Understanding facility life-cycle costs is a core component of any BIM strategy for Owners, AE’s, Contractors, Subs, Business Product Manufacturers, Oversight Groups, Building Users, … or any stakeholder.

There are many components of life-cycle costs:

• First Costs – Planning, Selection, Acquisition, Construction
• Maintenance, Repair – Routine, Preventive, Unscheduled (typically expenditures of $10,000 per job or less)
• Capital Renewal (major system/subsystem cyclical replacement)
• Renovation, Adaptation (altering, updating spaces based upon functional needs)
• Operations (utilization, utilities, security, safety, sustainability, waste, cleaning, grounds management )
• Deconstruction, Transition, Disposition

BIM is just now beginning to lay the foundation for new processes and supporting technologies to enable more efficient life-cycle management of the built environment.   An important challenge is the establishment of common terms, definitions, metrics, and ‘best-practices’.   Some off these will be new, however, many/most  will likely be existing… the latter simply better shared, communicated, and consistently applied.