Purpose Mandating the use of building information modelling (BIM) in building projects has sprawled, but the uptake of BIM in building services engineering (BSE) remains sluggish. The purpose of this paper is to explore how to achieve wider adoption of BIM in BSE. Design/methodology/approach Through an extensive literature review, the benefits of, barriers to and measures conducive to, using BIM for BSE were identified and classified. Built upon the review and a focus group meeting, a questionnaire was devised for an industry-wide survey in Hong Kong and the survey data were processed by statistical analyses. Findings On the ranking of the benefits, strong agreements existed between the BSE and non-BSE respondent groups; yet no significant agreement was found between the two groups on the rankings of the barriers or the conducive measures. The top conducive measure, according to the BSE group, is “Allow enough time in project programme for BIM model development”. Research limitations/implications The data collection and analysis methods of this study may be used for similar BIM studies in other places. Practical implications The priority of the conducive measures, which aid policy or decision makers in formulating how to get BIM effectively implemented in BSE, are useful information in the pursuit of a more productive and sustainable built environment. Originality/value This BIM study is specifically on BSE rather than the other disciplines (e.g. architecture, structural engineering) that have been widely studied.