Preconstruction — Design Coordination

BIM Coordination

Combining discipline models and resolving conflicts in 3D before they hit the field.

Quick Answer

BIM coordination is the process of combining each discipline's 3D model into a federated model and running clash detection to find and resolve conflicts before construction. Teams meet to review clashes, assign owners, and adjust designs digitally, so structural, MEP, and architectural systems fit together in the model rather than being fixed in the field.

The Full Picture

BIM coordination exists to move conflict resolution off the jobsite and into the model, where fixing something costs a click instead of a crew. Each discipline authors its own 3D model; combined, those models reveal exactly where systems collide. Resolving those collisions digitally, before installation, is the core value proposition of model-based coordination.

Mechanically, the disciplines' models are linked into a federated model, and clash detection software compares their geometry to find where elements intersect or violate clearances. The software produces a clash report, which the team triages in recurring coordination meetings — dismissing false positives, assigning real clashes to the responsible discipline, and tracking each to resolution, often exchanging issues through an open format like BCF.

In practice, BIM coordination is a disciplined weekly rhythm through the coordination phase: run clashes, meet, resolve, re-run, repeat, until the model is clash-free in the congested zones that matter. The coordinated model then drives coordination drawings and fabrication. It's most valuable on MEP-heavy, spatially tight buildings — hospitals, labs, data centers.

For preconstruction and VDC, BIM coordination is how a GC de-risks the most conflict-prone scopes before they're built. Every clash resolved in the model is an RFI, a change order, and a schedule slip avoided in the field. The discipline it demands is real, though: a model is only as trustworthy as the effort behind keeping it current and complete.

Real Examples

→Federate and clash: Architectural, structural, and MEP models are linked into a federated model, and clash detection flags 1,900 conflicts — narrowed to a few hundred real, resolvable clashes after false positives are filtered.
→Weekly coordination: In the recurring coordination meeting, each hard clash is assigned to a discipline with a due date, tracked as a BCF issue, and re-checked the following week until the zone clears.
→Model to fabrication: Once a mechanical room is clash-free, the coordinated model generates the coordination drawings the sheet-metal contractor fabricates duct from, off-site and to exact dimensions.

Common Misconceptions

People assume: BIM coordination and clash detection are the same thing.

Actually: Clash detection is the automated step that finds geometric conflicts; BIM coordination is the whole process around it — federating models, triaging the clash report, running coordination meetings, assigning and resolving issues, and re-checking. The software finds clashes; coordination resolves them.

People assume: A clash-free model means the building is fully coordinated.

Actually: Clash-free means no geometric collisions were detected in what was modeled. It doesn't guarantee maintainability, code clearances, installation sequence, or that everything was modeled at the right detail. Zero clashes is a milestone, not proof of a fully buildable, coordinated design.

Does MeltPlan Solve This?

Partially — adjacent

Partially — MeltPlan does coordination at the document level, flagging conflicts between disciplines in your 2D drawings and specs. It does not perform 3D BIM coordination: it works on PDFs and DWGs, not federated models, so it doesn't build a combined model or run geometric clash detection in Navisworks-style tools. For catching coordination issues in the documents themselves, that's exactly its lane.

See MeltPlan's document-level coordination review →

Frequently Asked Questions

What is BIM coordination?

It's the process of combining each discipline's 3D model into a federated model, running clash detection to find conflicts, and then resolving those conflicts through recurring coordination meetings before construction. The goal is a coordinated model where systems fit, so problems are fixed digitally instead of in the field.

How does clash detection work in BIM coordination?

Clash detection software compares the geometry of the federated model's elements and reports where they intersect or violate clearances. The team then triages that clash report — filtering false positives, assigning real clashes to the responsible discipline, and tracking each to resolution.

What software is used for BIM coordination?

Model-based coordination typically uses tools built for federating models and running clash detection, with issues often exchanged through the open BIM Collaboration Format (BCF) so teams on different platforms can track the same clashes. The authoring models come from each discipline's BIM software.

What's the difference between BIM coordination and document-level coordination?

BIM coordination resolves conflicts in a 3D federated model through geometric clash detection. Document-level coordination reviews 2D drawings and specs for inconsistencies and conflicts between disciplines. Both aim to catch conflicts before the field, but one works on models and the other on documents.

Related Terms

Clash Detection ReportThe ranked list of geometric conflicts a model check finds, ready for the team to resolve.Federated ModelSeparate discipline models linked into one coordinated whole, each author still in control.Coordination DrawingsComposite drawings that prove every trade physically fits before anything is installed.BIM Execution Plan (BEP)The plan that defines how BIM will actually be delivered on a project.Design CoordinationMaking every design discipline's work fit in the same physical space before it's built.Design ReviewA structured check of drawings and specs to catch problems before they reach the field.

More Preconstruction — Design Coordination Terms

Sources

  1. buildingSMART International — openBIM
  2. National BIM Standard-United States (NBIMS-US), National Institute of Building Sciences
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