Woburn, Mass.-based Tocci Building Corp. is definitely an industry leader in developing new design and construction processes,” Vice President Dick Lampman says.

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“Tocci is definitely an industry leader in developing new design and construction processes,” he says. The construction management firm implements virtual design construction – or building information modeling (BIM) – on all of its projects and recommends other companies do the same.

“Although it’s a trend and a practice that’s been sweeping the industry, it’s not really new for us,” asserts Laura Handler, virtual construction manager.

Tocci looked into using Revit nearly a decade ago, but found it difficult to convince clients and project partners of its benefits, she says. In 2006, it dedicated itself to BIM and has since become the go-to company for clients such as Crate and Barrel, who now insist on using the program on every project.

“Owners had been skeptical of the new tools but, now, more are beginning to see how they can increase the efficiency of the project, decrease the time to market, reduce uncertainties and give them a lot more control as to what happens on their project,” Lampman says. “Everybody is getting on the bandwagon. John Tocci, our CEO, is chairman of the Associated General Contractors BIMForum and is bringing all of the technology that is available to bear to the construction process.

“The company is leading this effort from a local level to a national level. It’s exciting to be on the leading-edge, because, although the industry is beginning to move in this direction, we’re going to remain at the forefront.”

In an interview with Construction Today, Lampman and Handler discussed how Tocci is staying on the leading-edge of building technology by optimizing all of BIM’s benefits in a team-oriented environment.

They also provided detailed examples of where the tool saved the company time and money on projects – including ground-ups, renovations and LEED – and how it will inevitably force an industry set in its ways to finally enter the 21st century and never want to look back.

Construction Today: On what types of projects does BIM work most effectively?
Dick Lampman: Those that require a great deal of team decision-making and coordination. For BIM facilities, team collaboration enables the owner, architect and engineer to visualize the impact of various options more quickly, make decisions and discover any inconsistencies or coordination errors on a project.

Laura Handler: We find value in BIM when we use it without team members, but the real value is when we all come together using the same tools and processes.

CT: BIM is typically implemented in the design process, but can it be used in other aspects of a project?
DL: One of the latest innovations for us is taking BIM beyond the design stage and incorporating it into the bidding and subcontracting selection processes and then into the field.
LH: We’re infusing the schedule into the model and then presenting it to the superintendent in a very visual format so he can understand the implications of the set schedule and then communicate with the subcontractors and illustrate the consequences if certain areas of the work are not completed on time.

This also improves project quality because they can understand what’s going on around them. They aren’t working in a bubble anymore.

CT: What do you mean?
DL: Subs usually focus on their own work, sometimes to the detriment of the other trades. BIM reinforces the feeling that it is a team collaboration and once they understand A – how their work affects others – and B – what others are doing on the project – it increases everybody’s under-standing of what is to be accomplished. And, when subs maximize their productivity, it increases their profitability.

LH: We can look at a model and provide superintendents with the quantity of concrete that will be poured on any given day, and it’s gotten to the point where we now order the exact quantities we get from the model – it’s that accurate. It reduces waste, which is good for the project, the team and the environment.
DL: So, as you can see, BIM complements lean construction. Any time you can quantify most aspects of the project and incorporate all the attributes, you can accurately track and optimize all the lean and even LEED components of a project.

CT: Can you provide an example of a LEED project that benefited from BIM?
DL: We’re constructing two new prototype hotels for Starwood Hotels & Resorts in Lexington, Mass. – one is “element” and the other is “aloft.”

We’ve been working on them for about 16 months and will finish our work in the end of May. One exciting aspect to “element” was after we had started to purchase the subcontracts and materials and were pouring the concrete, Starwood announced they wanted to pursue LEED certification, and not only that, they wanted to go for silver, if not gold.

Normally, these decisions are made in the design phase and all of the decisions involving various components systems are made according to LEED criteria.

Our project had been designed conventionally, but I think the tools we had at our disposal enabled us to track materials that were used on-site, air quality, sorting of the waste – everything that was required to be documented for LEED certification was helped by BIM.
LH: One of the major benefits of using this tool is you can quantify pretty much anything about the building once you’ve modeled it, be it energy analysis, acoustical analysis, cost or schedule. You can facilitate a late decision because updates are relatively easy.

CT: Can BIM work on renovations?
LH: We’re working on some projects now where we don’t have as-builts or the as-builts don’t accurately represent the existing conditions, so we’re performing laser scanning on the entire building, which gives us accurate dimensions and geometry.

It captures points representing the geometry of the building and, from that, we build our BIM. Now, all of a sudden we have this accurate existing conditions model, so this is technology that we can bring to any existing project.

DL: In Philadelphia, we laser-scanned a 720,000-square-foot, six-story World War II building, which was originally designed to store tanks before they were shipped to Europe, but is now being converted into a 325-apartment building called South Bridge. The laser scanning has created a highly accurate BIM.

It used to be a challenge to work with existing buildings because there would always be inaccuracies, but now we can verify down to the millimeter what the exact dimensions and geometries are.  

CT: Explain how can BIM help owners specifically?
DL: It’s more than a 3-D representation of the building; it’s an information-rich database that becomes an incredibly powerful facility-management tool. We call it an “as-built on steroids.”

Owners of multiple properties can use it to optimize maintenance and repair schedule and to familiarize their staff with operations of the building.

A lot of people are saying that the majority of the value of these models is going to be on the operational end.

CT: So, what’s the hold-up? Why aren’t other companies following in Tocci’s footsteps and embracing BIM?
DL: It’s partly the nature of the industry. The construction industry is the slowest out of all the industries to adopt new technology. It’s very resistant to the idea of abandoning the tried and true and moving off in a new direction.

Most companies in the industry perceive most new approaches as risky until proven otherwise.

LH: There’s also a start-up cost for training time and the hardware. You need to dedicate people to it. And it’s not just getting the software and skill training, it’s knowing everything about the company to benefit from the collaborative nature of the tool and process. For some companies, that’s difficult because of their size or location.
DL: Companies typically don’t adopt new ideas until the owners demand them and it becomes a competitive disadvantage not to have them. Right now, failure to use BIM is not a competitive disadvantage, but we feel it’s a plus for us. And, within the next couple of years, it will be a competitive disadvantage not to have these tools and processes available.

CT: Where exactly do you see Tocci in the next couple of years?
DL: We see ourselves working on more and more sophisticated projects. Owners and designers who want to work this way tend to seek each other out, so it will open a lot of exciting opportunities for us in a wider geographical area.

It’s going to enable us to attract some of the best and brightest talent, because one challenge that both the design and construction industries are facing is we aren’t attracting as many people to the industry as we need.

Partly, it’s the stodgy, old-fashioned image of the industry, but we’re showing what a dynamic digital environment that we have here and BIM will help us attract talented people to continue developing and refining the process.