As an Architect or Engineer, how often have you been frustrated by phrases such as, “Why are you only using half of that electrical room?” or “I don’t have enough room for my equipment to fit!” during project coordination meetings? With BIM technology, coordination takes a more optimistic and collaborative approach; thus minimizing frustrations and maximizing meeting productivity. Utilizing BIM, affords design professionals the opportunity to communicate with more productive type phrases such as, “We have enough room, would you like part of the floor space back?” or “Can we get this ceiling or beam adjusted to allow our equipment to fit?”. The interference check module within the Revit software program allows Architects and Engineers to change the way buildings are coordinated, designed, and constructed. By collaborating as a true design “team” and performing interference checks, design professionals should be able to resolve many conflict issues before the dirt work is ever completed.

We recently completed a case study of one of our early 2007 Revit MEP models verses one of our May 2009 Revit MEP models. In 2007, we were just beginning to understand the concept of BIM and did not understand what a powerful tool it could be in our design. In the 2007 model, we used our trusted AutoCad mentality for design. We focused on getting the project designed, getting the project coordinated on paper, and getting the project issued. However, we overlooked one important step: coordinating the 3D model. In retrospect, we discovered several interferences, which could have been identified by looking at the model, rather than the two dimensional view on paper. In hindsight, we realized now that performing an interference check could have saved countless hours of time dealing with Requests for Information, Change Orders, and valuable construction time.

By examining our May 2009 model, we discovered that we have come a long way in our approach to the BIM design concept. When creating this model, we held in-house model coordination meetings, as well as, coordination meetings with the Architect. Not only were we able to resolve conflicts by running the interference check, but we were also able to improve our design. Some of the interferences we discovered during our collaborative coordination could have resulted in a myriad of RFI’s for the design team. However, by diligently utilizing interference check, our team was able to identify the conflicts early in the design stage and save valuable time.

Running the interference check and repairing the model can be time consuming depending upon the size of the model. Even though the interference check can show you all of the conflicts within a building at one time, it is recommended that design professionals run only one or two different interference checks at a time to minimize both human and software errors.

We are all in the business of building better buildings for our clients. With today’s economy, tighter building budgets, and tougher energy standards, design professionals should be using any tool possible, to help save clients time and money. BIM offers us many different ways to improve our efficiency. The interference check command is just one simple tool that can make a huge difference in project delivery.

Have you run an interference check lately? If you have not, then maybe it is time to start.