Vendor-neutral quantities: why IFC beats tool-specific exports

The problem: models from everywhere, one bill of quantities

You work with models from Revit. Your architect delivers in Archicad. Your supplier in Tekla. All in the same project folder. To build your bill of quantities and takeoff, you pull schedules from each tool separately, merge them in Excel, and double-check for missed items. Until you miss one: a component that exists in one model but didn't make it into the schedule. Three weeks in, when materials should be on site, you find out. Back-order. The crane sits idle. The transport contractor is called back. The crew waits. The real cost is not the extra work pulling quantities from BIM, it is the standstill that follows.

That is when teams start looking at openBIM. Not for ideology. Because extracting quantities from BIM via IFC protects you from that forgotten line item.

The reality at a prefab or contracting builder

No two BIM models at a prefab manufacturer or large builder are ever drawn the same way. Revit, Archicad, Tekla, Vertex BD, sometimes all in one project. Each tool has its own schedules and export formats. Revit schedules work perfectly if everything is Revit, but the moment you integrate a Tekla detail or an Archicad contribution, the formats collide. Tool-specific exports are therefore only practical for smaller projects, entirely in one tool.

For larger or composite projects, you build on a standard that every major CAD tool can deliver. That is IFC.

IFC: an open standard with practical depth

IFC is an open EN-ISO standard (ISO 16739) for building information exchange. Not new, not complicated: it is how every major CAD tool (Revit, Archicad, Tekla, Vertex BD) says "this is my model, here is what it looks like, here are the base quantities."

What you need to know: IFC does not automatically contain every quantity you need. The originating tool must actively include them on export, and you must know which settings to enable. Vertex BD pushes its own quantities. Tekla delivers volume and dimension. Revit requires the right schedule setup to include Property Sets. But once you know what settings your workflow needs, you configure it once per company. After that, every model delivers the same base quantities, in the same structure, regardless of which tool created it.

That is the practical value of IFC: not because it is perfect, but because it is consistent.

Why lock-in matters when vendors change

Most teams do not fear lock-in as an abstract concern. Lock-in becomes concrete the moment you want to switch CAD vendors. Suppose you build your entire quantity workflow on Revit schedules. Your rules live in Revit. Your Excel-export scripts read Revit columns. Your validation logic knows Revit field names. Until your supplier switches to Archicad, or you do. Suddenly your rules break. You rewrite your entire logic, test it again, retrain your team.

If instead you build on IFC, your data stays yours. Your rules stay the same. Your ERP intake stays the same. A new tool means: adjust the IFC export settings, nothing else.

That is not because IFC is pure. It is because it is pragmatically neutral. No ideology, just no rework if circumstances change.

Depth and neutrality do not exclude each other

Vertex BD is a good example. It is a tool with deep timber construction logic, and it also exports standard IFC. Koto reads Vertex BD natively and IFC as the open standard. Depth and openness are not opposites: you can go deep where you need to, without getting stuck.

The goal of IFC is not to make every tool identical. It keeps your choices reversible.

Setup that works: configure once, then automatic

Setting up IFC export requires some upfront work. You need to understand which Property Sets you need, which units, how to handle overlaps between models. After that, you configure it once. Configure once, then it runs automatically on every project.

This is how prefab manufacturers in the Benelux set it up: you establish the IFC export once per company (what Revit sends, what Tekla sends, how you read both), you define your validation rules, and you pipe it into your production ERP. That configuration then runs on every project.

That is not just faster than manual entry. It is certainty. An item that vanishes because someone missed a field becomes far less likely.

Frequently asked questions about quantities from IFC

Is IFC accurate enough for order lists and takeoffs?

Yes, provided the export is set up properly. The base quantities in IFC come straight from the model. Whatever is missing, you cover with rules on top of the model.

Which packages can export IFC?

Every major BIM package: Revit, Archicad, Tekla and Vertex BD. IFC is an EN-ISO standard (ISO 16739) and the required exchange format in many tenders.

Do I lose detail by working through IFC instead of native formats?

For quantities and lists, usually not. Where extra depth is needed, as with Vertex BD, you combine native import with IFC for the rest.

Get started

Want to see how this works on your own models? Create a free test account, load your own BIM model, and see what quantities look like before you configure anything. You can also read more about quantities from BIM or explore how order lists from BIM change your workflow.

Or get started now and request a demo. The product runs live at prefab manufacturers in the Benelux today.