ifc-to-excel

What This Skill Does

The ifc-to-excel skill provides a robust interface for the IfcExporter CLI, enabling users to bridge the gap between complex BIM (Building Information Modeling) data and actionable spreadsheet formats. It autonomously processes IFC files—including versions 2x3, 4x1, and 4x3—converting rich, hierarchical building information into structured XLSX databases. Beyond tabular data, the skill can extract 3D geometry into Collada (DAE) format, linking spatial data with object properties for comprehensive site analysis. This tool eliminates the need for expensive, proprietary BIM software, allowing non-specialists to extract quantities, materials, and metadata for use in business intelligence, cost estimation, and validation workflows.

Installation

To integrate this skill into your OpenClaw environment, execute the following command in your terminal: clawhub install openclaw/skills/skills/datadrivenconstruction/ifc-to-excel Ensure that the base IfcExporter.exe binary is accessible in your system path or project directory to enable proper execution by the agent.

Use Cases

• Automated Quantity Takeoffs: Quickly extract material and geometric quantities from IFC models for project budgeting.
• BIM Validation: Audit IFC file quality by exporting properties to Excel to check for missing parameters or naming convention errors.
• Data Interoperability: Convert closed building data into open, structured formats for ingestion into PowerBI, Tableau, or custom ETL pipelines.
• Asset Lifecycle Management: Batch extract facility data from architectural IFC files for integration into facility management systems.

Example Prompts

1. "Convert the building model at C:\Projects\2023\Terminal.ifc to an Excel file and save the output in the same folder."
2. "Extract all IFC properties and include bounding box coordinates for the file 'Arch_Model_v4.ifc'."
3. "Run a batch conversion for all IFC files in the 'D:\BIM_Archive' directory, ensuring that 3D geometry is excluded to save processing time."

Tips & Limitations

• Version Support: Ensure your IFC files are validated against the supported schemas (2x3 through 4.3). Older, corrupted, or non-standard files may fail during parsing.
• Performance: Processing extremely large IFC models (500MB+) can be memory-intensive. For massive datasets, consider splitting files by building level before conversion.
• Geometry: If you do not require 3D visualization, always use the -no-collada flag to significantly improve processing speeds.
• Environment: As this tool relies on local binary execution, verify that the environment has read/write permissions for the designated input and output directories.