Research on the Collaborative Application of BIM in EPC Projects: The Perspective of Cooperation between Owners and General Contractors

Table 1

Variable settings and interpretations.

Game players	Variable settings and interpretations
Owners	: EPC project revenues when owners do not promote BIM,
	: incremental benefits obtained by owners when owners and general contractors collaborative application of BIM,
	: incremental incomes generated by the owners taking positive actions alone (the general contractors do not adopt BIM),
	: the cost paid by owners to promote BIM,
	: the probability that owners find that general contractors do not adopt BIM in depth,
	: the influence coefficient on the interests of the owners when only general contractors take active actions (spillover coefficient),
General contractors	: EPC project revenues when general contractors do not adopt BIM,
	: incremental benefits obtained by general contractors when owners and general contractors collaborative application of BIM,
	: incremental benefits generated by the general contractors taking positive actions alone (the owners do not promote),
	: BIM application cost of general contractors,
	: costs paid by general contractors to respond to inspections and assessments when application of BIM is insufficient,
	: the performance bond paid by the general contractors according to the contract,
	: the percentage of deduction of performance bond when general contractors fail to adopt BIM in accordance with the contract
	: rewards for general contractors actively adopting BIM,
	: the influence coefficient on the interests of the general contractors when only owners take active actions (spillover coefficient),

Incremental benefits obtained by owners: shortening project cycle, reducing financing costs, improving product quality, and reducing operation and maintenance costs. BIM costs by owners: purchasing software, training employee, and supervising costs. Incremental benefits obtained by general contractors: shortening project cycle, reducing cost, and enhancing synergistic capacity. BIM costs by general contractors: software and hardware costs, technical costs, and organizational costs. Spillover effect: when an organization takes measure, it will not only produce the expected result, but also have an impact on the things outside the organization. For example, when one party adopts BIM, it can provide convenience for other participants to share information and work collaboratively; the general contractors shorten the project cycle through BIM application, and the owners also benefit from it. We use “m, n” to express the degree of spillover effect. Simultaneously, the excess income generated by collaboration is larger than the sum of the respective income and the overflow income to the other party; namely, .