Exploring the Role of BIM Manager in Construction Projects

Over the past weeks, we have launched a series of blog posts that explore the different construction roles, covering details about key responsibilities, challenges, skills, salaries, and more. In previous editions, we covered the roles of the construction architect, construction estimator, and construction planner. Today, we will discuss the role of the BIM manager.

BIM stands for Building Information Modeling, a crucial methodology that integrates multidisciplinary data to create an interactive 3D representation of a building project. Teams use this 3D model to extract valuable information for decision-making, facilitate collaboration, and enhance processes like planning, design, construction, operating and maintenance, and much more.

Due to BIM’s complexity, most companies invest in professionals like BIM managers to ensure the successful implementation and performance of BIM models. This relevant position has become increasingly important as more organizations in the building industry rely on digital construction technologies to enhance the performance of their projects and build smarter and greener structures.

Keep reading to learn everything about this exciting role!

What is a BIM Manager?

A BIM manager creates, manages, and updates an organization’s BIM strategy. These highly skilled construction professionals train and assist project stakeholders in correctly implementing BIM models and using them for collaboration and performance enhancement.

The role of this position is relatively new compared to others in the construction industry. Although the history of BIM says the methodology started in the 1950s, its widespread adoption was not until a few years ago, when BIM became one of the most significant digital innovations in the building sector.

The value of this methodology has been such in the past decade, that the UK authorities have mandatorily required all public projects to use BIM. Similarly, other countries have joined or are looking to join this initiative to improve collaboration and increase project quality by decreasing unnecessary rework. All of this makes the role of the BIM manager more critical than ever. Let’s explore some of the responsibilities of this role in the next section of the post.

What Does a BIM Manager Do?

BIM managers oversee all aspects of a company’s BIM strategies, including successful implementation, quality assurance, compliance with regulatory requirements, training, and more. Some BIM managers are also responsible for the business’s overall digital strategy, promoting the benefits of using digital tools and implementing processes to standardize it. Let’s explore some of the key responsibilities of this role in more detail below!

BIM Implementation

One of the most essential responsibilities of this role is to implement a BIM strategy across the organization. This includes:

• Analyzing the business’s current state to find areas for improvement and maximize the benefits of BIM.
• Developing a BIM strategy aligned with the company’s goals and objectives. The plan should include a roadmap of steps and guidelines to follow.
• Generating a BIM Execution Plan (BEP) that outlines all aspects of BIM implementation, including processes, deliverables, roles and responsibilities, and more. The BEP is a crucial document that will guide all aspects of the implementation process.
• Defining and implementing BIM standards to ensure interoperability between teams, such as defining a common language, file organization structures, and data exchange formats, among other things.
• Depending on the organization’s size, the BIM manager might also have to hire a team of BIM coordinators and technicians to assist in the different phases of the project.

BIM Modeling and Coordination

Another key responsibility of this role is overseeing the creation and maintenance of the model by establishing protocols and standards. This involves coordinating with all stakeholders to ensure the data is constantly updated for decision-making purposes, which can also include integrating multiple discipline-specific models into a single federated BIM model. Another crucial task is overseeing clash detection, which is considered one of the biggest benefits of BIM. It allows for identifying conflicts or interference in the design and prevents costly errors and schedule delays.

Collaboration, Communication, and Training

As the leading position on all things related to building information modeling, BIM managers are responsible for facilitating communication and collaboration between project stakeholders by leading progress meetings to discuss any updates or issues and selecting and implementing collaboration tools. The chosen construction collaboration software should provide a common data environment, seamless sharing of documents and information to ensure teams are always connected, and full accessibility to the model and other BIM resources.

Additionally, BIM managers are in charge of training the different project stakeholders to ensure they have the necessary skills and knowledge to enhance their workflows using building information modeling technology. This includes following one of the essential principles of lean construction: continuous improvement, which, in this case, means implementing BIM across the project lifecycle to improve the different processes.

BIM Quality Control and Assurance

BIM managers must ensure that the model meets quality standards. To do so, they conduct regular quality checks to ensure compliance with project specifications and legal requirements and devise strategies to resolve any issues or inconsistencies.

Data Analysis and Reporting

These professionals are also responsible for generating and maintaining all documentation and information regarding BIM-related processes and workflows, including generating reports to track progress and record milestones. They are also responsible for analyzing all the data about BIM implementation and utilization across the project and recording lessons learned and improvement areas to enhance the usage in future projects.

Key BIM Manager Skills

As you just learned, BIM managers are in charge of several tasks that require them to have a set of skills and knowledge. If you are looking for a career in the BIM space, you should consider developing the following skills:

• Leadership/Project Management: As mentioned, these professionals must lead all the BIM initiatives in the organization. This requires them to have strong leadership skills to guide and motivate the different teams to learn and implement this methodology into their workflows and to organize and manage resources effectively.
• Industry knowledge: BIM managers must possess a high degree of industry knowledge to understand how each process can benefit from BIM. They should also be experts in the different concepts and components of the methodology and keep up with the latest innovations, such as 5D BIM or 6D BIM. 
• Technology: BIM managers must have strong technical proficiency to create and manage models effectively using common tools and technology. This includes understanding the benefits and limitations of each tool, spotting issues, guiding team members into using them, implementing best practices for success, and staying updated about any new releases or trends.
• Communication: Communication skills are fundamental for this role for two reasons. The first one is to be able to efficiently collaborate with the different teams and disciplines and guide them in their BIM journey. The second one is to generate reports and communicate critical information in a way that is clear and understandable.
• Problem-Solving: Even the best BIM manager will face challenges during the implementation and utilization of this methodology, including clashes or inconsistencies in the model. To resolve these problems quickly and with the least impact on the project, these professionals must possess strong problem-solving skills to develop solutions that will not only solve the issue but benefit the project as a whole.  
• Legal & Compliance: The construction industry is strongly regulated by standards and codes that companies must comply with. The situation is no different when working with BIM, and the person in charge of the process should have a deep understanding of relevant regulatory requirements for safety, quality, and environmental care and consider them in all decisions.
• Analytics & Reporting: As mentioned previously, one of the responsibilities of this role is to be able to analyze data and generate insightful reports. For this purpose, they must possess a high degree of analytical skills to ensure accuracy and consistency when analyzing and reporting data.

How Much Can You Earn as a BIM Manager?

A BIM manager salary can vary depending on several factors, including experience, the country, and the size and nature of the project. That being said, there is an average salary that professionals seeking a job opportunity as a BIM manager can expect to make. To this date, the average salary for a full-time job in this position in the US is $84,879, and £49,203 ($65,777) in the UK.

How to Become a BIM Manager?

Professionals looking to develop a career as a BIM manager must follow a traditional educational path and complement it with additional certifications and training.

The educational path starts with a bachelor’s degree in Architecture, Engineering, Construction Management, or a related field. These courses often last four years and teach students about construction processes and skills and how to use popular software solutions like AutoCAD and Revit. Some universities offer additional classes in computer-aided design (CAD) that can start students on the path to becoming BIM experts.

At the last stages of a bachelor’s degree, or after completing one, students or graduates can apply for an internship to start gaining experience and knowledge about the industry and some connections. The internship can be in an architecture firm or a construction or manufacturing company, as long as it includes CAD design.

With a bachelor’s degree and some basic experience in the field, graduates can apply for a job as a BIM technician and develop their careers until they become BIM managers.

After completing a traditional educational path, some people decide to pursue further certifications to differentiate themselves from other applicants or to specialize in a specific area of BIM. In the US, they can apply to become a Certified BIM Manager (CBIMM), offered by the American Institute of Business & Management, or apply to postgraduate studies related to BIM in a university. In the UK, they can get a BIM Management certification from the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB).

What Challenges Do BIM Managers Face?

As with any construction role we have covered in this series, BIM managers face many challenges in their daily work. Luckily, these challenges can be overcome with the help of the right technology (more on that later!). Let’s explore common challenges below!

• Managing high volumes of data: Construction projects pour data from all places and systems, including different disciplines, software, and systems. Managing all this data while maintaining quality and accuracy can be challenging for BIM managers, especially considering models are updated, in some cases, daily. To tackle this challenge, they must support themselves with professional construction analytics software that can help automate data management efficiently.
• Resistance to change: The construction industry has a reputation for being resistant to change, especially in older workforce demographics that are used to doing things the traditional way. This can make the job of a BIM manager difficult. To overcome this challenge, the person in charge needs to be aware of the benefits of building information modeling and explain with use cases how successful BIM projects can be.
• Training and deployment: Paired with the innate resistance to change, it can become challenging to train employees and management about using BIM, mainly because the methodology can be used in many ways depending on the role within the construction company. Again, getting the support of professional collaboration software can make a significant difference in the success of training instances.
• Standardization: Implementing standardized BIM processes helps to ensure consistency, efficiency, and collaboration across disciplines and teams. However, sometimes standardization becomes challenging to specific project requirements and constraints like client requirements or unique design features, which can lead to issues in productivity. BIM managers must be able to develop flexible frameworks that can be adapted in consideration of project needs.

What Kind of Software Do BIM Managers Use?

To solve some of the challenges mentioned above, BIM managers support themselves with various software and technologies. BIM software facilitates communication, improves quality while reducing costs, and allows for faster project delivery. The most common ones are:

BIM Authoring Software

As its name suggests, BIM authoring software is used to create and edit BIM models. It allows users to define the geometry, properties, and relationships within the different elements of a building model to make the best design choices. A wide range of these solutions exist based on the discipline, the type of construction project, and the user’s needs in terms of compatibility, usability, and cost.

BIM Management Software

These solutions help plan, execute, and monitor all aspects of BIM to optimize project performance. They also assist in organizing and storing crucial documentation, facilitate collaboration, and allow for the identification of issues or discrepancies.

A great example of this type of software is RIB CostX BIM, an intuitive 5D BIM software that helps organizations in the building industry successfully integrate BIM into their projects.

The platform supports BIM files from all the widely recognized design tools, such as Revit, Archad, Microstation, Tekla, and more. It also has advanced viewing tools that simplify model navigation for informed decision-making. Plus, user-defined properties allow each user to add relevant properties to the model to ensure they have the right information.

BIM Takeoff

BIM takeoff is the process of automatically measuring and extracting quantities from a 3D model to generate accurate construction cost estimates for the project. The value of using a professional BIM takeoff software is mainly due to automation features that significantly decrease the time it takes to complete the quantity takeoff and the mitigation of manual errors that can cost the project a lot of money.

RIB CostX is an excellent example of professional BIM takeoff software that has the flexibility to adapt to the needs and workflows of different projects, regions, and roles.

Our powerful BIM takeoff and estimating solution provides various features for error-free takeoffs. The platform supports all commonly encountered design document formats and automatically updates takeoffs and estimates based on design changes, ensuring no outdated data is used for decision-making. Plus, a revisions tracking feature allows users to compare drawings and analyze the impact of the changes in cost estimates and quantities.

BIM Analysis Software

These solutions analyze the performance of different design components, such as walls, floors, ceilings, and much more, to verify design decisions and test if they comply with regulations and the expected quality. They allow users to simulate various scenarios to identify potential problems or clashes in the design and solve them before the structure is built. They also allow the testing of other elements like the energy efficiency or the ventilation of the building, making them great solutions to avoid costly errors.

BIM Viewer Software

BIM viewer software is a tool for visualizing, accessing, and navigating a 3D model without using an authoring tool. It provides key data about the design, such as spatial relationships, dimensions, materials, and quantities, to help make important project decisions.

An example of such a solution is RIB Connex; the platform’s BIM viewer module allows users to navigate the model, extract critical information, and collaborate with other disciplines seamlessly.

RIB Connex allows its users to access 3D models and 2D plans in a single view from multiple devices, making it easier to identify issues. If any are found, the user can add a task with comments and photos to the model and send it directly to the person responsible, minimizing the risk of costly errors.

BIM Security Software

Last but not least, these solutions protect BIM assets by controlling who can access, view, and manipulate data, models, and documentation. They also help you store and backup crucial information in the unfortunate case of breaches or data loss. These solutions also help assign roles and responsibilities regarding the use of BIM assets to ensure accountability and transparency.

Final Thoughts

As you’ve learned throughout this post, the BIM manager role is complex and full of challenges and responsibilities, which can make it difficult but also highly rewarding and exciting. BIM managers spend their days collaborating with the different project stakeholders, ensuring a collaborative and data-driven environment that leads to project success.

As the main drives of digital transformation in construction companies, these professionals must rely on software solutions to automate and enhance their daily operations.

At RIB Software, we offer professional BIM management software to improve the efficiency, quality, and profitability of your construction projects. If you are ready to experience state-of-the-art BIM software solutions, get your free demo for RIB’s toolkit today!