Dennis Neeley, Architect, has a broad expanse of expertise dealing with design, construction, real estate development, software development and implementation.
Neeley was a principal of Neeley/Lofrano Architects (1970-90) in San Francisco. The firm designed commercial buildings, and single & multi family residential projects. During this time he was also a partner in HAB Construction and HAB Development. These entities purchased land, secured governmental approvals, sub divided land and constructed commercial and multifamily residential projects throughout the San Francisco Bay Area.
In the mid 1980's Neeley formed his first software company (Archsoft) to create CAD (Computer Aided Drafting) software. Archsoft products were licensed to Autodesk and sold by Autodesk under the name AutoCAD AEC. This software became the largest selling architectural and engineering CAD software in the world and is credited with bringing widespread automation to the architectural and engineering professions.
Neeley's other companies have created several breakthrough automation products. ASG/Softdesk created the first suite of integrated CAD software applications for architects, engineers and contractors. CADspec created the first electronic manufacturers catalogs, at first on CDROM and then the Internet. Bricsnet created the first integrated suite of real estate information software that collected and distributed data over the Internet. SmartBIM is the premier developer of BIM (Building Information Modeling) 3D objects.
Neeley now provides consulting services (Neeley Consulting) to clients that need assistance with design, construction, real estate development, conflict resolution and technical automation. Massive savings in time and money are possible throughout the planning, design, construction, real estate operations & maintenance process when these, often fragmented components, are approached as an integrated set of procedures and data.
The process of creating a building involves scores of companies, hundreds of employees and thousands of documents. The chance for misunderstands, errors and omissions is very real. Neeley Consulting can spearhead investigations, negotiate with individuals or provide expert witness.
Dennis Neeley has experience with wood frame, concrete and steel framed structures. He has managed construction timelines and budgets. He has worked with both large and small general contractors and trade contractors. Through his technology companies he has many years of working with building product manufacturers and their technical information.
Design is a balance of aesthetics, functionality, engineering and budget. Design involves several consultants and scores of individuals. The design process is complicated and prone to errors and omissions. Neeley Consulting can guide the client through the process as well as providing overview checking of the documents.
All projects begin with the land. The site may need to be rezoned, subdivided, engineered and proceed through multiple approvals at the local, state and federal level. Neighbors and organizations will have input into the project. Attorneys, architects, engineers, financers, and a multitude of other consultants are usually needed. The process can be long and difficult. It is critical that all the necessary steps and a team be assembled for the task. Neeley Consulting can help organize and manage the process.
The completion of a building is just the start of the life of the building. The costs to operate, maintain and modify a building over its lifecycle are many times the construction costs of the building. Neeley Consulting can assist the owner or operator in minimizing there operations expenses.
The project program is the first and most critical step for a successful project. The program will identify approvals required, set the budget and timeline, and most importantly set the requirements for the spaces, functionality, materials, and space relationships. Furnishing and equipment requirements are identified. The team that will be required for a successful project is identified.
Technology is an integral part of the design, construction and building operation process. Dennis Neeley is a leader in creating and implementing design and construction software as well as building operations software. Software tools exist that can substantially reduce design errors and omissions, reduce constructions costs and change orders, and reduce building operations costs.
BIM promises great successes; reduced design and documentation time, lower construction costs, reduced construction conflicts, automated analysis, reduced maintenance and operations costs. Each of these goals has been reached as point solutions, but the big picture goal is for owners to be able to assemble multiple projects to consolidate company wide building information. Currently the way BIM is being used this is impossible. Every design firm has their own guidelines for naming the objects (door, wood door, flush door, all describing the same exact door) and attributes (width, W, Width = 18", 1'-6", 1.5', all for the same dimension) for the thousands of parts and pieces that make up a building. If an owner is working with multiple firms each model is unique. Owners are figuring out that this is a problem so they are coming up with their own personal guidelines, now imagine if you are a design firm or contractor, you are going to need to conform to multiple different owner guidelines. We have a mess and it needs to be fixed. It will eventually be fixed just as the manufacturing industry eventually agreed upon bolt and nut design, the computer industry agreed upon data exchange protocols, and automobile manufactures agreed to place the accelerator to the right of the brake pedal.
Everyone will need to change their current practices when guidelines are adopted, the sooner they are available the better. There will be those that do not want to change, but eventually they will, the designer or contractor that does not want to change will do so the minute their customer, the owner, says change. (Or at least their conventions can be mapped to the guidelines). The owners will demand change the minute they see their competitors saving money and time by adopting consistent naming conventions.
Some reading this will say it is already done, look at NIBS, COBie, SPie, the Data Dictionary and others. These are all excellent efforts all with one main failing, they are difficult to find, understand and use. There is not a simple interface that an architectural and engineering firm can use, contractors can follow or owners can adopt. Throughout my carrier I have had people tell me "don't work on that, it is already done", I have found most often this not to be true. For example when we created AutoCAD AEC Architectural there already existed HOK Draw, Intergraph, SKOK and many other CAD products, we were told we were wasting our time. We won because our product was good, inexpensive and most importantly easy to use.
YOU MAY BE THINKING; "IT MUST BE HARD TO CREATE THIS NAMING GUIDELINE". IT IS NOT.
We need to do two things:
Get people to agree we need and they will use the naming guidelines.
Create a complete and simple to understand naming guideline.
Step 1 - We need a movement, we need people, firms, organizations, and agencies to say we need guidelines and when the guidelines are available they will stop using what we have today and use the naming guidelines. If we can get a list of significant entities agreeing to make this statement then Step 2, creating the naming guidelines, will happen.
Step 2 - We create the US BIM Naming Guidelines that are easy to understand and use. This is not difficult, get a small group to take on this task that understands naming of objects and attributes for BIM, not a committee. Have that group get hold of the current naming conventions, the ones from the committees and the ones used by companies that create objects; design firms, vendors, and building product manufacturers. Out of the multiple existing efforts create a master list. Develop a list of object names, there will be a few thousand primary names (door, window, light fixture) and for each object secondary names (rollup, double hung, recessed). Develop a list of attributes (Height, Voltage, Maintenance Procedures, etc.) that can be associated with an object. For each attribute determine the format for the data field (computers like consistency so 18, 18", 1'-6", or 1'6" is not easily interpreted as the same answer to a computer). Once the naming conventions are done publish them. Get the firms from Step 1 above to promote and use the naming guidelines. Work to get recognized associations such as NIBS, AIA, AGC, DOD, etc. to adopt the US BIM Naming Guidelines.
I will work to get this to happen. I will start by seeing if I can get entities to agree to put their names on a list for Step 1 above. If this is successful I will see if we can find funding for Step 2. Intuitively it would seem we could get funding as Step 2 can be done for less than three hundred thousand dollars, plus some ongoing funds to maintain the naming guidelines. Adopting and using naming guidelines will allow BIM to reach its potential and save hundreds of millions of dollars a year in the building industry. If we do not do this now it will just be more difficult and expensive in the future.
BIM needs a foundation, naming is that foundation, if you agree we need easy to access and use US BIM Naming Guidelines let me know, I will add you to a list of those that are behind this effort, perhaps we can start a movement.
