Feeling-BIM: A digital model to support maintenance decisions, based on automatic inspection and dwellers’ feelings

Abstract

Maintenance decisions often extend beyond physical deterioration, with stakeholders' experiences playing crucial roles. Traditionally, building assessments rely on visual inspections, but manual methods have limitations (e.g., time and cost expensive, relying on subjective assessment). “Feeling-BIM” proposes a new methodology whose concept integrates automated facade inspection with residents' sentiments. Incorporating residents' feelings acknowledges the prevalence of subjective criteria in maintenance decisions, with a particular focus on facade stains that influence interventions and building aesthetics. Three buildings with the same archetype and in the same street, in different degradation conditions, are analysed as case study. A sentiment analysis is performed, to evaluate the ability of residents to clearly distinguish between facades in the best condition and those identified by automated inspection as having a higher presence of stains. “Feeling-BIM” empowers decision-makers with a more comprehensive perspective on facades’ condition, ensuring that decisions are well-informed and balanced, considering both objective and subjective factors.