The construction industry is entering a new era, marked by two accelerating forces: a shrinking skilled workforce and increasing project complexity. Research indicates that a considerable sum of experienced professionals are nearing retirement without a replacement generation to preserve building expertise onsite and in the office. Specifically, in the U.S., approximately one in five construction workers are aged 55 or older. This impending wave of retirements raises concerns about losing vital expertise and accumulated practical knowledge needed for delivering successful projects.
Simultaneously, BIM (building information modeling) is becoming central to construction project delivery. No longer optional, BIM is now expected by project owners, required by regulators, and essential for teams navigating today’s integrated, data-rich construction environments. Yet, while BIM adoption has grown, many firms still approach BIM as a tactical, project-specific function. That model is no longer sustainable.
It’s time to rethink what BIM departments do—and what they could do. Forward-looking firms must evolve BIM from a cost center into a strategic driver of digital transformation across the business.
Today, BIM professionals primarily focus on early-stage tasks like:
They often operate in silos, working project to project, juggling clash reports, and facilitating coordination meetings. This work is essential, but it often confines BIM teams to tactical firefighting, limiting their ability to influence broader outcomes or drive strategic value.
The real potential of BIM lies beyond just resolving clashes—it’s in enabling better, faster decision-making across every team, from preconstruction to the field.
To meet modern construction challenges, BIM teams must evolve into digital strategy enablers. The good news? Many already have the skills to lead this transformation. What they need is a new mandate.
These next-gen BIM leaders can:
But this evolution isn’t about asking already-overloaded teams to “do more.” It’s about changing how BIM fits into the business.
To make this new reality a possibility, consider the following concepts:
Create repeatable BIM standards that reduce rework and allow teams to hit the ground running. But, empower BIM professionals to adapt these standards based on project size, scope, and team needs—curating the right data for the right moment.
Clash management involves identifying, analyzing, resolving, and preventing spatial or process conflicts within models to stave off physical, and costly rework later on. Historically, skilled BIM teams managed the majority of this work since it required significant technical expertise to set up and effectively interpret BIM clash detection analyses. Yet, before the advent of BIM software, spatial coordination and conflict resolution were conducted by on-site construction teams. Project engineers or similar roles would use physical light tables, overlaying transparent construction documents, and rely on visual interpretation to identify and resolve potential conflicts.
Now, a similar paradigm is re-emerging. Clash management is becoming more accessible for all project teams. For example, design professionals can now directly utilize clash detection data to “spot check” their own designs within their authoring software. Trade contractors can proactively assess the potential impact of their detailed design work well in advance of coordination meetings. Project engineers can rapidly evaluate the feasibility of proposed design changes using simplified clash detection tools that require minimal setup. This inclusive approach engages domain expertise from across multiple disciplines and helps identify potential design issues earlier in the process. As more team members get involved, BIM professionals can focus on more complex and strategic technology implementation initiatives.
Different project teams and construction project phases have unique information requirements. BIM data treated as monolithic datasets leads to confusion and bad decision making. Instead, curated packages of design and construction content can be made for each team based on their work for that particular period in time.
Consider the typical progression of a design from highly conceptual to fully detailed construction documentation. At each step in this progression, teams need to access and interact with information geared towards graduated levels of detail from low to high. Initially, clash detection might focus on broad spatial conflicts between major structural elements or large building equipment. As the design progresses, the focus shifts towards more complex mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) system configurations. This phased approach helps architects consider construction needs from the start and empowers engineers to concentrate on relevant object sets for clash detection and design optimization.
Project teams today work across tools, devices, and locations. BIM data must flow freely between desktop and field, from Revit to mobile viewers to cloud dashboards.
Success depends on:
Interoperability isn’t a nice-to-have—it’s essential for unified collaboration.
To unlock enterprise value, BIM leaders must:
These aren’t just tech skills—they’re business-critical competencies that elevate BIM to a leadership role.
By establishing these core competencies, construction organizations will be well-positioned to get buy-in and support from key stakeholders, including:
As tenured professionals exit the workforce, it’s critical to capture their expertise before it’s gone. BIM departments are in a unique position to document and distribute practical, proven workflows—translating expert insights into reusable, digital knowledge.
A true construction management platform like Autodesk Construction Cloud, doesn’t just focus on one phase, but is able to address the problems of design and construction more wholistically. With its ability to help turn static documents into dynamic, living workflows, Autodesk Construction Cloud empowers every team to learn from past projects and avoid repeated mistakes. Combined with automation and AI, BIM becomes a force multiplier that delivers consistent value across the portfolio.
To meet the construction industry's changing demands, BIM can no longer be just a project coordination function. It must become a core pillar of operational excellence—connecting field and office, people and platforms, past experience and future opportunity.
By empowering BIM leaders to drive strategy, standardize innovation, and unlock cross-team collaboration, construction companies can transform BIM from a tactical necessity into a strategic advantage.
The tools are here. The people are ready. The time to rethink BIM is now.
