Enhancing BIM Data Integrity: Automated Detection and Analysis of Material Loss in IFC Workflows

Interoperability between building information modeling (BIM) platforms remains a significant challenge despite standardization efforts. This paper presents a controlled benchmark study of material data retention in Revit–ArchiCAD conversions via the Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) standard using three representative models (house, hotel, hospital). Material, geometric, and parametric attributes are compared to pre- and postconversion with automated scripts and commercial viewers. We find persistent material losses, even with exchange add-ins with complex models degrading the most; losses concentrate on customs and regulatory attributes (e.g., fire/thermal properties). We discuss limitations of current automation and IFC implementations and recommend workflow, schema, and tool improvements for mitigation. Looking forward, we introduce vision-language models (VLMs) as a complementary, image-grounded verification layer that can surface visually evident material changes and align them with IFC properties, pointing toward semiautomated, real-time auditing of BIM interoperability.