Turn specifier insights into marketing strategy: 2025 BIMobject report
New data from 1,352 AEC professionals (architects, engineers, and contractors) on how they search for, evaluate, and specify building products.
BIMobject surveyed 1,352 professionals about how they discover, evaluate, and specify products for their projects. Below is the full report: where specifiers search, what content earns their attention, and what happens after someone downloads your BIM object (a digital, software-ready version of a physical product).
1,352
AEC professionals surveyed in 2025
30%
start their product search on BIMobject
49%
rate BIM objects the most valuable content
74%
say downloadable BIM objects are very important
48%
say sustainability strongly influences selection
66%
use a downloaded BIM object in a project model
Figures throughout this report are rounded to whole numbers. Percentages are calculated from the professionals who answered each individual question; totals may exceed 100% for multi-select questions.
Who took part in the survey
A total of 1,352 professionals from around the world took part, giving a broad read on how the AEC industry works today.
By role
By firm size
By organization type
For manufacturers. Your audience is dominated by architects at small and mid-sized practices, not just large firms with dedicated procurement teams. Content that's quick to find and easy to act on reaches more of your market than content built only for big enterprise buyers.
Where specifiers search, and how they use what they find
BIMobject leads as a discovery channel. Almost a third of professionals start their product search here before they ever reach a manufacturer's own site.
Where professionals discover new products
Base: 1,352 professionals. Respondents could select multiple channels.
How professionals use product information
Base: 1,352 professionals. Multi-select.
How easy it is to find product information
Base: 877 professionals.
For manufacturers. Search engines are neck-and-neck with BIMobject as a starting point, so your product pages need to be findable both on and off the platform. With over a quarter of professionals rating their search as neutral or difficult, there's real room to win attention just by making information easier to find.
What content earns visibility with specifiers
Nearly half of professionals rate BIM objects as the single most valuable type of digital product content.
Digital content valued most
Base: 1,352. Multi-select.
74%
say it's very important that manufacturers provide downloadable BIM objects.
15% somewhat important, 11% not important.
Base: 824 professionals.
How sustainability credentials influence selection
Base: 774 professionals.
For manufacturers. Your audience is dominated by architects at small and mid-sized practices, not just large firms with dedicated procurement teams. Content that's quick to find and easy to act on reaches more of your market than content built only for big enterprise buyers.
Keeping products specified: substitutions and verification
Substitution (swapping a specified product for a different one during a project) is a normal part of how buildings get built, which is why staying visible through the whole project, not just at the design stage, is worth the effort.
How often substitutions happen
Base: 749 professionals.
How often installed products are checked against the spec
Base: 715 professionals.
For manufacturers. Reliable, up-to-date product information helps your product survive these substitution decisions and get installed as specified, rather than swapped out for whichever alternative is easiest to find at the time.
What happens after a BIM object download
Most downloads lead to real use. Two in three professionals place the object straight into a project model, which is where visibility turns into an actual specification.
Base: 667 professionals.
For manufacturers. A download is rarely idle curiosity. Treat it as a strong buying signal, and make sure what happens next (a follow-up, a pricing page, a direct line to sales) is ready for the specifier who just put your product into their model.
Key terms explained
| Term | What it means | What it means for manufacturers |
|---|---|---|
| Product information | Technical details about a building product: dimensions, performance values, certifications, and installation requirements. | Keep it accurate, complete, and available in formats that support specification and use in projects. |
| Digital content | The digital materials that represent your product: images, catalogs, technical sheets, videos, or BIM objects. | A key part of product marketing: it communicates value, improves visibility, and supports specification decisions. |
| Sustainability credentials | Certifications or data demonstrating a product's environmental impact, such as EPDs or eco-labels. | Strengthens trust among specifiers and positions your brand to meet growing sustainability requirements. |
| BIM | Building Information Modeling: a collaborative way of working that uses digital models to design, construct, and manage buildings and infrastructure. | Lets manufacturers plug their products directly into the digital workflows construction projects already run on. |
| BIM object | A digital representation of a physical product, containing technical information and compatible with software such as Revit or Archicad. | Makes your product part of the design process itself, increasing the odds it's specified and used on real projects. |
Frequently asked questions
Who took part in this survey?
Respondents came from BIMobject's global user base and included architects, engineers, BIM managers, and contractors, 1,352 in total.
How are architects and engineers finding products in 2025?
Most now start their search on digital platforms like BIMobject rather than going straight to a manufacturer's website. BIMobject and search engines together account for more first stops than any manufacturer's own site.
What content helps manufacturers get noticed?
Downloadable BIM objects, by a wide margin. They're the format professionals value most, and 74% call them very important.
Why does sustainability data matter?
Sustainability credentials strongly influence purchasing decisions for nearly half of professionals surveyed, so certifications, EPDs, and performance data carry real commercial weight, not just goodwill.
What will marketers learn from this report?
Where to focus content and budget, based on real, current specifier behavior rather than assumptions: which channels get discovered, what content earns attention, and what happens after someone engages with your product.
See how BIMobject puts your products in front of specifiers
Book a walkthrough and see how manufacturers use BIMobject to reach the architects and engineers behind this data, at the moment they're searching.