IFC Model Health Check: A Complete Pre-Delivery Checklist
Before you send an IFC file to a client, contractor, or CDE, run through this checklist. Ten minutes now saves days of back-and-forth later.
You have just finished a design package. Before the IFC leaves your hands, spend ten minutes on a health check. Most BIM rejection tickets and "the file is broken" support emails come from issues that take less than a minute each to fix — *if* you catch them before delivery.
Why a pre-delivery health check matters - Saves reputation. A clean file signals a competent team. - Saves time. Every issue caught now is an issue that does not bounce back through email next week. - Saves money. Big contracts include quality clauses; badly-formed IFC deliverables can cost real penalty fees. - Saves the recipient's sanity. Downstream reviewers silently thank you for every broken file you do not send.
The ten-point checklist Run these in order. Each one maps to a BIMCamel tool.
1. Schema version matches the requirement. Open IFC Viewer. Does the file use IFC2x3, IFC4, or IFC4x3? Does the project BEP (BIM Execution Plan) specify which one? If there is a mismatch, run Upgrade to IFC4.
2. Coordinates are reasonable. Check the bounding box in the inspection report. If the minimum corner is more than about 100,000 metres from the origin, the model will be invisible in many viewers. Run Fix IFC Coordinates with "Preserve georeferencing" to centre the geometry without losing the real-world position.
3. Units are explicit. The inspection report shows units (metres, millimetres, feet). Confirm they match what the BEP requires.
4. Storey structure is correct. Every physical element should be assigned to an IfcBuildingStorey. The health check flags orphan elements. Fix with Manage IFC Storeys before submission.
5. No duplicate GUIDs. Duplicates break validation and comparison tools downstream. Run Repair GUIDs. Quick, surgical, only touches duplicates.
6. No orphaned geometry. Geometry not attached to any element bloats file size and confuses some processors. Run Clean Hidden IFC Leftovers to strip it out.
7. No broken external references. If the authoring tool linked to texture files or external classifications that only existed on the original author's computer, they will trigger "file not found" warnings on the recipient's machine. Run Remove External Links.
8. Required property sets are present. If the BEP requires specific properties — fire ratings on walls, U-values on windows, manufacturer on mechanical equipment — validate with Validate Model using the project IDS file. This is the single highest-value step for compliance-driven projects.
9. No sensitive internal data. Before delivery, check whether the model contains cost estimates, internal notes, contractor names, or bid-stage markup. If it does, strip those property sets with Remove IFC Properties.
10. File size is reasonable. A 2 GB IFC file is a support ticket waiting to happen. If the file is unreasonably large, run Optimize Model on the appropriate preset. Document the optimisation level in the delivery note so the recipient knows what was reduced.
Run the automated Health Check as a final sweep After fixing the ten items above, run Model Health Check one last time. A clean delivery shows zero critical issues and only informational notes. Include the report as a PDF attachment with the delivery — it proves due diligence and gives the recipient confidence before they even open the file.
Automating the checklist If you deliver models weekly, build a pipeline that runs every check in order. Save it once, reuse it forever. One click instead of ten. See the pipeline automation guide for how to chain these tools.
Ten minutes. One free toolkit. Zero broken deliveries. The maths on this habit is hard to argue with.