REVIT AND BIM COORDINATION WITH JMC FABRICATION
Yes. JMC Fabrication's engineering team coordinates directly inside the customer's Revit model, joins the federated BIM environment alongside the architect, structural engineer, and MEP trades, and runs clash detection against every background the GC or mechanical engineer provides. The deliverable back to the customer is a coordinated fabrication scope, not a 2D translation of one.
What that means in practice: JMC's fabrication model sits in the same Navisworks federation as the rest of the design team, JMC's engineer attends the GC's coordination meetings, and the RFIs that come out of coordination get resolved in the model before the shop touches steel.
Published May 19, 2026 · JMC Fabrication
A federated model is a single combined 3D environment built from every trade's individual model. The architect contributes their architectural Revit file. The structural engineer adds the structural model. The mechanical engineer adds ductwork and piping. Electrical adds conduit and tray. JMC, as the fabricator, adds the modeled fabrication scope, spools, duct sections, custom assemblies, into that federation.
The federation typically lives in Navisworks, BIM 360, ACC, or whatever the GC's BIM lead has standardized on. Each trade's model gets linked in by reference, and clashes get reported across the whole federation, not just within one model. That's the difference between BIM coordination and old-school 2D overlay. A clash between JMC's ductwork and the structural beam shows up in the same report as a clash between the mechanical engineer's piping and the architect's ceiling grid.
JMC's engineering team works inside that environment the way any other trade does. We open the federation, model the fabrication scope in-context against the live backgrounds, run our own clash checks before publishing, and then publish back to the federation for the GC's BIM lead to roll into the next coordination cycle.
Here's how a typical Revit-coordinated project moves through JMC's engineering room from kickoff to shop release:
- Kickoff and model exchange: The GC's BIM lead shares the current federation, design intent drawings, and the BIM execution plan. JMC's engineer confirms file formats, level of detail (LOD), the federation host, the meeting cadence, and which trades are coordinating.
- JMC models the fabrication scope: Working inside the federated environment, the engineering team models JMC's scope at the LOD the BIM plan requires. Typically LOD 350 for fabrication-ready geometry. The model uses real fabrication parts, not generic placeholders, so what's modeled is what gets cut and welded.
- Internal clash check, then publish: Before the model goes back to the federation, JMC runs Navisworks Clash Detective against its own scope plus the architectural, structural, and MEP backgrounds. Real clashes get resolved or flagged. Then the model publishes back.
- Joint coordination meeting: JMC's engineer attends the GC's coordination meeting. Clashes get walked through trade by trade in the federated 3D view. Resolutions are agreed in the meeting and logged in the BIM coordination report.
- RFI cycle for unresolved items: Anything that can't be resolved in the meeting becomes an RFI. JMC issues the RFI through the GC's RFI system (Procore, Newforma, or PDF), and the mechanical engineer or engineer of record responds. The response gets logged against the affected model element.
- Sign-off and shop release: Once the federation is clean and the RFIs are closed, JMC's engineer generates shop drawings, spool sheets, and BOMs from the same coordinated model. Those go to the floor as the released-for-fabrication set.
Clash detection inside a federation runs in three categories most of the time. Hard clashes are where geometry physically overlaps, a duct running through a beam, a pipe colliding with a column. Soft clashes are clearance violations, a pipe too close to a hot duct for code, a hanger that won't fit through the joist spacing. Workflow clashes are sequencing issues, a duct above ceiling that can't be installed after the ceiling grid is in.
JMC's engineering team runs Clash Detective rules tuned to the fabrication scope. Hard clashes against structural backgrounds get the highest priority because they typically can't be resolved by JMC alone. Soft clashes against MEP get triaged with the mechanical engineer. JMC's own internal clashes, where our duct meets our own pipe, get resolved before anything publishes back.
The clash report that comes out of a JMC coordination cycle isn't a generic Navisworks dump. It's filtered, categorized by trade interaction, and prioritized so the coordination meeting doesn't waste time on false positives or duplicate hits. That's the difference between handing the GC a 4,000-line clash export and handing them a 60-line list of the clashes that actually need decisions.
Coordination only works when the responsibility split is clear up front. Here's the typical breakdown when JMC is the fabricator inside a GC-led BIM workflow:
| Responsibility | GC / BIM Lead | Engineer of Record | JMC |
|---|---|---|---|
| Federation host and standards | Owns the federation, BEP, file naming | Reviews BEP and LOD requirements | Conforms to BEP, delivers to spec |
| Architectural / structural backgrounds | Coordinates with arch and struct trades | Issues design intent, stamps drawings | Receives backgrounds as reference |
| MEP design intent | Routes through MEP engineer | Models mechanical, electrical, plumbing intent | Models fabrication scope from intent |
| Fabrication model (LOD 350) | Reviews in federation | Reviews against design intent | Produces and owns the model |
| Clash detection runs | Runs federation-wide clash cycles | Reviews trade-specific clashes | Runs internal clashes, resolves own conflicts |
| RFI issuance and response | Routes RFIs through PM system | Responds to design-intent RFIs | Issues fabrication RFIs, responds on shop questions |
| Shop drawings from coordinated model | Reviews submittals | Stamps where required | Generates and issues |
On most commercial projects the GC has a dedicated BIM lead, sometimes called a BIM coordinator or VDC manager, who owns the federation. JMC's engineer treats that person as the single point of coordination, not the mechanical engineer or the design architect. The BIM lead sets the meeting cadence, controls who can publish to the federation, and runs the master clash report.
JMC fits into that workflow by adhering to the BIM execution plan (BEP) the BIM lead publishes at kickoff. The BEP tells everyone what software versions are in use, what LOD is required at each milestone, how often models publish, what naming conventions apply to elements and files, and how RFIs flow. JMC's engineering team reads the BEP first, asks questions if anything's ambiguous, and conforms to the standard rather than fighting it.
Where JMC adds value isn't in changing the workflow, it's in being a fabricator who already speaks BIM fluently. The BIM lead doesn't have to walk JMC's engineer through Navisworks or explain how to publish back to BIM 360. That cuts the coordination overhead the GC carries on fabricator onboarding.
The exact deliverable depends on the BEP, but common formats JMC outputs to keep coordination clean include:
- RVT (native Revit) for federations hosted in Revit or BIM 360 / ACC
- NWD and NWC for Navisworks-based federations
- IFC 2x3 or IFC 4 for open-format federations or non-Revit BIM workflows
- DWG exports for trades that consume 2D backgrounds from JMC's scope
- Shop drawings as PDF, generated from the coordinated model at release
- Spool isometrics as PDF or NWD when the federation includes piping detail
- Clash reports as XML or PDF, tagged by trade and severity
RFIs during BIM coordination fall into two buckets. Design-intent RFIs ask the engineer of record to clarify or change something in the design. JMC issues those through the GC's RFI system, and the EOR responds with a written answer that gets logged against the model element. Fabrication-method RFIs ask the EOR to confirm that JMC's proposed shop solution meets intent, alternate routing, a different fitting style, a substitution on a material grade.
JMC's engineer writes RFIs the way the GC's PM expects them: clear question, screenshot from the model showing the issue, proposed resolution if there is one, and a date the answer is needed by. That's the difference between an RFI that turns around in two days and one that sits in someone's inbox for two weeks. Clarity moves projects.
Does JMC need to be in the same Revit version as the design team?
Revit files have to open in the same version they were created in or newer, and they can't open backward without an export. JMC's engineering team keeps current Revit versions on hand and matches the design team's version on a per-project basis. The BIM execution plan typically locks the version at kickoff so nobody upgrades mid-project.
Can JMC coordinate if our project is in Navisworks but the design models are Revit?
Yes. That's the most common configuration on commercial work. JMC works in Revit for modeling, exports NWC files into the Navisworks federation, runs clash checks in Navisworks, and publishes both RVT and NWC back. The BIM lead typically owns the master Navisworks file.
What if our mechanical engineer doesn't use Revit?
Coordination can still happen through IFC exchange or AutoCAD MEP backgrounds. JMC's engineering team builds the fabrication model in Revit and references whatever format the MEP engineer provides. If the project is running entirely outside Revit, JMC can deliver IFC or DWG to the federation host, and clash detection runs in whatever tool the GC has standardized on.
Who's responsible for resolving a clash between JMC's duct and the structural steel?
The GC's BIM lead owns clash resolution as a process, but the call usually comes from the trade with the least design flexibility. Structural steel is locked, so the duct gets rerouted. JMC's engineer proposes the rerouting in the model, the mechanical engineer confirms the rerouted scope still meets design intent, and the clash gets logged as resolved. The whole exchange typically happens in one coordination meeting.
Does JMC charge for BIM coordination separately, or is it part of the fabrication scope?
On Revit-coordinated projects, the engineering hours for BIM coordination are quoted as part of the engineering scope on the project. JMC breaks out engineering, fabrication, and QC hours so the customer sees exactly what the BIM coordination effort costs alongside the fabrication itself.
What LOD does JMC typically model to?
LOD 350 is the standard for fabrication-ready coordination, geometry that's accurate enough to detect real clashes and generate shop drawings from. Some projects ask for LOD 400, which means model elements include fabrication-specific detail like flange bolts and weld preps. JMC's engineering team confirms the LOD with the BIM lead at kickoff and matches the BEP requirement.
Can JMC join coordination meetings remotely or only on-site?
Both. Most coordination meetings run as web meetings with the federated model shared on screen. JMC's engineer joins from Pascagoula and walks the JMC scope in 3D the same way an on-site BIM lead would. On large or sensitive projects, JMC can travel for in-person sessions when the GC requests it.