BIM coordination is the multi-trade process of detecting and resolving geometric and clearance conflicts inside a federated 3D model — before construction, not during. Done right, it replaces field RFIs with model markups, prefab rework with shop release, and finger-pointing with a signed-off issue log.
What 'coordination' actually means
Every modern construction project has at least eight trades trying to fit into the same ceiling cavity, mechanical room, or shaft: architectural, structural, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, fire protection, low voltage, and (in healthcare and mission-critical work) medical gas, pneumatic tube, and process piping.
BIM coordination is the discipline of pulling every trade's model into a single federated environment, running clash detection on it, and driving the resulting issues to closure with named owners and dates. The output is a model that is install-ready — meaning the field crews building from it should not run into geometric surprises.
The tools — and why the tools are not the point
Most teams run coordination in Navisworks Manage with BIM Track for issue tracking, or in Autodesk Construction Cloud (ACC) Model Coordination with ACC Issues. Some shops use Solibri or Revizto. The tooling matters less than people assume.
- Navisworks Manage — the most widely supported federation and clash engine.
- BIM Track — purpose-built issue tracking with BCF round-trip.
- Autodesk Construction Cloud (ACC) — federation + issues in one platform.
- Solibri and Revizto — strong rule-based and visual coordination respectively.
The weekly cadence that makes it work
Coordination is a project-management discipline first, a software exercise second. A typical weekly cadence looks like this:
- Monday: model upload deadline. All discipline models are pushed to the CDE by EOD.
- Tuesday morning: federation and version stamping. Any missing or stale models are escalated immediately.
- Wednesday morning: clash detection runs. Severity triage and screenshot assembly before noon.
- Wednesday afternoon: coordination meeting. Walk the issue log; assign owners and dates for every open item.
- Thursday–Friday: trades resolve in their authoring tools and mark closed in BIM Track or ACC Issues.
Severity triage — not every clash matters
A federated clash run on a complex MEP project can return 5,000+ raw clashes. Treating them all equally drowns the meeting. Effective triage classifies clashes into three buckets:
- Critical — field-stopping geometry conflicts (ductwork through structure, conduit through chiller).
- Major — clearance and access violations (no service space, code clearance violations).
- Minor — soft clashes and tolerance noise that resolve as detailing matures.
What good coordination looks like
- Every issue has a named owner and a due date.
- Open critical issues are reported every week with age in days.
- Areas are signed off package-by-package, not at the end of the project.
- The federated model is version-controlled and reproducible.
- Coordination meeting minutes are published within 24 hours.
- The GC, designers, and trades all trust the same source of truth.
What you receive from a coordination engagement
- Federated Navisworks (.nwd / .nwc) coordination model with version control
- Discipline clash matrix and rule-set library
- Weekly clash report with severity triage and screenshots
- Managed issue log in BIM Track, ACC Issues, or Revizto
- Published coordination meeting minutes with action items
- Sign-off model package per area or level for fabrication release