Contractual Risks of Building Information Modeling: Toward a Standardized Legal Framework for Design-Bid-Build Projects

Abstract

Building information modeling (BIM) is an encouraging development in the architecture, engineering, construction, and operations (AECO) industry due to its data-rich digital representation of building components. Although BIM is technically mature, its legal and contractual systems are yet to be standardized. Motivated by this need, the current study has developed a framework for legal and contractual risks within BIM. In this study, 14 significant risks were identified from 10 published taxonomies, and five standard and three custom BIM contracts were reviewed to assess their coverage and check their redressal strategies. On the basis of the triangulation of information gathered from published contracts, expert opinion, and custom manuscripts, mitigation strategies for the legal risks were proposed and formalized into a contractual framework designed for a design-bid-build delivery system. This study contributes to the body of knowledge and practice by helping the AECO community understand the current level of legal and contractual maturity of BIM, and by stimulating the technological and legal fraternities to sufficiently deliberate the contractual uncertainties in order to facilitate the uptake of BIM in the AECO industry.