Is BIM and IFC only for design?

The majority of BIM efforts focus on design. This is probably because of the maturity of the model author tool market and because the design coordination, including clash detection, is one of the easiest things to do from the BIM data management point of view. Basically, all you need is the correct geometry and some simple data.

While it is important to get your designs right, a lot of value for BIM data can be found in the downstream processes. In work that happens after the design. There are more users for BIM in the production and all the supporting functions than in the different design functions. Most of the building costs and value are not produced during the design, but during the production and operation of the building.

Simplebim can help the design process, even the design coordination. That said, Simplebim was created to catch the bigger fish. To help find the value of BIM data for all construction professionals, not just designers. Simplebim unlocks the power of BIM by solving the BIM exchange issue from the designer to the downstream parties.

So, no, of course it is not! You can look at the IFC format, and it certainly was not even intended to be used only by designers and model author tools. In fact, the majority of the value IFC models can produce happens downstream, at the receiving end of the data exchange. In other words, anywhere but in the model author tools. That is the whole idea of BIM data exchange.