A guide to employing a BIM Manager or Revit Manager

If you are looking to really accelerate in the changing world of Building Information Modelling (BIM), you are going to need a dedicated BIM Manager (aka VDC Manager, Revit Manager, BIM Strategist etc).  There is certainly no shortage of people sporting this still relatively new job title.

So if someone has been a BIM Manager in the past, does that mean they are qualified?  

Unfortunately, not necessarily.  In many firms the title of BIM Manager is often given to the existing BIM technician who knows the most about BIM at the time.  That's certainly not a bad thing.  But depending on their environment and their strive to learn new things and expore it may not necessarily qualify them to be 'your' BIM Manager.  Many users with this title still only perform their same technician roles.

As such I strongly recommend evaluating their experience and skills practically.  How do you do that?  

There are online test systems available for BIM such as Knowledge Smart.  With these systems you can customize the test to suit the types of BIM tasks you'll require and then see how they fair.  There are also the general aptitude tests that evaluate how well a user picks up new information, performs under pressure etc.  However, if you are relatively new to BIM as well, you may not know what you need.

It is very easy for someone to throw around buzz acronyms like BEP (BIM Execution Plans), IFC (Industry Foundation Classes), COBie (Construction Operations Building Information Exchange) and appear to know their stuff!  But talking the talk and walking the walk are very different.

A BIM Manager needs to know a lot of different technologies, not just theoretically but practically.  Specifically the methodology and best practices of information exchange, file formats, optimization, collaboration and the required information.  Also depending on your company your BIM Manager may have different roles (lists may not be exhaustive of roles):

Contractor BIM Manager:

• Developing BEP
• Performing Clash Detection & Coordination Meetings
• Performing 4D Sequences/videos to win Bids as well as for construction and working with the programmers (typically in Primavera)
• May involve modelling temporary works, scaffolding, formwork, traffic, cranes - or you may simply just coordinate someone else to do it for you
• Ensuring Design Consultant, and sub-contractor models are supplied at regular intervals and dictating the formats to be supplied in.
• Extracting quantities/take offs from the models

Design Consultant BIM Manager:

• Briefing the client as to the BIM options & establishing to what the BIM deliverables are
• Developing BEP
• Ensuring adherence to BEP and maintaining BEP as amendments are required
• Performing Clash Detection & Coordination Meetings
• Developing & Managing Content Creation to the required standard
• Setting up Project Models
• Producing IFC or Navisworks/VEO files for coordination

On larger projects you may have different hierarchies of BIM Managers.  EG: Someone who oversees everything to maintain consistency and perform the collaboration tasks.  Then people that are more hands on concentrating on the authoring of the models to the appropriate standards.

Manufacturer/Supplier BIM Manager:

• Development or delegation of BIM Content for customers
• Managing feedback from customers and revising content as required
• Ensuring the embedded information is correct and the content accurate represents the products

So to know if someone is right for these roles, I like to ask more specific questions to try and establish whether they have real knowledge or are just going on some things they've read online:

• How would you go about setting up a BEP?
• What would it include?
• If you've been involved with BEP's in the past, what issues have you faced?

If you are a design consultancy, whether it be architectural, structural or MEP, I'd want my BIM Manager to also know the practicalities of the design software.  Which in many cases these days is Autodesk Revit.  One of the best skills to have in Autodesk Revit is great content creation/family creation skills.  I find that if a user knows how to make a good quality family and has worked on a decent variety of projects at different stages, they are going to make a good Revit Manager at least!  As such, testing their content creation skills is a must!  In my book if they know that they are half way there...

I hope some find this a useful reference for either finding the right person for their company.

If you need any help evaluating candidates feel free to drop me a line.

Why consider me for your next Revit/BIM project?

I had someone tell me the other day that I was not being considered for a role as they thought I wan't qualified enough as a BIM expert... 

As such I thought I'd write a quick post outlining a brief summary of my BIM experience to avoid this occurring again.

1. I'm a Graduate Architect - I haven't registered as I've personally had no need for the additional qualification in the roles I've been completing
2. I've been using Revit since 2001 (12 years) - one of the first in Australia
3. I've developed Revit for Asset Management and Facilities Management for major Petroleum Retail Giants
4. I've completed hundreds of full Revit projects!
5. I've completed 7 projects where I've gone from Revit direct to fabrication (laser cutting from the model) as well as producing shop drawings directly saving money in bringing in extra trades and avoiding any remodelling steps.
6. I assisted in developing the BIM-MEPaus Standards for MEP Engineers & Contractors throughout Australia, creating a lot of the generic content.
7. I consult frequently to multiple Architectural, Structural & MEP firms to develop their Revit and BIM Standards and generally assist them win more work by allowing them to offer more than their competitors by utilising BIM.
8. I assisted in developing the Australia & New Zealand Revit Standards (ANZRS)
9. I wrote BIM Implementation Plans, BIM Execution Plan Templates and facilitated meetings to deploy BIM at a Tier 1 Contractor's, back in 2007 when others were just starting to hear about BIM.
10. I completed clash detection modelling and clash reports, 4D Sequencing in Navisworks for numerous projects for many Tier 1 Contractors.    This included connecting into MS Project & Primavera schedules.
11. I assisted a Tier 1 Contractor on mining projects and their technician was so impressed they asked me in to train their team and push BIM in their offices
12. I've worked on major health care projects.  I was originally contracted for 3 weeks to perform a task that had previously been completed by a major reseller and Autodesk, the team was so happy with my results they contracted my services for a further 12 months!
13. I've worked on projects with 1:1 modelling requirements through to projects worth $7B in the UAE which many thought were impossible to build/document.
14. I worked with the Landscape Architect on another very large health care project to develop Revit Standards and assist with modelling for Revit Landscaping.
15. I've modelled fuel systems for Diesel Generator Systems for a very large health care project.
16. I've now provided services for Interior Design, Architecture, Landscape, Structural, Mechanical, Electrical, Seismic, Fuel, Hydraulic, Fire, Traffic, Civil modelling & coordination
17. As part of my role at Cadway (6 years) I was responsible for exploring new technologies, filtering through the marketing fluff, testing and identifying what was worth implementing and what wasn't.  Then finally implementing the technologies.
18. I performed a IT System Administrator role, so I'm across many IT systems such as Citrix, Anti-virus, Exchange Servers, Backup systems, Private Clouds etc.
19. I have experience and resources to customise Revit and develop tools to expedite and improve quality/efficiency of Projects in Revit.
20. I've spoken at many international Revit/BIM Conferences & Events with excellent feedback
21. My Revit Family Creation skills are second to none - I've spent 4 years creating highly efficient and smart content for Manufacturers
22. I've worked on just about every typology of project you can think of.  Including: Multi-Res, Masterplanning, Health Care, Mining, Defence, Retail, Mixed Use, Institutional, Education, Transport, Art, Interior, Landscape, High Rise, Commercial.

Of course my CV goes into this in a lot more detail.  But hopefully this gives you the confidence that I know what I'm doing...

Chris Price & Xrev - Consulting

Hello All,

I thought I'd let my readers know that I am now consulting my services in the Revit Architecture, Structure, Navisworks, BIM space. (commencing 13th February 2012)

If you require Revit Implementation, in-house Revit Training, Revit Training Classes, Revit Management, On Project Revit Support, Revit Start-up Assistance, upskilling intermediate & advanced Revit users, Revit Collaboration, IPD and everything Building Information Modelling.

Please don't hesitate to email me at Support at Xrev dot com dot au. I can supply you with my costing and schedule availability!

I have experience with:

• Multi-discipline collaboration
• Revit Asset Management
• Revit Facilities Management
• Revit Digital Fabrication (laser cutting, CNC, etc)
• 4D Sequencing
• Extracting Quantities & Weights from the model
• Various Energy Analysis
• Cost Estimation from the model
• Clash Detection
• BIM Specifications
• Integrated Project Delivery
• Training large groups/presenting

Building Information Modelling Asia 2009

I've recently returned from a conference on BIM in Singapore. Apart from an injury I received on the flight home I considered it to be a very worthwhile event.

There were key speakers from Developers, representatives of BuildingSMART, Tekla, Autodesk, Gehry Technologies as well as numerous others.

I guess the biggest thing I got out of it was that Revit isn't the centre of the universe! BIM can still work equally as well even if a number of the disciplines are using difference platforms. Yes if everyone is utilising the same platform such as Revit it can somewhat automate some of the more mundane co-ordination tasks - but it is not pivotal to a successful BIM. There were quite a few quoin phrases thrown about such as "Big BIM", "Little BIM" and "Integrated Project Delivery (IPD)" but only the latter had any real significance. Big BIM and Little BIM seemed to me to be a cop out to being able to say "this was a complete BIM project" when BIM was only partly implemented.

IPD refers to the involvement of all the Owners, consultants and Architects right at the conception of the BIM to establish project deliverables, specific outcomes and results to ensure the project is developed in such a way as to automate and produce these outcomes with minimal effort. It also involves the entire team communicating at equal levels in a Project Documentation/Design/Analysis Utopia all operating for the sole purpose of whatever will best benefit the project. Rather than, "its not my job"...

Over the next few weeks I plan to compile and develop a spreadsheet of BIM capable software for all stages of a building lifcycle including FM, that identifies the best way's for each of them to communicate with each other with regards to file types, formatting and setup for various uses that maximises data integrity through the life of the project. I welcome people to post their findings and designs for best interoperability methods with the various other packages as well as most applicable software to co-ordinate it all. Personally, we are going down the Navisworks road...

If anyone also has any questions specifically about the conference please ask as I will be more than happy to elaborate on any of the subjects if people are interested.