AI-Driven IFC Processing for Automated IBS Scoring

The assessment of Industrialized Building System (IBS) adoption in construction projects—a critical metric for evaluating prefabrication levels and construction modernization—remains largely manual, time-intensive, and prone to inconsistencies, with practitioners typically requiring 4–8 h to evaluate a single building using spreadsheet-based frameworks and visual documentation review. This paper presents a novel AI-enhanced workflow architecture that automates IBS scoring through systematic processing of Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) building information models—the first documented integration of web-based IFC processing, visual workflow automation (n8n), and large language model (LLM) reasoning specifically for construction industrialization assessment. The proposed system integrates a web-based frontend for IFC file upload and configuration, an n8n workflow automation backend orchestrating data transformation pipelines, and an Azure OpenAI-powered scoring engine (GPT-4o-mini and GPT-5-0-mini) that applies Construction Industry Standard (CIS) 18:2023 rules to extracted building data. Experimental validation across 136 diverse IFC building models (ranging from 0.01 MB to 136.26 MB) achieved a 100% processing success rate with a median processing duration of 61.62 s per model, representing approximately 99% time reduction compared to conventional manual assessment requiring 4–8 h of expert practitioner effort. The system demonstrated consistent scoring performance with IBS scores ranging from 31.24 to 100.00 points (mean 37.14, SD 8.84), while GPT-5-0-mini exhibited 71% faster inference (mean 23.4 s) compared to GPT-4o-mini (mean 80.2 s) with no significant scoring divergence, validating prompt engineering robustness across model generations. Processing efficiency scales approximately linearly with file size (0.67 s per megabyte), enabling real-time design feedback and portfolio-scale batch processing previously infeasible with manual methods. Unlike prior rule-based compliance checking systems requiring extensive manual programming, this approach leverages LLM semantic reasoning to interpret ambiguous construction classifications while maintaining deterministic scoring through structured prompt engineering. The system addresses key interoperability challenges in IFC data heterogeneity while maintaining traceability and compliance with established scoring methodologies. This research establishes a replicable architectural pattern for BIM-AI integration in construction analytics and positions LLM-enhanced IFC processing as a practical, accessible approach for industrialization evaluation that democratizes advanced assessment capabilities through open-source workflow automation technologies.