Purpose – Against the background of low adoption of building information modelling (BIM) for facility management (FM), this paper aims to examine the factors affecting the implementation of building information modelling (BIM) for facility management (FM) among FM companies in Lagos, Nigeria. This was with a view of providing information that will enhance the adoption of BIM in FM practice.

Design/methodology/approach – Primary data were sourced through self- administered questionnaire on the 37 FM companies that are corporate members of International Facility Management Association in Lagos, Nigeria. Relative significance index were used for data analysis.

Findings – A total of 15 factors were identified as affecting the implementation of BIM for FM. Low level of awareness of BIM was ranked as the most significant factors with RSI of 0.93. The next three factors were lack of BIM education in higher institution (), lack of trained personnel in BIM (0.89), and low request for BIM by clients (0.82) while the least ranked factor was lack of enforcement of BIM by government (0.59).

Practical implications – The paper’s results will enable stakeholders to address the challenges of adopting BIM for FM in Lagos, Nigeria and similar developing countries thereby enhancing the application of BIM for FM.

Originality/value – The paper is a pioneer research on the awareness and utilisation of BIM for facilities management from the perspective of an emerging property market like Nigeria.