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Building information modeling (BIM) allows stakeholders to virtually create the building well before a shovelful of earth is ever moved. It enables everything from smoother, faster design iteration to constructability checks. This mitigates project risks and propels productivity, all while helping stakeholders to make data-driven decisions along the way. 

In short, BIM can back wins for architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) professionals, as well as owners. Using this technology isn’t necessarily easy, though. In the same way teams need to be trained to use, say, a crane or scissor lift, they need upskilling to properly leverage building information modeling technology. 

Why BIM Training Matters

Today, construction projects aren’t being designed with bigger margins or more generous timelines. Instead, budgets and schedules are tightening. 

BIM can help solve for this. Stakeholders can use it to optimize the project’s schedule and develop more accurate cost forecasts. With features like clash detection, it can reduce rework and improve quality control. BIM helps teams build better, faster and safer. 

Plus, it could entice new workers to consider the AEC industry. Today’s recent graduates have never known a world without widespread technology. They’re technology mavens, and they regularly tap digital tools to make their lives easier. Inviting them to get involved with a company’s BIM initiatives may welcome them into a space that feels both familiar and full of potential. 

Luring younger workers with BIM opportunities requires the company to be leveraging this kind of technology, though. And keeping that worker at the firm gets a lot easier when that BIM deployment is handled well. 

All told, BIM can optimize projects and help companies manage the labor shortage. Teams benefit from improving their BIM competencies because it helps them tackle multiple issues facing the industry today. 

Where BIM Skills Fall Short

When teams get tasked with using BIM but face a lack of skills, the issue usually stems from one of two areas:

Technological Expertise

Historically, building information modeling software solutions have been relatively complex. 

Fortunately, new platforms are being deployed with a lower barrier to entry, and existing providers are reworking their technologies with user-friendliness in mind. 

Even so, construction professionals — particularly those who’ve been in the industry for a long time — aren’t necessarily known for their technological prowess. While easier-to-use solutions will help reduce hurdles here, some upskilling is likely required. Teams often need to provide dedicated, step-by-step training to help their employees learn to properly use BIM technology. 

Industry Expertise

As BIM platforms get easier to use, some AEC professionals — especially those from younger, tech-native generations — may need minimal technological training on them. That doesn’t mean, however, that no BIM upskilling is required. 

Established AEC professionals with proper training can intelligently use BIM tools because they have industry expertise on which to rely. If the software alerts them to a clash, for example, they understand what that means — and the ramifications of not properly correcting the issue. 

People who are newer to the industry don’t have that legacy knowledge. The software might call out an issue, but they might not know why it’s important or how to properly resolve it. 

If a greener employee is working with BIM for a healthcare project, for example, they might assume they can just move a duct that’s clashing. They may not know that the ductwork takes precedence in a hospital setting. 

When team members don’t understand proper protocols — or the why behind them — teams run the risk of making inaccurate decisions when modeling the project. Upskilling for BIM, then, means getting the legacy knowledge from the AEC experts to those with less industry experience. 

Creating Internal BIM Upskilling Programs

To address the two biggest shortfalls of BIM competencies — technological skills and industry knowledge — companies benefit from creating internal training programs. 

Following these four steps helps to address the most significant gaps in most firms’ BIM skills.

1. Build technical competence in senior staff.

   Getting experienced professionals comfortable with technology takes time. Regular training goes a long way, especially when it’s built into time those pros have already allocated (e.g., at weekly syncs or periodic all-hands meetings). To expand their technological knowledge, it helps to have both group demonstrations and one-to-one training. 

2. Get newer hires to the jobsite.

   For staff that lack industry knowledge, the trouble isn’t with learning to use BIM software, but with bridging the gap in their understanding of how construction happens. Find ways for them to spend time on the jobsite, seeing the way projects come to life first-hand. The more they can understand how the virtual representation (the model) connects to the real world, the better they’ll be able to use BIM technology. 

3. Connect team members to bridge the technology-industry gap.

   Find ways for team members with deep industry knowledge to spend time with those who have technological competence. The field and the office need to work together. Fostering collaboration in which each party shares their skillset with the other helps to create well-rounded employees who have both on-the-ground and technological expertise. This could take the form of mentorship, a shadowing program, weekly syncs or other team checkins. Each company needs to find the best way to facilitate this information exchange among its team members. 

4. Learn continuously.

   Technology advances quickly. Firms can’t train their teams up on BIM now and assume they’re set for the next decade. Continual education helps companies stay informed about how they can best leverage BIM for their specific projects. Plus, it helps them keep pace with their competitors. 

Additional BIM Skill-building Resources

Creating a robust internal BIM upskilling program requires time, energy, and usually even financial investment. Some resources can help lighten this lift — especially over time. 

Learning Management Systems

A learning management system (LMS) is a software that lets users take courses digitally. By deploying an LMS and creating courses in it, companies get a way to capture institutional knowledge and make it accessible to their entire team. 

To decide what should be taught in the LMS, start by creating a council of field and office personnel of varying levels. Ask them what needs to be taught to improve the organization. 

It also helps to capture past lessons learned in the LMS. If a clash gets caught in the field, for example, documenting it and adding it to a lesson on clash detection improves that course. Creating a company culture where employees feel safe sharing mistakes means that everyone can learn from them — and, ideally, avoid them in the future. 

The LMS should also contain some basic technical training. It should feature a course guiding users through the basic features of the company’s chosen BIM platform. It should also walk team members through the company’s BIM execution plan (BEP) template. 

Once the course material is built in the LMS, it allows team members to continually improve their BIM competencies.

To ensure the teachings don’t get outdated or stagnant, companies should periodically revisit and update courses.  

External BIM Training Courses

Plenty of trusted industry players offer BIM courses. The Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) runs a that offers a robust training in BIM technology, for example. Companies can also keep an eye on from the American Society of Civil Engineers, which has covered BIM at past events.  ���Ǵ���'s Learning Center offers courses from construction experts on using BIM, such as .

Online course marketplaces also offer BIM training, including:

Courses about construction.
For construction.

Unlock your career potential with our free educational courses on Health & Safety, Data in Construction, and more.

How New Technologies Could Solve for BIM Skill Deficiencies

Technological advancement will likely lessen the burden here. In addition to the increasing user-friendliness of BIM platforms, artificial intelligence (AI) can help. 

AI can take the institutional knowledge captured by the company over time and give that data to machine learning (ML). In this way, AI can solve for some of the industry knowledge newer hires lack. It can look for clashes, for example, and rank them based on the dollar or time burden of each. The employee can then use that information to resolve clashes in the sequence that’s best for the project. 

Even if AI simplifies the usage of BIM tools, AEC professionals still need a basic level of technological know-how to leverage these resources. As BIM becomes more widely used, upskilling will continue to be a pressing need for the industry.

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