In my last blog post, I wrote about the MCAA’s recent annual convention in San Francisco. I mentioned that many of the seminar speakers encouraged attendees to start laying the groundwork now to improve business before the economy turns around. When business comes back (because it will), putting new ideas in place will be too difficult because you’ll be too busy.

One of those new ideas that came up time after time during the conference was building information modeling. MCAA speakers said that if members are not using BIM in their business, they need to get started. Not only will BIM help contractors with productivity and efficiency on jobs, it will also become the norm in mechanical contracting. In fact, many building owners and developers have made the use of BIM mandatory on the projects they send out for bids. Using BIM (or not using BIM) could be the difference between winning and losing a bid.

The MCAA is very serious about getting its members on board with BIM. Just today I received an e-mail from the association in regards to BIM training. MCAA will begin offering a new BIM technology course. They are also planning on bringing back an entry-level course on BIM.

The MCAA is not the only association tackling BIM training. Almost every mechanical contracting and HVACR association is trying to educate its members on how to use BIM successfully. It’s just another example on how BIM is here to stay.