LOD downgrade?

Having to downgrade the LOD as you move into later stages on the project lifecycle, sounds very counterintuitive…

On the typical A-Z BIM project you go from a lower LODs 200 for early design, “upgrading” to LOD 300s when going from Design Development to Construction Drawings. Then you “upgrade” to LOD 350 to 400 for the Trade Contractors BIM Coordination and Fabrication…on this process its mostly about more constructability and so accuracy, adding hangers and supports, precise fittings, equipment’s according to submittals, pipes or ducts with its exact dimensions for fabrication, etc. …so at the end, during design and construction we are mainly talking about more elements been represented in the model with more accuracy, and of course some data aggregation…

…and then there is the theoretical “LOD 500” approach, where you maintain the LOD 400 precision on the geometry and the focus is on enriching the model with FM data…

However, this is what we are finding over and over again, when we implement BIM for Operations with most or all of our clients.

For Operators/Facilities Managers less is more. It’s about simplifying, about providing only the info the guy at the trenches needs, when he needs it, and in a format that makes sense to him…

We use YouBIM as BIM FM deliverable, so the interface is already exceptionally simple…But most of the times, especially on complex facilities such as industrial plants, labs, datacenters, etc.…there is some work to be done on the models received from construction if you want to achieve a great user experience.

Even if in terms of data there is a significant amount of aggregating, when it comes to geometry it’s more about eliminating unnecessary geometry, focusing on maintainable assets, and of course organizing the systems aligned with how they operate versus how they are constructed/fabricated.

A new BIM scope of work has been born: “hey BIM FM expert, how long would it take you to downgrade this model?”