While the benefits of virtual design and construction (VDC) are plentiful, helping teams understand its value at the outset of projects can pose as a challenging roadblock to adoption.
This is especially true for building construction firms just getting started with it, where the initial investment — from hardware and software to teams and resources required — can be intimidating.
So how do you make the return on investment (ROI) of VDC clear?
“A lot of people look at the cost first — the cost of the equipment, the cost of the process — but they’re ignoring a lot of different factors that VDC contributes to the project,” 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. “We need to help the industry get out of that mindset that this upfront cost is preventative.”
In a recent Tech Insider interview, Marriott and Logan McGuinness, VDC manager at Weitz, shared how their team has won buy-in with VDC both internally and externally and how they’re planning for its next phase of growth.
Why VDC is Worth It
Save Time and Money
VDC services, such as laser scanning, cut down on the potential for costly construction errors and rework, which can also lead to delays in project completion.
“You have to look at what it’s going to save you,” Marriott says.
In that way, VDC provides preemptive protection against things going wrong or getting off-track.
“It’s performance assurance,” Marriott says. “It’s making sure that we’re building what we say we’re going to build, what was planned to be built, and assuring that that is actually occurring.”
Get Better Project Results
With VDC, you get accurate data that helps improve project outcomes. It also offers insights that lead to smarter decisions.
McGuinness says the power of reality capture is often not even fully realized in its initial set of deliverables — the data can continue to be useful and actionable for other applications down the road.
“That is so valuable and can provide such time savings to the project team,” McGuinness says. “The ROI you get on it is just immeasurable.”
Improve Collaboration
VDC gives teams the info they need, right at their fingertips. It allows them to eliminate tedious back-and-forth communication internally or with third-party providers.
In the past, it could take weeks to get responses from vendors to solve project issues, McGuinness says.
“In our industry, time is money,” she says. “The amount of time you’re saving on the schedule by having someone laser scanning on site, who can work with trade partners to figure out what needs to be done and how we do it, it’s just been invaluable.”
How to Show VDC’s Value
Meet Stakeholders at their Level
First, it’s important to recognize that ROI means different things to different people, depending on their roles and jobs to be done.
Executives often care about the bottom line, while folks in the field want to see how it makes their jobs easier.
The key is sharing specific use cases tailored to what each role or team cares about, McGuinness says.
“To prove your ROI, you need to show them this is what we did, this is how it worked, this is the value it provided, and that’s why this is a necessary service,” she says.
Make Its Impact Real
The main hurdle that stands in the way of VDC becoming a standard service, like engineering or project management, is education and understanding.
“We are leading a huge effort to get our project teams to understand the capabilities of the technology, what we’re able to deliver them, and how it’s going to impact their job,” Marriott says.
That means getting down to the field level to show them what they can do with the data, including using tangible examples of problems caught during coordination or by analyzing point clouds, such as a duct installed incorrectly or plumbing lines in the wrong location.
Plan Ahead to Measure Results
It’s important to align your goals and how you will track progress with your organization’s leadership from the outset.
“We’ve been very fortunate that our executive team sees what we’re doing and the difference that it’s made,” Marriott says.
Develop short-term and longer-term (think three- to five-year) strategies in partnership with internal stakeholders. Work to understand their needs and wants and then outline together how VDC can help them achieve those.
Follow the Playbook for VDC’s Success
Learn by Outsourcing VDC
At first, Weitz became familiar with the potential of VDC by outsourcing it as part of their projects.
As their knowledge of its capabilities grew, Marriott says they began to evaluate whether it made sense to bring the services in-house.
Before you make the move to build out an internal VDC team, Marriott says you should ask these questions:
- What are you spending on outsourcing VDC services?
- What are your teams and projects getting out of the deliverables?
- Are those deliverables meeting your needs?
- Do your teams know the questions to ask when contracting VDC services to get the results they desire?
- What will your company need to do to set up your teams and clients for success? (ie, what technology will you need to purchase or who do you need to hire?)
Examine Your Technology Criteria
Similar to the evaluation you need to perform when considering offering VDC internally, you need to weigh what hardware and software is necessary for your desired outcomes.
McGuinness says questions should include:
- What is your end goal?
- What do you need to capture?
- What level of accuracy do you need?
- Does the technology (ie, terrestrial vs mobile scanner) provide the required level of accuracy?
- Do you need your technology to support multiple use cases?
- What software will your hardware be compatible with?
It’s all about finding the right tool for the right job, Marriott says.
“When we started evaluating, Leica hands down beat out the competitors and a lot of that came down to the processing,” he says. “My experience had shown that for every hour you’re out scanning, there’s probably five to 10 hours of processing. Leica flipped the script on that where a lot of the processing is happening as we are scanning.”
Start Small, Then Scale
Appoint a champion that will take ownership of your VDC efforts and become immersed in learning the technologies in order to be successful.
When Weitz initially brought VDC in-house, McGuinness filled that role.
“We had bought a very expensive set of equipment and all the software that went with it,” Marriott says. “And I handed that off to Logan and said, hey, learn how to use this and make something happen. And that’s exactly what she did.”
Her best advice? Dive right in, soak up everything you can, and don’t be afraid to try things out.
“It was a lot of late nights on YouTube and Later Scanning Forum and Reddit and talking to others in the industry trying to figure out best practices, as well as some training,” McGuinness says. “It was a fun challenge.”
With that approach, it doesn’t take long to see real results.
“Within a month, she was producing accurate data that was usable and actionable by the project team,” Marriott says. “Within six months, I would say she was an expert at it.”
Once you’re reliably producing successful outcomes, your VDC team can start to expand its applications and adoption. For Weitz, it’s now about getting closer to the field.
“The closer we get the tools and the data to the point of work, the more impact we’re going to make across the board,” Marriott says. “The guys in the field are the ones installing the work, and that’s where this data is critical.”
Want to know more about using VDC and maximizing its ROI? Connect with a building construction specialist today.
