Model checking

Model checking — also called model validation or rule checking — is the quality control of a BIM model: verifying its constructability, its compliance with standards and regulations, and the validity of the information it carries. It is what turns "we have a model" into "we have a model we can trust".

It usually covers three kinds of check. Validation looks at the model itself — geometry and spatial relationships, duplicates, missing components, naming, classification, and whether required parameters are present and correct against the data standards. Clash detection looks for physical conflicts between disciplines. Code checking looks at regulatory compliance — accessibility, fire compartments, energy performance.

It is driven by the rules the project already agreed. The BIM execution plan sets the modelling standards, formats and conventions that checking enforces, and much of it can be automated, which is what makes rule-based checking fast enough to repeat. When the requirements are expressed as an IDS, they become machine-checkable: the checker confirms whether an IFC file actually satisfies them. ISO 19650 provides the surrounding process and quality expectations. In Italian it is verifica del modello or validazione del modello, with code checking known as verifica normativa.