration. This study aims to articulate and tackle the last mile problem in BIM adoption by exploring the BIM localization strategy. It argues that BIM needs to be modified to suit the locale-specific needs and preferences, to make BIM more operable and convenient to use. Four case study was designed at the kernel of the methodology. First, a longitudinal case study was conducted based on the author’s 41-month close engagement with a quantity surveying (QS) consultancy company in Hong Kong. Taking the perspective of the Diffusion of Innovation (DoI) theory, the case study focused on how the focal company – collaborating with its global and local networks – engaged in organization-level activities to align global BIM with the local settings. Three case studies were further included to investigate BIM localization practices by a developer, a main contractor, and a software vendor, presenting a chance to validate the QS case study in various contexts. The findings show that an organization needs to undergo a series of localization works to integrate global BIM in its specific local context. This study identifies three BIM localization mechanisms: configuration to use the built-in settings or templates of the original BIM to select the best combination, coupling to add one or more new components to BIM solutions, and reinterpretation to abstract BIM into core principles and redevelop the principles in the local practice settings. The operation of BIM localization is further consolidated into a deployment framework. At the core, BIM localization involves a sequence of works to analyze, adapt, and assimilate BIM, supported by the organization’s global and local networks and mediated by the local settings. In this way, BIM localization can make global BIM solutions less disruptive, more reliable, and easier to use in respective localities. This study has non-trivial academic and practical contributions. On the academic side, it raises BIM localization as a promising strategy for tackling the last mile problem in BIM adoption. Providing a much improved understanding of BIM localization, the study refutes the “one-size-fits-for-all” view to use a standardized BIM for international users, and the “technology-push” view that BIM adoption should involve radical changes to the existing AEC practice. For practitioners, this study helps ease their struggle with BIM adoption. Instead of “waiting and seeing” a perfect BIM to emerge, they could take more active roles to localize BIM in their respective organizations and localities by following the proposed deployment framework.