Order lists from BIM: complete every time

Why manual always misses something

In work preparation, it happens every week: you generate your order list from your BIM model in Revit or Tekla, put materials in Excel, check against the drawings, manually add the small items the model never contains: fasteners, bolts, coatings, protective materials. Under time pressure, under tight deadlines, something always slips. One forgotten line item means a back-order, site standstill, crane and transport costs, an idle crew. The cost of that failure is many times what your work prep time is worth. We break down the actual numbers in what one back-order really costs.

Manually assembled order lists are incomplete because they are manual work. You depend not only on your own attention span, but also on how complete the model is and how you have interpreted it. Every design change means copy-paste and checking again. That is not a system. That is hoping for luck.

What the BIM model does and doesn’t contain

Here is what you need to know first: your bill of materials is not in the BIM model. The model contains geometry and components the architect has modeled: walls, beams, windows, doors. A production bill of materials contains much more. Fasteners, fittings, protective materials, consumables, all the standard items your process needs. You must set up those connections between model elements and your production recipes yourself.

In practice you define rules. One rule might say: for every timber beam in the model, include the matching joist hangers and fasteners. Another says: for every door frame, add the hinge types from our standard. You write those rules once, based on your production process. After that, everything is automatic: no manual work, no mistakes, the same output every time.

How to get an order list out of your BIM model: the steps

The process is straightforward. Step one: you load the BIM model in, usually as an IFC file (the open standard every CAD vendor supports) or directly from Vertex BD. Step two: you choose which elements you need from the model. All walls? Only steel beams? All windows? Step three: you group them in ways that make sense for your production: beams by strength and length, windows by type, walls by thickness. Step four: you apply your rules. Step five: the order list generates in your own column formats, Excel, CSV, or straight to your ERP like Odoo.

The complexity sits in steps one through four, in your setup. But you do that once. Configure once, then it runs automatically on every project. For each next model, the same machine, the same rules, no intervention.

Repeatability is certainty

An order list that works once is luck. An order list you produce every week, for every project, error-free, the same way, reproducible and complete: that is something you can trust. That is the difference between working on hope and working on system.

This is what Koto does. It runs live at prefab manufacturers in the Benelux, where one forgotten item not only costs money but also delays the schedule. Work preparation teams see their lists move with the model instead of drifting away from it. Estimators can trust their numbers sooner. Production knows everything that comes in is complete.

How it looks in practice

You upload your Revit project or IFC file. You pick the elements you want to inventory. You set up your rules. You run it. Moments later you have a complete order list in your own format. Next week, next month: same process, same result. No retyping, and no list that is built differently from the last one.

Frequently asked questions about order lists from BIM

Can I get an order list straight from an IFC file?

Yes. IFC contains the elements and their dimensions. The translation into an order list, with your groupings, columns and non-modelled items, happens through rules you set up once.

What about materials that are not in the model?

Fasteners, fittings and consumables are rarely modelled. You capture them as rules or recipes attached to model elements: every frame gets its hardware, every wall its screws. From then on they appear on every list.

Does this work with Revit, Archicad, Tekla and Vertex BD?

Yes. Koto reads IFC as the open standard, and Vertex BD natively on top of that. Which package the model came from makes no difference to the list.

Get started

Want to see how it works? You can test it on your own models. Load a BIM file, set up your rules and compare the result with the list you build by hand today.

Want to understand more about how this fits your business? Have a look at order lists from BIM, or read how others prevent back-orders. And when you are ready, get started.