0–9
- 3D printingAdditive construction: depositing material layer by layer from a digital model, from components up to structural walls.
- 4D / 5DA building model linked to time (4D) and cost (5D), so schedule and budget can be simulated against the geometry.
A
- Additive manufacturingBuilding components or walls by depositing material layer by layer; in construction, large-scale 3D printing.
- AI RMFNIST’s Artificial Intelligence Risk Management Framework (AI 100-1, 2023): the U.S. reference for governing AI risk: govern, map, measure, manage.
- AIAAmerican Institute of Architects, publisher of the standard contract documents used across U.S. design and construction.
- As-builtThe record of what was actually constructed, as opposed to what was designed; the baseline for everything that follows handover.
B
- BEPBIM Execution Plan: the delivery team’s binding statement of how it will meet a project’s information requirements.
- BESSBattery Energy Storage System: utility-scale batteries that store energy and discharge it on demand.
- BIMBuilding Information Modeling: a structured digital model of a building in which every element carries data, not just geometry.
C
- CDECommon Data Environment: the single controlled place where project information lives, with defined states and permissions.
- Change orderA formal amendment to the construction contract changing scope, price or time; where poorly allocated risk becomes money.
- CIMCivil Information Modeling: the equivalent of BIM for civil and infrastructure work.
- Clash detectionAutomated checking of federated models for elements that occupy the same space, resolved digitally before they are built.
- CMARConstruction Manager at Risk: the builder joins during design as an advisor, then guarantees a maximum price for construction.
- CMMSComputerized Maintenance Management System: the software an operator uses to run work orders and asset maintenance, the ultimate consumer of handover data.
- COBieConstruction to Operations Building information exchange: the standard format for handing facility data from construction to operations.
- ConsensusDocsFamily of standard construction contracts published by a coalition of U.S. industry associations; ConsensusDocs 300 is the tri-party collaborative agreement.
- ContingencyMoney reserved for the unknown. Who owns it, draws on it and releases it is one of the sharpest tests of a contract.
- Critical pathThe chain of activities that determines a project’s total duration: delay on it is delay to the whole project.
- Cyber-physical systemSoftware and sensors coupled to a physical machine or place, monitoring it and acting on it in real time.
D
- DBBDesign-Bid-Build: the traditional sequence. Design is completed, builders bid on it, and the selected bidder builds it.
- Design-AssistTrade contractors engaged during design for their expertise, without a full multi-party agreement.
- Design-BuildOne entity holds both design and construction under a single contract.
- Digital twinA live digital representation of a physical asset, fed by its sensors and records, built to answer operational questions.
- Discount rateThe rate that converts future dollars into today’s dollars. The higher it is, the less tomorrow’s savings count.
E
- ECBEngineering and Construction Bulletin: a policy directive of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
- Edge computingAnalysis that runs on or beside the device capturing the data, rather than waiting on the cloud.
- ERPEnterprise Resource Planning: the system of record for an organisation’s operations, accounting and contracts.
- ESGEnvironmental, social and governance criteria, increasingly binding on lenders and sponsors of large projects.
- ExoskeletonA wearable frame that takes part of a task’s physical load off the worker’s body.
F
- FASTFunction Analysis System Technique: value engineering’s diagram of what a system must do, drawn before any solution is priced.
- Federated modelSeparate discipline models (architecture, structure, systems) combined into one coordinated digital building.
- FloatSlack time in a schedule. Whether the owner or the contractor owns it is a drafting decision with real money attached.
G
- GMPGuaranteed Maximum Price: the builder’s committed ceiling price, often negotiated before the design is complete.
- GSAU.S. General Services Administration: the federal government’s civilian landlord, and one of the earliest BIM mandators.
H
- HyperscaleData centers at the scale operated by the largest cloud and AI providers, typically tens to hundreds of megawatts.
I
- ICMSThe International Cost Management Standard: one format for presenting construction, life-cycle cost and carbon, published by a coalition of 49 professional bodies.
- IFCIndustry Foundation Classes: the open, vendor-neutral file format for exchanging building information models.
- IGLCInternational Group for Lean Construction: the principal international research community for collaborative construction delivery.
- IoTInternet of Things: networked sensors and devices reporting live condition, occupancy and consumption from a building.
- IPDIntegrated Project Delivery: a single multi-party agreement in which owner, designer and constructor share risk and reward.
- IRRInternal Rate of Return: the discount rate at which an investment’s net present worth equals zero.
- ISO 19650The international standard for managing information across the life cycle of a built asset, from procurement into operation.
- ISO 31000The international standard providing principles and guidelines for risk management.
- ISO/IEC 42001The first international management-system standard for artificial intelligence (2023): auditable requirements for governing AI within an organisation.
- ITCInvestment Tax Credit: the U.S. federal tax credit for qualifying renewable energy investment.
J
- Job planThe value methodology’s standard sequence of study phases, from preparation and function analysis through development and implementation.
L
- Last Planner SystemLean construction’s collaborative planning method: the people who will do the work make and keep the promises.
- LCOELevelized Cost of Energy: the all-in cost of a generation source per unit of electricity over its life.
- Lean constructionA production-oriented management philosophy focused on workflow reliability, waste reduction and collaborative planning.
- LiDARLight detection and ranging: laser scanning that measures the built environment as precise, measurable point clouds.
- LODLevel of Development: how much detail and reliability a model element carries at a given stage.
M
- Machine learningStatistical models that learn patterns from data to make predictions or classifications without task-specific programming.
- MACRSModified Accelerated Cost Recovery System: the U.S. tax depreciation schedule that lets capital cost be recovered early.
- MasterFormatThe master list that organises specifications by work results; fifty divisions, published jointly by CSI and CSC.
- MILCONMilitary construction: the U.S. defense construction program, executed largely through the Army Corps of Engineers.
N
- NBIMS-USNational BIM Standard-United States: the consensus U.S. standard for BIM requirements, planning and data exchange, published by NIBS.
- NIBSNational Institute of Building Sciences: the congressionally chartered institute that publishes NBIMS-US and COBie.
- NISTNational Institute of Standards and Technology: the U.S. federal measurement-science and standards agency.
- NLPNatural language processing: machine learning applied to text, such as contracts, specifications, RFIs and daily reports.
- NPWNet Present Worth: all future costs and benefits of an option, discounted to today’s dollars and netted against its capital cost.
O
- OmniClassA faceted classification of the whole built environment: fifteen tables covering elements, work results, products and more.
P
- P100GSA’s Facilities Standards for the Public Buildings Service: the design and construction standard for federal civilian buildings.
- Part 107The federal aviation rule for commercial small-drone flight: certified pilots, sight-line limits, and conditions for flying over people.
- PhotogrammetryMeasurable 3D geometry reconstructed from overlapping photographs, often captured by drone.
- Point cloudMillions of measured points produced by laser scanning or photogrammetry: the raw, verifiable record of as-built reality.
- PPAPower Purchase Agreement: a long-term contract to buy electricity at agreed terms, often from a renewable developer.
- PrefabricationBuilding components manufactured off-site under factory conditions and assembled on site; also DfMA, design for manufacture and assembly.
- Progressive Design-BuildTwo-phase design-build: the team is selected on qualifications, the design is validated collaboratively, and the price is committed only then.
- Pull planningScheduling backwards from a milestone with the trades that must deliver it, so commitments are made by the people who keep them.
- PxPProject Execution Plan: the Army Corps of Engineers’ required plan for how advanced modeling will be executed on a project.
Q
- Qualifying ProjectUnder Executive Order 14318 (2025): a data center requiring more than 100 MW of new electric load, or $500 million of capital investment, designated for fast-tracked federal permitting and support.
R
- Reality captureLaser scanning and photogrammetry that record as-built conditions as measurable point clouds and imagery.
- Remote IDA broadcast requirement: most drones must transmit their identity and position in flight, a digital licence plate for the airspace.
- RFIRequest for Information: the formal question a builder asks when documents are unclear; in volume, a symptom of information failure.
S
- SAARSeasonally adjusted annual rate: a monthly figure expressed as the yearly pace it implies.
- Scan-to-BIMConverting a captured point cloud into a structured building model, used for renovation and verification.
- Scope 2Greenhouse-gas emissions from purchased energy, under the GHG Protocol’s accounting categories.
- Smart contractCode that executes an agreed term automatically. It can release a payment on a trigger; it cannot judge whether the work was done.
T
- Takt planningProduction planning that moves trades through the building in a fixed rhythm, exposing flow problems early.
- Target Value DesignDesigning to a validated cost target rather than pricing a completed design; conventional value engineering becomes unnecessary.
U
- UASUnmanned aerial systems: drones used for site capture, progress monitoring and volumetric measurement.
- UniFormatClassification of building information by functional elements (substructure, shell, services), used for early cost estimates.
- USACEU.S. Army Corps of Engineers: the federal engineering agency for military and civil works construction.
- USDIUncertainty Schedule Delay Index: a normalised 0-to-1 measure of schedule delay, built to compare projects of different scale.
V
- Value engineeringSystematic analysis of function against cost to improve value, at its best during design, not as late cost-cutting.
W
- WACCWeighted Average Cost of Capital: the blended cost of a project’s debt and equity, used as the discount rate for evaluating it.
- Wearable sensingBody-worn sensors (EMG for muscle load, IMU for motion) used to assess ergonomic risk and safety exposure.
- WRRDAWater Resources Reform and Development Act of 2014; its §1034, “Advanced Modeling Technologies,” is the statutory reference the USACE modeling bulletin cites.
X
- XRExtended reality: virtual, augmented and mixed reality used for immersive inspection, coordination and training.