What is BIM Management and what do BIM Managers do?

BIM (Building Information Modeling) is a significant change for our industry – so much so that the new BIM Management roles are altering people’s career paths…

For example:

A BIM Manager within a Design team could be responsible for: defining BIM Standards, developing BIM content, setting up and deploying BIM templates, 3D Model planning, modeling multiple disciplines, model management, design delivery, being the owner of Drawing Sets, liaison with company IT leaders and Virtual Reality.

A BIM Manager within a Construction team could be responsible for: CREATING THE BIM EXECUTION PLAN, setting up 3D model delivery and asset OPERATIONS PLANS, coordination between disciplines, Clash-Detection, BIM coaching, mentoring and hands-on training with on-site team members, working alongside the estimating and scheduling teams, staying ahead with the latest tech trends, laser scanning, Augmented Reality, Mixed Reality and even owning the latest drone and best 360 camera!

How does someone become a BIM Manager or BIM Coordinator?

When I started in the design and construction industry my career path was clear, or so I thought…

I would begin as a Site Engineer, move on to become a Project Manager, get some office experience and retire running a division of the company …with a chance to one day become the big boss.

It was a simple career playbook!

Maybe you started a career path that would lead to become an Architect, Engineer, Contractor or a Project Manager of some kind?

But here we are, with you reading this blog about BIM management! 😉

Ok, so what happened?

Prior to BIM, our AEC (Architecture, Engineering and Construction) industry has had a terrible history of tech adoption and flatlining productivity – we are one of the lowest adopters and least efficient (no, I’m not going to show you yet another one of those charts).

Now, with BIM tools and supporting BIM roles, our industry is seeing a much broader adoption of technology.

In fact roughly 68% of projects “say” that they “use BIM”.

Even if only a fraction of this were true, we’d still be lacking the required BIM-capable resources to support this digital transformation.

Maybe you’ve been on one end of a conversation like this?:

“Oh, you’re good with technology – you can be our new BIM Manager”

BIM Roles and Career Paths

A BIM Manager’s role can include many tasks along the planning, design, delivery and operation of assets throughout the digital life of a building.

Maybe you know someone who started with a different career path like myself but are now a BIM Manager, BIM Modeler, BIM Coordinator, BIM Engineer, BIM Technician, BIM Drafter, BIM Designer, BIM Leader, Digital Jedi, BIM Architect, BIM Strategist or BIM Project Manager?

…or maybe even a BIM Software Developer 😉

When industries get disrupted current positions change and new roles are created.

BIM managers must have skills ranging from developing the perfect BIM Execution Plan (BEP) to understanding BIM Uses and managing “nD” models (3D, 4D, 5D, …).

The same person could be using the model for coordination with subs or delivering a Virtual Reality (VR) experience to the client!

BIM Management is a broad topic where someone can start with either technical experience and add the industry experience, or vice-versa.

Having both a deep knowledge of construction and a wide knowledge of BIM (at the same time) is a rare commodity.

So we thought that it might be useful to hear from some of these BIM superheroes first hand.

Here are three awesome interviews with leaders in the BIM world:

BIM Management Interview about BIM Execution Planning

How to create the perfect Level Of Development scope

How to implement a continuously improving digital strategy

In the three interviews above we learn from some of the most respected BIM Managers spearheading amazing digital transformations within their companies. Maybe these interviews can provide some inspiration for our up-and-coming professionals supporting the massive digital transformation in our AEC industry?

With the current skills shortage (and with the gap widening), we adapt by training BIM people to be construction people AND construction folks to be BIM folks.

The great news is that universities around the world now fixing this with BIM Management courses and certifications dedicated to teaching BIM and we are thrilled to provide a tool to help with this.

Maybe you could share this blog along with your thoughts about how BIM management roles are developing in your teams?

Find out more?