25/08/2026
What owners should ask before signing a BIM scope
Your BIM scope shouldn't end where construction ends.
Most owners find out what their scope was missing after the building is finished. The model coordinated the construction, the project wrapped, and then the facilities team opened it and found it wasn't built for them. It answered the contractor's questions, not the owner's.
Five questions worth asking before you sign:
๐ญ. ๐ช๐ต๐ผ ๐๐ถ๐น๐น ๐๐๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐บ๐ผ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐น ๐ฎ๐ณ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ต๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ?
If it's built only for coordination, it closes out at substantial completion. Serving operations has to be in the scope from the start.
๐ฎ. ๐๐ผ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐ฑ๐ผ๐ฒ๐ "๐ฎ๐-๐ฏ๐๐ถ๐น๐" ๐ป๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ผ ๐ฏ๐ฒ?
A model that matches the drawings but not the building is worth very little on day one of operations.
๐ฏ. ๐ช๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ฎ๐๐๐ฒ๐ ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐๐ฎ ๐ฑ๐ผ๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐๐๐ฎ๐น๐น๐ ๐ป๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ฑ?
Equipment tags, model numbers, maintenance data. Decide before handover, because adding it after is far more expensive.
๐ฐ. ๐ช๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ๐บ๐ฎ๐ ๐บ๐๐๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐บ๐ผ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐น ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ธ ๐๐ถ๐๐ต?
A model your maintenance software can't ingest is a model your team won't use.
๐ฑ. ๐ช๐ต๐ผ ๐ธ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ฝ๐ ๐ถ๐ ๐ฐ๐๐ฟ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐ฎ๐ณ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ต๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ?
A model is only accurate until the building changes. Name who updates it, or plan for it to go out of date.
These are decisions that are much easier to make before the project starts than after handover.
At , we scope BIM around what the owner needs after construction, not just what the project needs during it.
๐ฌ Owners and FM teams: what's the one thing you wish had been in your BIM scope from the start?