Trends in BIM-based plugins development for construction activities: a systematic review

Abstract With the emergence of vast technological advancements in the construction industry to address construction issues, BIM is foreseen as a potential utilization environment. To expand BIM performance in addressing contemporary construction issues, there is currently an uprising trend of plugin development. This paper reports a systematic review of BIM-based plugins, by exploring their nature, areas of application, and their implication on productivity and efficiency. Using a systematic review approach, the study narrows down vast literature and critically analyses 34 developed plugins from 34 different articles. Findings suggest that custom-build plugins are excelling in vast areas utilizing key construction processes like automation, including Health and Safety and Lifecycle assessments, as they are proven to drive productivity and efficiency towards cost and time savings as well as error minimization. Moreover, based on the commonalities between the extracted plugin systems, a framework that could facilitate a better understanding of the programming dynamics in developing BIM-based plugins is presented. Value: This paper offers future research of the insights needed to better understand the directions of BIM-based plugin development and captures BIM evolvement towards more problem-solving potentials.