BIM Content - Do We Have Enough?

Original article by Mark Mergenschroer of TME

While attending the AIA Expo last week, there seemed to be a common theme: BIM Content. BIM was the hot topic, and if you missed Dennis Neeley's presentation on BIM, you missed a quality presentation on the direction BIM is heading. He outlined how far it has come in the last year and showed how several companies are utilizing the power of BIM.

As part of the Reed Construction Data booth, I witnessed several manufacturers' introduction to BIM and the need for their specific BIM content. Architects, engineers, manufacturers, owners, and software developers all spoke about content. It seems there will never be enough content to satisfy everyone, and if that is the case then how will BIM proceed? In speaking with some engineers, they expressed dissatisfaction with the parameters within the content; they could not get the content to schedule correctly. Another mentioned that they could not find quality content. Also, an architect told me that his consultants refuse to use BIM because of the lack of quality content. Another architect said that his consultants were heavily involved with BIM and were trying to use the content any way possible to better leverage their design.

Is there a solution? Not in the short-term. Users that are satisfied with currently available content will be the ones encouraging manufacturers to produce more specific content. Other users will sit back and wait while until the content is available and easy to use. Content is such an important aspect in BIM Models that hopefully all parties involved will work together to solve this issue in our industry.

Who could really help us solve this problem? Owners. If our clients get heavily involved in the BIM process and start demanding manufacturer-specific BIM content for their facilities, then we will see tremendous growth in the content market. Some manufacturers such as Old Castle Building Envelope and Mono-Systems wiring products have taken the lead in producing quality BIM content, and I am sure that other manufacturers will not want to be left behind as we move further into virtual construction.

To be successful in BIM today, you must use a positive approach regarding the present state of BIM content. The current content market is expanding rapidly, however, precautions should still be taken to avoid corrupting your models. I recommend that you build the content yourself, download it from the manufacturer, or get it from content creation vendors such as SmartBIM Objects from Reed.