Have you ever wondered what the day in the life of a BIM Manager consists of or are you a BIM Manager yourself curious how your workload stacks up to others? Are you intrigued about the day-to-day tasks and responsibilities of a job were the AECO projects 20% growth in the next 2 years? The job title of BIM Manager is relatively new but comes from the days of CAD Management and the role is ever evolving. In this blog, we will cover a BIM manager’s responsibilities, how a BIM Manager implements BIM standards, the tools and technology they oversee, and how they handle the huge problem around BIM content management within the role.
The ideal BIM Manager is a natural leader and self-starter, knowledgeable of every other position in the organization and how they all support each other. BIM Managers will also have a strong technical background that will allow them to synergize with the project stakeholders from site engineers to the design manager and up to the Clients. Being an expert in Revit is just the start when it comes to most firms. Knowledge of AutoCAD, BIM 360, Navisworks and Dynamo may also be necessary when it comes to being a BIM Manager. An average of at least five years of AECO industry experience is also required to take on the role of BIM Manager.
A BIM Manager’s job is extremely complex. They often must think outside of the box and quickly, with creativity and innovation in mind while also fielding many helpdesk requests. At a high level, they act as collaborators between the client’s team, design team, contractor team, and supply chain. BIM Managers oversee the production of project information models which contain 3D visualizations that bring together data, drawings, and schedules associated with the design and construction phase of a project. Some of the day-to-day tasks of a BIM Manager include directing and overseeing the development of automated routines to support standards and productivity, developing periodic training sessions for the design team and other stakeholders, generating and implementing all Revit models at all phases of the projects, using both company or client standards, developing new templates when required and much more. They often are the key decision-makers on what software, workflows, and BIM standards will be used throughout an entire organization, making them an essential part of any modern architecture, engineering, or construction firm.
BIM standards are the set of rules that define the BIM information structures and processes. A BIM Manager must establish BIM standards for their organization and abide by any relevant international BIM standards. After setting the BIM standards, it is the BIM Managers job to ensure they’re communicated and followed throughout the organization. Part of this entails working closely with other departments in the firm such as QA/QC.
Training and software implementation occurs in other aspects of the BIM Managers role beyond BIM standards. An example of such training is when a BIM Manager finds that a remedial drafting class is necessary as QA (Quality Assurance) is noticing that while standards are being followed, such as using the proper dimension style, line weights, and more, the standards of putting together a drawing set are not quite there. When experienced architects have been putting drawings together for several years, they likely do not want to sit in a “Drafting 101” class. However, with the emergence of BIM it’s necessary to go back to basics for seasoned designers amidst and it is the BIM Managers’ job to coordinate the continuing education opportunities for designers as needed.
In addition to ensuring BIM standards are met and providing additional training among design staff; handling an organizations BIM technology is a BIM Managers responsibility. To fully take advantage of the benefits of BIM which includes greater efficiency, improved communication among all parties involved in the project, reliable construction costs, and higher quality results, a firm needs to have top-of-the-line software to help them deliver projects as efficiently as possible. A BIM Manager will regularly review which technology is being leveraged and research what is new in the market to make sure they are implementing innovative tools that can help them produce healthier and higher-quality models, faster.
Content management, or the process of collecting, sorting, searching, updating, auditing, and archiving digital content is another huge problem that BIM Managers are responsible for solving in their organizations. An average AEC firm will have thousands or even hundreds of thousands of pieces of content stored in their databases for their designers which can make it difficult for them to find the correct content, manage it, and be able to access it, especially with the trend of remote work or across multiple offices. To optimize efficiency and empower designers to focus on what they do best, designing, a BIM Manager must implement a content management platform such as UNIFI. UNIFI is cloud-based giving design teams the ability to access content anywhere, has stellar search abilities, and with project analytics, users have insights and alerts into the health of their models at their fingertips. A BIM Manager that opts to implement UNIFI can save their designers an hour a day and save thousands every year by using UNIFI! As the notable architecture firm BECA states, “UNIFI makes Revit library management a breeze.” See what else BECA had to say about UNIFI and what our other internationally known customers had to say by following the link to our testimonial page!
As you can see, being a BIM Manager is not an easy role. It takes a lot of arduous work to succeed in this job but having a BIM Manager to oversee the firm’s projects leads to important benefits, including better coordination, efficient time management, reduced costs, higher ROI, and enhanced stability and safety.
Ready to become an even better BIM Manager? Click here to Get Started with UNIFI today.