COBie 2.4 · Project guide
Floor
Organizes building levels, roofs, and site areas used to locate Spaces.
Can every space be assigned to an agreed level or external area?
How COBie uses the word Floor
The Floor worksheet defines the level structure used to organize spaces. A row can represent a conventional building level, but COBie 2.4 also allows roof and site categories when exterior or roof areas need to participate in the spatial hierarchy. Floor.Name is the primary key and is referenced by Space.FloorName.
Floor names should match the names used on the project documents at the same delivery stage. Renaming a level late in the project is not merely cosmetic: it can break every Space row that points to the previous name. A controlled naming decision is especially important when architectural, structural, and services models use different abbreviations for the same level.
Elevation, height, and spatial hierarchy
Elevation locates the Floor vertically using the Facility linear units and the project's agreed site or building datum. Height records the vertical separation between the structural surface associated with that Floor and the underside of the structure above. Teams should distinguish these numeric values from a formatted level label such as 'Level 02' or 'Roof'.
A useful Floor worksheet includes only levels and external areas that are part of the agreed COBie scope. Reference levels, coordination datums, duplicate story levels, and temporary construction levels may be meaningful inside Revit but can make the handover hierarchy noisy or ambiguous if exported without filtering.
Reconciling Revit levels with COBie Floors
Revit levels are a strong starting point for Floor records, but federated projects often contain competing versions of the same level across host and linked models. A dependable workflow chooses an authoritative source, normalizes only where the contract allows it, and checks that every exported Space points to an included Floor name.
BIMRelay extracts host and linked-model evidence, preserves source identity, and lets teams review Floor rows with model context. Its workbook settings make level naming and value priorities explicit, while regeneration keeps user-approved edits when row identity still matches the source model.
Key relationships
Child of Facility
Parent of Space
Practical quality checks
- Match project level naming
- Keep elevations numeric
- Include site and roof areas when required
Floor worksheet FAQ
- What belongs on the COBie Floor worksheet?
- The Floor worksheet normally contains building levels and can also contain roof or site areas when they are needed to organize spaces. Each included row needs a unique Floor.Name.
- How does a COBie Space connect to a Floor?
- Space.FloorName is a foreign key to Floor.Name. Every Space row should therefore reference a Floor row that exists in the same workbook.
- Should every Revit level become a COBie Floor?
- Not necessarily. Coordination, reference, and duplicate levels may not belong in the operational hierarchy. The project should define which Revit levels represent deliverable COBie Floors.
- How does BIMRelay handle Revit levels?
- BIMRelay uses extracted Revit level evidence to generate Floor rows and retains source context for review. Teams can control mappings and reconcile host and linked-model naming before export.
This is an independent practical summary, not a reproduction of the COBie specification. Refer to the official standard for normative definitions and field requirements.
Reviewed against the official NIBS COBie 2.4 publication and Annex A worksheet schemas.
Where the official documents, contract-issued workbook, and project validator differ, follow the contract requirements and accepted validation process.
Open the official COBie 2.4 publicationOpen the official COBie 2.4 Annex A worksheet schemas