The model has to be usable by the people who will operate the building — not only by the people who drew it.
The Danish BIM regulation turned into requirements, process and control — and into an assessment of whether it applies to you at all.
BIM management is the smallest version of what we do in New Build & Renovation BIM: the requirements for models, data and handover written down as part of the consultancy and works contracts, and one person who holds every party to them through design. No regulation imposes it on you. That is precisely why it can be done properly.
Danish state projects above DKK 5m, and municipal, regional and social-housing projects above DKK 20m, must meet the BIM regulation. We write the BIM specification, the process manual and the handover requirements, run BIM through design and construction — and below the threshold we say honestly which of the requirements are worth it for you.
The specification alone. The management through design. The control at handover.
The hourly rate is the same in all three: BIM manager DKK 1,075, BIM coordinator DKK 895 per hour excluding VAT. A fixed price is quoted after an hour of scoping — because the price depends on how many parties are on the project, and how many of them have already signed.
BIM specification
The client's information requirements, information levels per building element, formats, coordinate system, handover requirements — as an appendix to the consultancy and works contracts.
- Information requirements written out, not as "LOD 300"
- Format requirements: IFC, E57, PDF/A — not products
- Handover requirements as contract terms
BIM management
Process manual, model coordination, clash control, checking of the consultants' deliverables against the requirements, the digital tender basis.
- Meetings, minutes and a decision log
- Each model delivery checked, with a report
- Quantities from the model into the tender
Handover control
As-built model and operating data checked against the requirements before the work is declared complete — and a handover to the people who will run the building.
- Model checked against the specification
- Operating data in the format the operators can read
- Handover meeting with the operations team
The information requirement first. Then the level. Then the tool.
Most BIM agreements start at the wrong end: with a piece of software and a number. We start with the question of what the client needs to know about the building — during design, at handover and in ten years. Everything else is an answer to that.
At least three incompatible scales use overlapping numbers — the Danish one, the American one and the information levels of the classification system. The current standard explicitly advises against using an acronym. We write out geometry, alphanumeric information and documentation per building element.
AB 18 covers the use of the model, ABR 18 covers the consultant's as-built model — but neither obliges the contractor to hand over operation and maintenance material. The duty has to be written into the contract appendix, or it does not exist.
That is what AB 18 says. So it has to be agreed which material takes precedence, who owns what, and what happens when the model and the drawing say two different things.
Does it apply to you? And what does it then require?
The threshold is the estimated construction sum: DKK 5m for state clients, DKK 20m for municipalities, regions and social housing organisations. It applies to refurbishment too. In refurbishment most requirements may be waived — but not the requirement for a digital tender.
| The requirement | What it means on the project | Our deliverable |
|---|---|---|
| Coordination | One party is responsible for BIM across consultants and contractors | The BIM manager role, agreed in the consultancy agreement |
| Structure and classification | A shared way of naming and classifying building elements and documents | The structure section of the BIM specification |
| Common data environment | One place where all documents and models are exchanged, with version control | Requirements for platform, setup and roles |
| Object-based modelling | Models in IFC that can be exchanged without one vendor's software | Format requirements and model checking |
| Digital tender | Tender material in digital form, quantities from the model — cannot be waived | Digital tender basis and quantity checking |
| Handover to operations | Building data handed over in a form the operators can use | Handover requirements and handover control |
| Digital snag lists | Defects recorded digitally at handover and inspection | Requirements for platform and process |
The requirements are your own. A municipal day-care centre at DKK 16m does not trigger the regulation — and yet a digital tender and a handover to operations can still pay for themselves on it. We say which requirements are worth it and which are not, before you choose. And we do not bid on the tenders the requirements are written for.
The honest answer.
Can the BIM manager sit with the architect?
It can, and it often does. But then the architect is checking their own deliverables. An independent BIM manager is the client's — and can say that a model does not meet the requirements without it becoming an internal discussion.
When is it too late?
Once every consultant has signed. The requirements can only be imposed on those not yet under contract; for the rest they become an extra service that they price themselves. Call before the consultancy tender — that is the single sentence that saves the most money.
Which software should we use?
That question we answer last. The requirements are written to formats — IFC, E57, PDF/A — so no party is tied to one product, and so the model can still be read in ten years. Which software each party uses is their own choice.
Is it the same as BIM coordination?
BIM coordination is part of it: the models are held together, clashes are found and resolved. BIM management is also the requirements before the contract and the control at handover. Without those two, coordination ends up being a service to the consultants rather than a safeguard for the client.
Send us the project and the list of consultants. Then we will say what can still be bound — and what it costs.
An hour of scoping, free of charge. Then a proposal with a fixed price for the specification and a monthly estimate for the management.