BIM (Building Information Modeling) helps building product manufacturers make their products easier for architects and engineers to find, evaluate, and specify. See how Sheffield Metals uses BIM content to reduce friction and provide reliable product information throughout the design process.
For architects, specifying a manufacturer´s product should be simple: find the right product, add it to the model, and move on. In practice, the process often involves extra steps, from hunting down specifications and verifying dimensions to waiting on documentation.
For Sheffield Metals International (SMI), that meant finding a way to make their products easier for architects to work with. The company, a leading distributor of coated and bare metal products and engineered standing-seam metal roof profile systems, set out to remove those extra steps by making their product profiles available in BIM.
To explore the approach, Thad Barnette of The Metal Roofing Channel, Sheffield Metals' own YouTube channel, sat down with Wendy DeCapite, Architectural Project Manager at Sheffield Metals, to discuss why the company invested in BIM and how architects can put it to use.
The conversation covers why Sheffield Metals invested in BIM, how architects find their standing-seam metal roofing profiles and metal wall panel systems on bimobject.com, what documentation comes with each download, and why a reliable source matters.
Wendy walks through Sheffield Metals’ approach to BIM. Here are a few standout points she discusses and what other manufacturers can take from them:
Wendy sums it up in one line: "Our goal is to get rid of friction." Sheffield Metals wanted design with their products to feel simple, so they built BIM content instead of leaving architects to recreate products by hand from spec sheets and technical documentation.
The BIM objects work as a drag-and-drop download. An architect pulls the file into their project model, and it's ready to use. From there, architects, engineers, contractors, and installers can reference the same product information as the project moves forward.
Learn about the key players in BIM projects.
That single download carries more than the 3D shape. Wendy points to installation manuals, color chip options, clips and cleats, substrate compatibility, and product videos, all attached to the same listing instead of scattered across separate downloads or phone calls.
It also carries the performance data, dimensions, wind uplift ratings, fire ratings, and the testing required to meet local building codes. As Wendy puts it, "everything is basically right there in BIM for you." A generic roof component reserves space in a model but tells an architect nothing about it. A manufacturer-authored object comes with it already attached, which is where architects save real time, not hunting down each piece on its own.
That data only helps if it's current. Wendy points architects to a trusted source, whether that's BIMobject or the Sheffield Metals Architect Hub, so they're always working from the latest version of a file rather than one that's been sitting in a shared drive for two years.
Learn why BIM content needs maintenance.
Sheffield Metals began by focusing their BIM library on the products most relevant to their customers. The first four covered Sheffield’s main standing seam profiles, the team had extensively engineered, tested, and installed. The library has since grown to six products on BIMobject, adding two wall and soffit systems and extending coverage across more of the building envelope. See the full library on the Sheffield Metals brand page.
Every object comes paired with documentation and Sheffield Metals' own technical team on standby. BIMobject works with Sheffield Metals to publish and maintain the library, while the underlying product data remains Sheffield Metals' own, engineered, and kept current by their team. That same team is who an architect reaches with a question. Download the object, and it comes with a direct line to the people who built it.
Publishing BIM objects puts a product into the tools and flows where design decisions get made. Sheffield Metals took that a step further by using their own channel to show architects how the library actually works, turning a technical resource into something people watch and share.
Wendy also pushes back on the idea that BIM only matters for large, high-profile jobs like hospitals or universities. In practice, she says, “it can actually be used for any project, big or small", which opens it up to a much wider range of architects and projects than the flagship jobs people usually picture.
Other manufacturers can lead with what Wendy actually points to as the real value, a product architects already trust, backed by a team that answers when a question comes up. BIM is just where that trust first becomes visible.
See how BIMobject helps manufacturers publish products architects can find and use.
If you're looking to get your Revit content in front of architects, designers, and engineers earlier in the project cycle, see how BIMobject helps manufacturers reach real project opportunities, just like Sheffield Metals.
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