01
Standards and schema
Templates, naming, classification and the project parameter schema established before a single element is placed.
BIM modelling and documentation services
A model authored to look right and a model authored to be read are visually identical and completely different assets. We produce the second kind.
Modelling
The engineering position
Information-first authoring is the whole argument
Parameters populated during authoring cost a little at the time. Parameters retro-fitted before handover cost a great deal, are usually incomplete, and produce a model that cannot be checked automatically — which means every downstream promise about automation, quantities and asset data quietly fails. This is unglamorous and it is the precondition for everything else on this site.
Drawings are a view of the model, not a parallel deliverable
Where drawings are drafted alongside the model, a change is two events and they eventually disagree. Where drawings are derived from model state, a change is one event. Getting to the second condition requires template, view and sheet discipline set up before authoring starts, which is why we do that first and will not skip it to save a week.
Level of information need is a commercial instrument
"LOD 400" as a blanket statement across a project is a way of not deciding. The useful version is element-by-element: what has to be accurate, what has to carry data, and what is placeholder geometry. We agree it explicitly, because it is the single largest driver of authoring cost and the thing most often left vague until it is expensive.
Deliverables
What is actually produced and issued
Any of these can be appointed on their own or combined. Nothing here depends on buying the intelligence layer, which is not for sale in any case.
DeliverableDiscipline models
Architectural, structural and MEP models authored to the agreed level of information need with classification and parameters populated during authoring.
DeliverableModel setup and templates
Project templates, shared coordinates, browser organisation, view templates, naming and the project parameter schema.
DeliverableGeneral arrangement drawings
Plans, sections, elevations and details derived from model state, at the required status codes.
DeliverableSchedules
Door, room, equipment and component schedules generated from the model.
DeliverableFamily and content creation
Parametric content built to the project's data schema rather than downloaded and patched.
DeliverableModel audit and health reporting
Regular reporting on file health, warnings, naming compliance and parameter completeness.
How it runs
The sequence, and why it is in this order
Sequence is not a formality on this kind of work. Most of the expensive rework we are asked to fix was produced by doing step four before step two.
02
Level of information need
Agreed element by element and written down, because it is the cost driver and the source of most scope disputes.
03
Authoring
Modelled with parameters populated as elements are placed, not afterwards.
04
Continuous QA
The project rule set runs during authoring rather than only before issue, so failures are corrected while the context is still fresh.
05
Documentation
Views, sheets and schedules derived from model state.
06
Issue
Through the CDE at the correct status code, under a named engineer.
What we need to start
The inputs that decide whether a start is a real start
Missing any of these is survivable. Not knowing which of them are missing is not, so we establish it at enquiry stage rather than at forty per cent.
- Existing drawings, models or survey data in whatever state they exist
- The EIR, BEP or modelling standard the project runs to
- Level of information need per element, or a session to agree one
- Sheet standard, title block and drawing register
- Classification system, if one is mandated
Automation
Where automation applies to this work
Every line carries its real status. Three of the four states on this site mean "not yet", and we use them.
AutomationParameter completeness rule setsLive
Every element tested against the project schema, with failures clustered by family or template so the fix is one change rather than hundreds.
AutomationNaming and classification checkingLive
Views, sheets, families and elements tested against the project convention automatically.
AutomationModel health auditingLive
Warnings, file size, purgeable content, unplaced elements and view organisation reported on a schedule.
AutomationDocumentation generationLive
Views and schedules derived from model state as a routine rather than assembled by hand.
Scope boundary
What this appointment does not include
Published because a scope boundary discovered at month three is a dispute, and the same boundary stated at enquiry stage is just information.
- We do not retro-fit parameters into a model that was authored without them and call the result queryable — we will quote the remediation honestly or advise against it.
- We do not produce a model at a level of information need that was never agreed and then invoice for the difference.
- We do not deliver drawings drafted separately from the model.
FAQ
Questions we are asked at enquiry stage
What does 'information-first modelling' mean in practice?
That the project parameter schema exists before authoring starts and parameters are populated as elements are placed. The visible model looks the same either way. The difference appears the first time anyone tries to check, schedule or extract anything from it.
Can you work inside our Revit template and standards?
Yes, and it is usually the better option — the model comes back in a state your team can maintain. Where there is no standard we apply ours and hand over the documentation.
Can you remediate an existing model that was not authored this way?
Sometimes, and we will tell you honestly which case you are in. Some models can be brought up to a queryable standard economically. Others cost more to remediate than to re-author, and we would rather say that at enquiry stage than discover it at forty per cent.
Do you create Revit families?
Yes — built parametrically to the project's data schema. Content downloaded from a manufacturer site and patched is the most common single cause of parameter completeness failure later.
How is level of information need agreed?
Element by element, in writing, before authoring. A blanket LOD number across a whole project is a way of postponing the decision until it is expensive.
Related
Where this connects
Revit servicesTemplates, families, parameter schemas and MEP authoring.
BIM automationWhat becomes possible once the model was authored to be read.
BIM IntelligenceThe full argument for treating the model as an engineering database.
Standards and QAISO 19650 information management and the six checks before issue.