How to Scale VDC for Your Client Needs

Understanding what building construction clients truly need from virtual design and construction (VDC) services can be a bit tricky.

Many clients think they know exactly what they want, but often, they need guidance.

“When we submit a proposal on a project or our internal team comes to us and says we need VDC on this project, we need to find out what does that mean,” says Joshua Marriott, director of VDC and field solutions for The Weitz Company, an architectural, engineering, and construction (AEC) firm based in Des Moines, Iowa.

It’s not uncommon for customers to request VDC services that aren’t the best fit for their budget, timelines, or desired outcomes.

“It’s a big part of our job and our role to sit down and define why you need VDC on the project,” Marriott says.

In a recent Tech Insider interview, Marriott and his teammate Logan McGuinness, Weitz VDC manager, outlined how they approach getting to the root of what clients are after and how to scale VDC effectively to achieve that.

First things first, you need to ask the right questions. This helps uncover the real goals behind a client’s request for VDC.

“The owner may be asking for a digital twin, but not really be sure what they are asking for,” McGuinness says.

This means sitting down with the client at the beginning of a project to understand whether they’re looking for model coordination, creation, or something entirely different.

McGuinness says questions to ask should include: 

• What is actually needed? 

• What are the deliverable expectations? (ie, as-built model, Construction Operations Building Information Exchange (COBie) data, sensor integration, etc) 

• What data is actionable (Example: Will it integrate with their facilities management system?) 

Budget and schedules are also major factors to consider. 

“It’s crucial to make sure that the owner understands the budget implications, as well as the level of detail of the model turnover deliverables, especially if it has data tied to it,” McGuinness says. 

Once you know the client’s needs, it’s time to create a BIM execution plan. This plan is your guide for the project, outlining expectations and deliverables.  

“That document basically becomes the definition and defines how we’re going to perform on that project,” Marriott says. 

The BIM execution plan should detail: 

• VDC value provided 

• Risks and challenges to address 

• Communication protocols 

• Meeting schedules 

• Data handover processes 

It can be helpful to enlist specialists to assist with this process, since it requires a lot of technical knowledge and interpretation to get everyone aligned, McGuinness says.

“I would encourage owners to engage with consultants who can provide direction or work with the contractor while we’re doing our BIM execution plans at the beginning,” she says.

The technologies used for VDC are not one-size-fits-all.

Their selection should depend on the results of the discovery process with the client and what’s laid out in the BIM execution plan.

Often, it makes sense to integrate various technologies to enhance project outcomes.

“We use a couple of different systems to achieve our end goals and intermingle all of that data together to produce a concise deliverable at the end of a project,” Marriott says. “So it’s multiple technologies being used, including laser scanning and drones.”

It’s important that VDC teams take the time to explain the depth of what VDC can achieve based on the application and then guide their clients to develop the right plan. 

“We focus heavily on doing training programs and lunch and learns to make sure that project teams really understand not only what this technology is, but also how it can be used on specific projects,” McGuinness says. 

For example, Weitz recently completed a project at the University of Florida, where initially the request was for an extremely detailed deliverable, a BIM Level of Development (LOD) 500 model. 

“In all the years that I’ve been doing this, the only project that that we were required to do an LOD 500 model on was for NASA, where you’re modeling every nut and bolt,” Marriott says. 

He says they worked with the university’s project stakeholders to help them realize that they didn’t have the budget or time to achieve that particular model — and it’s probably not what they were wanting anyway. 

The Weitz VDC team proposed an alternative solution: Laser scanning the entire project as they went along. They conveyed that this would allow the university to get even more information than with a LOD 500 model, plus it could be integrated with the coordination model to combine the original data with reality. 

“We shared that since we’ll be doing this during construction, it’ll be like an onion where you can peel back the layers of information that you need,” Marriott says. 

This approach and proposal exceeded the client’s expectations, Marriott says. 

“They were ecstatic,” he says. “They said, ‘this is a great idea, let’s do it.’ This is where we see the industry going. This is what we see for our projects in the future.” 

Then there’s opportunity for growth and incorporating VDC on other projects.

“Once we get our foot in the door with a team like that, we’re able to show them the value of that information and what we’re able to do with it,” Marriott says. “Then the confidence level in what we can deliver has definitely gone up.”

Scaling VDC to meet customer needs truly takes a collaborative partnership.

But if you follow the appropriate steps and take the time to investigate your client’s goals from the outset and the best solutions for them — it’s a win-win all around.

To learn more about scaling VDC for your construction projects, connect with a building construction specialist today.