NL-SFB Item Catalogue Schema for Navisworks

Quite recently I have been documenting workflows on how to use the Quantity Take Off (QTO) feature in Navisworks.

One of the first things Navisworks will ask you to do when setting up your model for QTO purposes
is to identify an "item catalogue". This item catalogue is used by Naviswork to create Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) of the model. This WBS is usually dependent on what has been identified in the Project and/or BIM execution plan. This in turn will vary based on your location.

Although I have been working internationally for 3 years now, I do still revert back to the Dutch coding system I grew up with the NL-SFB.  The reason for this is that most of the codes used seem to be hardwired into my brain.

NL-SFB is predominantly used by engineers to breakdown a model of a building. Next to NL-SFB there is aslo a Stabu-coding which is mostly used by contractors and quantity surveyors. More on both can be found here.


I was surprised to see that no one had made a custom NL-SFB catalogue available as a download. So decided to create my own. Using the information and the Excel spreadsheet made available on Autodesk Help I was able to generate the required .XML that Navisworks needs to create a WBS. Once you have gone through the wizard the WBS will appear in Navisworks. If you don't like the breakdown at this stage, hit CTRL + Z to undo. You can omport an updated version of your item catalogue using the Import option on the QTO Workbook Ribbon.

On the highest level it looks like this. For the Dutch users, no I have not created the high level roll up, this would require an adding an extra character.

Drilling down to lowest level.

Kindly note that this is only the WBS. In order to perform QTO one will also need to create a list of resources. These can be defined in the same Excel spreadsheet.

For more information exchanging .XML files feel free to reach out to me.