BIG VDC, Small Projects: Adapt People, Process, and Tech for Small Projects

DUSTIN RIDLEY: Hello, everybody. Welcome to the Autodesk University recording session. Today's session is going to be BIG VDC, small projects. And you will be learning about adapting people, process, and technology for small projects in construction.

But before we get started, my counterpart and I have put together a skit to perform for you, illustrating the first time that we introduced VDC on small projects at DPR. We are not actors, so bear with us, but we think you'll enjoy this performance. And action.

Mr. Project Manager, I was looking at your project, and how would you feel about leveraging VDC on this one?

TED BARNES: Are you serious? It's an 800 square foot operating room. I don't really think that we need VDC on this one. Besides, we've got a really tight budget and don't have a budget for VDC.

DUSTIN RIDLEY: OK. I understand that. And I know I'm coming to you a little late, but there are existing conditions on this project, right?

TED BARNES: Yeah. But listen. Everything's going to be demoed. The trades are going to be able to review everything prior to installation.

DUSTIN RIDLEY: True. This is very true. But I almost guarantee there will be some unforeseen issues that come up. There always are.

TED BARNES: Yeah, maybe. But listen. We really don't have the budget for it.

DUSTIN RIDLEY: OK. I totally understand. Tell you what, how about I do this one pro bono this time around? Just let me get in there and scan the space and do a constructability analysis. And if you don't like the results, we don't have to do this ever again. But if you do like what you are given and you find value, let's talk next project.

TED BARNES: A-ha! Now you're starting to speak my language-- free. But I think you're going to have a tough time getting the models from the design team.

DUSTIN RIDLEY: OK. Yeah. This time is free. But again, let's talk next project. But about the design models, I don't think it's really going to be that big of a deal. Design teams are usually more collaborative on these than you think.

TED BARNES: All right. Let's go ahead and do it then.

DUSTIN RIDLEY: OK. Awesome. I'll get back to you soon.

SPEAKER: 24 hours later.

DUSTIN RIDLEY: OK. Mr. Project Manager, we laser scanned the space, and we've completed a constructability analysis for you.

TED BARNES: Holy smokes, you did it all that quick? Man, and you even got access to the design models?

DUSTIN RIDLEY: Yeah. It was not a problem. The design team was more than happy to share the model with us. Not a big deal.

TED BARNES: All right. Well, fantastic. Let's take a look at it.

DUSTIN RIDLEY: OK. So you do have a major issue. You have three existing conduits crossing the height profile of the planned laminar diffusers for this project. So you have two options-- shut down power and reroute the conduit, or you can order lower profile diffusers while we have the opportunity right now.

TED BARNES: Wow, that's a great catch. Those could have been potential significant impacts to our schedule. And we all know, this day and age, it's hard to get material in a timely manner.

DUSTIN RIDLEY: Yeah. I'm also glad we caught this early too. This could have had impact to the schedule, as you said, if we had discovered this at a later time. And it really didn't take that long to do this analysis-- about two hours in the field scanning, a couple of hours to process the point cloud, and about four hours to get the design models and do a constructability analysis.

So cost-wise, this would have been roughly about $1,200 cost to the project. So what do you think overall? Was this a value add?

TED BARNES: Yeah. They were great catches. You know, the budget's not too bad either. You know, let's talk on the next one. You might have me convinced.

DUSTIN RIDLEY: OK. Awesome. You've got yourself a deal, man. Thank you.

TED BARNES: And scene.

DUSTIN RIDLEY: OK. Skit recap. So what did we learn? We learned that designers are actually more willing to collaborate than you think. And if you give a little, you may gain a little. And if you show value, it will be valued. And if you are given the opportunity to do this, make sure you mobilize the technology quickly.

So now that you've learned who we are not, we're going to introduce ourselves. And I am Dustin Ridley, Southwest Region VDC Leader for DPR Construction. I have about 20 years in the industry that spans design, trade, and construction. Experience on 120-plus projects over that 20-year period, and I lead a team of 43 VDC professionals in the Southwest.

My favorite Small Projects quote is "If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a 3D model is worth a million." And my Star Wars doppelganger at DPR is Han Solo.

TED BARNES: Good afternoon. My name is Ted Barnes. I am the Southwest Regional SSG VDC Manager. I've got about 25 years in the industry. I manage all of the small projects here in the Southwest and implementing VDC in all of them. My favorite Small Project quote is "No job is too small for VDC." And my doppelganger for Star Wars here at DPR is--

DUSTIN RIDLEY: [IMITATES CHEWBACCA]

That was my attempt at the Chewbacca, Chewy sound.

TED BARNES: Yeah. Let's get that off the screen real quick.

DUSTIN RIDLEY: This is just a total embarrassment. This [INAUDIBLE]. So we're going to move on. We actually have a Kylo Ren in our ranks, believe it or not. I believe this is a scheduler out of our Texas office. Don't ask me why we have a Kylo Ren at that office, but we do.

With that being said, we view VDC a lot like the Force. The Force can be used for the good of construction, for the betterment of construction, to increase our efficiencies, and build smarter, or it can be used for evil BIM, as Clive would say with flattery.

Session introduction. So we're going to be learning about big VDC, small projects today. And we know that small projects bring their own set of challenges. A lot of us are familiar with this. For those of you that are not, this is going to include tight schedules, limited budgets, smaller teams, and existing conditions. These are pretty commonplace challenges on these smaller projects.

However, VDC can play a big role in helping deliver successful outcomes, but it really, really takes the right mix of people, process, and technology to deliver it right. And that's what we're going to be learning about today. And for those of you that have visited and enrolled to our session online, you may have seen our learning objectives by now, but it really comes down to fostering relationships, selecting the right tools, implementing reality capture, and having different strategic point of view that really makes this special. And that's really the secret sauce to approaching big VDC, small projects.

TED BARNES: Yeah. Before we jump into our first learning objective, we wanted to share a few more critical stats about DPR. Here are our core markets, which are probably very similar to every other GC's core markets. But I want you to focus on the last two bullet points here. We have 187 US-based VDC professionals, 152 international-based VDC professionals, and the reason that we have such a large number of individuals is because here at DPR, we have a 100% VDC adoption goal for all of our projects, including all of our small projects.

Our small projects division is called SSG, which stands for Special Systems Group. Our average small project volume is about $2 million, which makes up about a third of DPR's overall project volume. This is an important distinction to keep in mind throughout the session. DPR does an average of 600 small projects annually, and we're on track for this year alone in the Southwest to do 52 small projects.

DUSTIN RIDLEY: OK. So we're at our first learning objective, and this is where we're going to walk you through how we foster relationships with internal and external partners to grow technology in small projects. However, before we really get into that, we want to start with the Big Bang Theory, where it all really started.

And so, before I came over to the GC side, I had worked on the subcontracting game for about 11 years. And on the last project I worked on as a trade partner before coming to DPR, I was working with a GC that did not see value in BIM on the $7 million health care job we were on. Luckily, I was working alongside the mechanical trade partners we often do work with. And the mechanical BIM manager, who, by the way, him and I were close friends, we decided to take matters into our own hands that day.

So we proceeded to request access to the design models and conduct our own internal BIM coordination effort, all without the GC knowing. And there, in that moment, big VDC, small projects was born. And if you're wondering what camp us as a trade partner fell into, it was do BIM to prefab, enhance layout, reduce labor hours, and build efficiently. And this is really an important distinction because this starts to foster the innovation behind thinking outside the box on how to get creative with bringing VDC to small projects, even when you may not have the support around you.

So when I came to DPR, I came to realize we did a lot of small projects at DPR. In fact, as stated earlier by Ted, a third of our overall company volume. This really got me thinking, why don't GCs do VDC on small projects? So my interest was piqued. So I set off to visit the small projects job sites and interview superintendents and PMs and PEs or whoever would listen to me.

And I quickly came to realize that certain convictions in the field as to why we just simply cannot do VDC on small projects. And these convictions were-- not enough time and budget. Owners don't care. Not a value add. No VDC resources available. They're all locked up on megaprojects. These were some real convictions that existed in the field as to why we can't do VDC on small projects.

So while spending time in the field researching why we didn't do VDC on small projects, I was afforded the opportunity to understand the small project anatomy in more detail, which helped me to understand the typical challenges needed to be overcome. And it really became apparent to me that schedule, sequencing, mobilization, procurement, staff, and cost were a consistent challenge on small projects. And this really helped me understand what we were up against with some level of consistency, and that really helped me to start shaping an idea of what kind of technology we might be able to leverage on our projects to address these things.

At this point, I really wanted to peel back the onion layer just one more time. And so Ted and I decided to analyze six years of small project RFI data in Arizona. Almost 5,000 RFIs in total. And what we found supported what we were hearing in the field. Essentially, what we were doing is we were looking at the RFI questions and made an evaluation if a VDC solution could have been put in place to avoid the RFI being created in the first place.

And what we were finding was that this was more true than we ever could imagine, that VDC technological solutions could have been put in place for a lot of these RFIs that were reoccurring from project to project. And that was an impactful insight. So we're starting to get close to building these-- to go out and build relationships and message what we can do with the technology.

But before we started reaching out to all of our internal and external partners, we had this common theme that we were bringing with us. And that is, the two black boxes you see here on the screen, this is the traditional process in the industry, where design is creating construction documents and trades are going to install.

And what I mean by that is that there's literally no coordination with the trade partners. And so there's a lot of risk in that. So our messaging was that there is opportunity to get in early and laser scan these existing spaces. There's opportunity to squeeze in a level of trade coordination to enhance the overall efficiency of what we're building. And at the same time, we were trying to educate that these two things are the same thing, sort of.

And what I mean by that is the image on the left is a drawing of two OR rooms. A lot of folks in the industry still haven't made that connection yet, that the drawings that they're looking at actually came from a 3D model. But we say sort of because of this reason. When you're looking at a 2D set of construction documents, they likely came from a Level of Development 200, from the design, which is troubling because the risk there is apparent when you look at the right picture on the screen.

This is what we're trying to achieve, is a Level of Development of 400 fabrication. And when we achieve that, we're eliminating the risk that is there and present when you're building straight off 2D documents. So this is what we were bringing with us as a core theme in terms of messaging. And so now the stage is set.

TED BARNES: Yeah. So now that we've reviewed the perception versus reality, the anatomy of a small project, the next step was going out and building the necessary relationships to be successful. So where we started. We started with our own internal teams-- the supers, the MEP engineers, the PEs, the individuals that have the boots on the ground, if you will.

Spending the necessary time in the field with those members to really understand the challenges that were commonly faced during construction. We also wanted to include the PMs on this discussion. So we can start having the dialogue around the budgets. Really dive deep into where we could find the money to fund the VDC efforts on the next project. Discussing how we can track the ROIs to show the value adds.

The next team that we wanted to focus on was our own subsidiary companies, vConstruct. These are critical numbers of our team as Dustin and I couldn't do the work ourselves. Dustin got the opportunity to travel over to Pune, India, where vConstruct is at. So he could start discussing the strategies, the training in MEP modeling and detailing, how to read drawings, and the construction terminology. We actually made a game, a Kahoot! game, out of the slang construction terms.

Once we finished with our internal and strategic partners, we wanted to turn our focus to building further relationship with our trade partners, educating them on all the small project goals, the requirements, the different workflows, and what level of development look like for these projects, focusing on the larger aspects of their own systems. Also, helping them focus on constructability items that we couldn't clash against.

The next team that we focused on was our design teams. We started showing them-- we started by showing them the benefits of the laser scanning technology by providing them with the point clouds of the existing conditions for their small projects, with the overall goal of trying to reduce design hours, reduce RFI, reduce design renditions, and try to mitigate drawing issuances.

Last but not least, and probably one of the most important teams to build the trust and rapport with, was the owners and end users. We needed them to see the benefits of implementing VDC on small projects, the cost savings and potential change orders, reducing schedule impacts, and perhaps the possibility of shaving time off of the overall construction schedule, in turn, opening the opportunity for them to start making revenue on a newly remodeled space faster. Once we started talking to them about the money savings and everything like that, they were totally bought in.

So what did we learn in this objective? We learned investigating the perceptions and truly diving into the actual challenges that the teams were faced with. We learned the anatomy of a small project and where VDC could lean in to add the value and savings. We openly share our strategies and our approaches with all of our team members. And making the relationships with those team members was our number one priority because without them, these efforts would not have been successful.

DUSTIN RIDLEY: Awesome. Thank you, Ted. So now we're at our second learning objective, and this is going to be about selecting the right tools to implement coordination in a nimble and quick manner on small projects. So which tool do you choose?

This is Mark Robertson from our Austin office doing the technology jig in front of his house with all of his toys. Most people don't even know what these things are. So selecting the right tools for the job can be a daunting task in the modern time that we live in. And there's sort of a myth out there that larger companies, such as DPR, with access to so many tools, the job just must be easier.

Sometimes that is just not true. Having a broad range of tools to select from can be challenging. Another great example of this is the broad range of software that DPR leverages across the project life cycle. We have many different partnerships and pilots in place and things we're trying every day. In fact, at DPR, we have full-time integration managers in each region to help align process and software stacks on our projects. So as you can imagine, with access to so many tools and software, selecting the right tool for the job on a small project can be an overwhelming task for the untrained eye.

So another myth in construction is that you can put your lesser experienced staff on small projects. However, due to the typical challenges stated in the first learning objective, this is just not true for all involved, including VDC. Scaling is a different conversation altogether. However, to crack the door open on this big VDC, small projects concept and to really start opening up opportunity, you really want to get a VDC staff with a little experience.

We have on the screen here construction experience, technology experience, people experience. And these are things that Ted and I have. And we're kind of like magical medieval blacksmiths. We have lots of experience in the trade, and we can make materials and tools have different arrangements, and we can craft a plan for each project that's unique to the project, sort of like sprinkling magical VDC dust to make great things happen.

But again, when it comes to scaling, it's a different conversation. You can bring lesser experienced VDC staff to support, but to really crack this door open on this concept correctly, you really want to have the right who so that you can select the right tools. And this comes with experienced individuals.

TED BARNES: Yeah. To help narrow down our focus, we started looking at how we could classify projects into groups. Primarily three groups. The first group being that low hanging fruit, right? The tenant improvement. Your typical run of the mill TI projects. The second group, which makes up about 35% of DPR's small projects, which is occupied health care-- the ORs, the cath labs, the MRIs, et cetera.

Lastly, considering that there are going to be certain projects that need a little bit of special attention, ones that need a little different approach perhaps. A little more out of the box thinking. And that's the unique scenarios. Here we have an example of one of our virtual reality mockups. This is an executive suite at one of the local universities here in Arizona.

The purpose of doing the virtual mockup versus a traditional mockup purely came down to the cost and time it was going to take. Where the traditional mockup for the space was going to cost somewhere right around the mid 100s and take several months to complete, we were able to implement the virtual mockup for this just under 3,000-- or excuse me, under $8,000, and roughly took about three weeks to finish. This particular mockup was completely interactive to where you could be able to adjust the screens, move the furniture, pick up beverages, and a few other functions.

Now, the next one that we're going to look at here is the pathway analysis. This is a version of visual planning, taking the opportunity to plan it right before we start to work. We started by capturing the existing conditions by utilizing the laser scanning technology. Then we modeled the equipment per spec.

We moved the equipment through the space to ensure that we didn't have to dismantle the equipment prior to installation just to get it down the hallways. In fact, we did have to order all the equipment unassembled and reassembled it in the field after it was installed in the room that it needed to go to. But we were able to account for this into the schedule, and we're able to communicate this to the owner well in advance.

The last example I have here is the control room in an OR. We knew that the window was going to take up a large amount of the wall. The supports that required underneath it were going to be tube steel. And the other part of the wall was going to be taken up by the electrical panel. The tube steel on each side of the window didn't leave much room for any conduit, for any of the outlets underneath, as you can see here in the image. And using flex in a health care environment is completely against code in Arizona.

So now that we have established project opportunities and the key groupings, we turned our focus into making sure that we size the approach correctly, reviewing the use case families and objectives and making sure that these services were tailored to each project according to where the value add would be. Then we started looking at our contracts and addressing the stigma around how they could be scary, addressing the language to focus more on the larger ticketed items that needed to be focusing on during traditional VDC coordination.

Once we tailored the VDC XP to a small project, we wanted to focus on addressing the cost, right sizing the dollar to the service that we planned on implementing on the projects, creating an a la carte menu for the pre-construction group when they were bidding the work and the project managers so they knew how to allocate the dollars appropriately.

DUSTIN RIDLEY: Thanks, Ted. So at this point, Ted and I are a few years into our big VDC, small projects timeline, having to do a lot of the hands on work ourselves. And so at this point, we've done our research. We've established relationships. We've right sized our tech stack, technology stack, and cost approach. So what you see on the screen here is an example of scale and time and represents the pinnacle of what is achievable.

This project on the screen here had no design models, just 2D CAD backgrounds. And the trades brought on had no BIM capabilities. So Ted and I had a choice-- give up or take matters into our own hands. It really was a hold my beer moment for Ted and I and a challenge accepted.

So what did we do? After getting buy-in from the project team, which was a very important step, by the way, we laser scanned the existing space and worked with our strategic partner, vConstruct, to as-built in Revit, the existing conditions. The design was modeled in Revit as-is and trade scopes for framing, ceiling, electrical, and medical equipment and miscellaneous steel were also modeled in Revit by us. And for mechanical plumbing, we leaned on a peer of ours who came from the mechanical trade.

So at this point, everything is modeled and ready to be class detected, which we did internally and quickly. This ultimately enabled us to create shop drawings for the trade partners as the final step, with their review and sign off, of course, and some adjustments to contracts. So there you have it. BIM against all odds.

Again, Ted and I did not start doing this out of the box day one. We didn't start doing this kind of work on the onset. As you recall in our earlier skit and the performance that we put on, our first deliverable was a simple laser scan and a constructability analysis. So it takes time and patience to get to this point. Additionally, it is not really our preference to take it to this level either. We love to see our trade partners enable to do BIM internally or partner with external resources, as we have.

So learning objective recap. What did we learn? We learned that small projects do need experienced staff because of the complexities that surround small projects. We learned that if you right size the technology stack, we can achieve a lot, and we can tailor the costs and contracts and approach to small projects that feel right for that project. So there's really a different kind of approach on how you tailor the technology and approach for small projects.

OK. Learning objective three. This is going to be about implementing reality capture on small projects to improve design, which really is key to almost every small project. And that is implementing reality capture. So the effectiveness of VDC on small projects, it really would not truly be the same without the utilization of laser scanning, especially if you take into consideration that 80% or more projects that Ted and I have supported up to this point have benefited from laser scanning.

So laser scanning is a big, key ingredient to delivering the many different use cases that are achievable. And so one thing we started doing was looking at different ways that scanning is leveraged on small projects and started to group them into different areas of focus, such as constructability reviews or design and trade coordination, or if they're being leveraged for as-builts or heat maps. And this kind of helped build some consistency in what we were messaging, what we can do with laser scanning.

And so one of the other areas we really needed to get specific on was how we're pricing and sharing logistics around laser scanning on small projects because of the short schedule durations that we have and the quickness that we need to mobilize. So for us to stay competitive with our laser scanning costs, we created very detailed estimates for our scanning efforts, as opposed to a percentage of the overall project volume or a half day rate or a full day rate.

We had gone so far as to position on plan every location we plan to laser scan, whether that's going to be below ceiling, at ceiling, above ceiling. And this allowed us to calculate the different positions so we can total the time that would take to scan and process the scan. And each one of the projects, we'd ask a whole list of questions. But some of the more important questions is, are we dealing with occupied environment, or is it empty? Is it open shell or complex MEP? And we started creating some consistency on how we were approaching pricing logistics with our small projects teams.

So our overall mentality on small projects is to get in, get out, process, coordinate, quickly. And this can be a day turnaround, or it could be three months. And this is our typical range for what we do with VDC and field technology on small projects, is it typically ranges from a day to three months in what we're doing. So again, it can't be overstated how important it is to have access to these reality capture tools because it is a key component to how we get into this space first to scan it.

It allows us to do a level of design review with the design team, constructability analysis, and we can further use that information to do trade coordination. And then we go to install and further use additional reality capture tools, like 360 cameras, to document the install process. So we kind keep that in mind as a phrase. Get in, get out, process, coordinate, quickly.

When we go into scan existing spaces, we'll make sure to keep in mind that maybe we might want to capture the floor conditions as well because a lot of these existing spaces, the flooring may not have been completed yet. So even if we're doing overhead-- our mission is to do overhead MEP scanning-- we'll ask the team how important the floor conditions are to you. And we'll often make it a group activity where maybe we're adding some additional scan positions to also just capture the rest of the floor space. And then, that way, we can provide a heat map to the team on what the floor conditions might look like.

In this example on the screen, this was a small project we laser scanned. We provided a heat map. And you can see the northern part of this building is really low, like a half an inch to an inch and a half. And that was concerning. So we did more research and comes to find out, above grid line 39, that's about where an expansion joint is for the building.

So that part of the slab was a little lower, and we were able to message to our flooring sub to carry more material because they're going to need more than they were thinking because of this condition. So a really powerful thing to share a message to the team quickly.

But laser scanning really is the core to how we provide constructability reviews to our design teams and trades. The things that we're looking for are immediate design impacts with existing framing, existing MEP, existing structure, any kind of code or general constructability issues. The image to the right shows electrical conduit running through the design ductwork. Obviously, that would be a problem if you discovered this as you go to install the ductwork. Everyone would have to stop what they're doing, and we lose time on the schedule.

We may find things such as plumbing risers going through a planned room. That will have to be accommodated for, and something may have to change in the field in accordance to how that room was designed. We've seen things such as column structures with corbels sticking below the planned ceiling height. And catching these things early, we're able to have a conversation with the design team and lower the ceilings and change the design a little bit before we go out there.

So this is just a few examples of thousands of different examples that we find in small projects. But what we want to do now is talk about some of the other tools that we leverage on small projects outside of laser scanning. And that's going to be power of the camera.

So one thing that we leverage a lot on small projects is our Matterport cameras. And believe it or not, we tend to leverage Matterport a little bit more on our smaller projects than our larger projects because it's easier and more nimble to deploy a Matterport camera on, say, a 10,000 square feet project or 800 square feet project than it is a 650,000 square foot hospital project. So we're able to deploy these things pretty quickly on small projects, and it brings a lot of value to what we're doing on small projects.

And here's just some of the ways that we're using that technology on our small projects. It ranges from marketing opportunities to milestone captures to prebid virtual walks and virtual punch lists, which was something we did a lot throughout COVID. We were able to share high definition capture of the project to the design team or an inspector, and it was good enough quality for them to not have to be there in person.

And we can also extract point clouds from Matterport as well and create floor plans and ceiling plans. So again, it takes a unique approach and experience to identify the use cases for each one of these small projects, but one that I want to highlight is the milestone captures. On this project in Tucson, what we decided to do was capture each major milestone, major phase of construction with Matterport. So before demo, after demo, framing rough-in, drywall start, and the different finishes.

We went out to each time to capture these conditions, and then we shared the Matterport capture with the owner, with the design team, with the project team building the project, and even put a QR code on the hallway so people walking by can scan and see the progress of construction as a public link. And what you're seeing on the screen here is some really awesome testimonial from the owner.

That may have been the coolest thing ever. Worked great. This is amazing. Definitely one of my favorite projects to be remembered. That's what we live for, is these kind of impactful statements, by leveraging technology in a very nimble way. It doesn't have to be complicated or difficult. But those statements right there is why we do this.

TED BARNES: Yeah. So another tool and software that we utilize to help enhance our deliverables and constructability reviews are StructionSite, along with our Insta360 cameras. This helps us with the overall investigations, making sure that we understand exactly what we're seeing in the point clouds that were given during laser scanning as we know that utilizing point clouds can be a little tricky sometimes. Sometimes it's a little odd to try to decipher what you're looking at.

Most of our precon teams have access to these cameras so they can utilize them during pre-bid walks with the owner. We also utilize these cameras to take weekly progression photos, to help show the owner and end users the progression of the project during the OAC meetings.

So we wouldn't be DPR if we didn't kick it up a notch, right? Ever forward. After four years of evolution, we've been able-- we're at a pivotal point in our approaches, where we now can implement some robotics in our small projects. Yes. Robotics is not just a big project tool. It can be leveraged in small projects as well.

This is just another tool in our tool belt that helps us ensure precise alignment between the MEP trades and drywall framing, while minimizing clashes and rework in the field. What you're seeing here is a photo-- is how we utilize the technology to add another layer of quality to our in-wall process. Once we had finished out the traditional in-wall process, we utilized Dusty to lay out all of our walls, including every single stud in the correct location-- all of the soffits and every single wall penetration for all the MEP trades.

We took the time to coordinate these efforts throughout the trade coordination process so that we could save time in the field. The ROI on this effort was weeks of man hour savings, somewhere to the tune of about $40,000. And if you are interested, Dusty Robotics can be rented out to anyone. So if you want to implement it, just reach out to them.

So what did we learn in this last objective, right? Capturing existing conditions with laser scanning technology is truly the foundation for success on our small projects. By utilizing the laser scanning technologies, we can establish the baseline for design teams. 360 prototype-- excuse me, 360 photodocumentation plays a key role in our constructability and design reviews, and even robotics can be leveraged throughout small projects.

So this brings us back-- this brings us to our last learning objective. So when you're thinking of bringing VDC into small project, it is imperative to be grounded by prospective-- perspective, excuse me, which brings us to our last objective. Applying the different strategic points of view on how to implement a range of VDC processes in small projects.

So why would we want to implement BIM, VDC, and field technology practices in small projects? Dustin, tell them why.

DUSTIN RIDLEY: [CHUCKLES] This is why. This absolutely can be avoided, and this is absolutely why we want to do big VDC on small projects. And these two examples that you see here on the screen represent many, many hundreds and thousands of different kind of constructability coordination issue challenges that you can encounter if you're not coordinating your small projects.

So this is why. And this perspective is unique. To see a picture like this and to say, this is why we need to leverage technology on small projects, is a perspective setting position to have. Another perspective or point of view is what we call rule of 1 to 20. And think about this. For every one GC VDC resource staffed on a megaproject, which can be a three-year period, you can also have one VDC resource implementing VDC on 120 projects over the course of those three years.

Think about the technology that changes over a three-year period and think about the exposure level that you're getting from having someone dedicated to small projects. For instance, if you have one individual on a mega project for three years, they're working with the same project team, the same design team, the same owner, et cetera. But if you have one individual that has worked on 120 different projects over a three-year period, you're getting a lot of different touchpoints with a lot of different project teams, which can be different design teams, owners, trade partners, vendors.

And so that's impactful. In a way, that helps us elevate awareness around VDC as a whole. And so we're raising the foundation level up a little higher. And so this is a data point we've established internally from experience. These are real numbers that we have been able to establish in doing this. And so remember rule of 1 to 20. It's a different point of view to look at why we introduce big VDC in small projects.

Our RFP playbook. There's a different point of view that we have for this. When you go to implement on small projects and you have an opportunity to get an existing space during the RFP stage and maybe have a good relationship with the design team, what you can do is incorporate your findings in your analysis in the RFP itself when you go to win that project.

And that, in a way, creates a kind of key differentiator for ourselves, where we're getting in early, we're scanning, we're working with the design teams, we're coming up with solutions, and using the technology on these small projects to win the project. Another point of view, as it relates to RFP, is-- we do this a lot on health care projects. We may do four or five small projects where we're leveraging and implementing technology and driving efficiency.

When, say, perhaps a tower comes up to be built on this campus, we will leverage those use cases and incorporate that into our RFP. And basically what our message is, you saw what we can do on small projects on your campus. Now imagine what we can do on a big project using big VDC on big projects. So that's a really unique point of view to have that really helps drive more value behind what we're doing here.

Leave it at home. So there's a point of view. We've talked a lot about what we are implementing and how. However, it is just important to know when to leave the technology at home. There are times we may not implement a tool or workflow even though it may be part of our overall best practice framework. For example, for most of our small projects, because of the short duration and timeline, we may not deploy SYNCHRO, for example, to support 4D model sequencing and model-based production tracking.

So there are tools that we are not leveraging on small projects that we do leverage on our bigger projects. And again, it's having the right who to know what right tool to use and what tool not to use. And that takes a different point of view to set your mind to that instead of just trying to implement everything that you possibly can on a project. So that's important.

Owner satisfaction. This is probably the most important point of view for us in everything we do in implementing big VDC on small projects. And we took a testimonial from one of our projects, and we want individuals to read this. And what you're seeing here is an owner recognizing that the entire team works together. The design team, the project team, the vendors, the trades, we all work together, leveraging the models to improve how we build this project.

And what this allowed us to do is build this project with zero rework. Through laser scanning, we were able to help achieve a final floor flatness of 0, which is almost unheard of. And so Stereotaxis, as a vendor for this very unique and expensive equipment, said they didn't even have to shim the equipment in the base plates. They stated that this is one of the best projects that I've ever worked on. And the Banner PM agrees, Banner Hospital.

This is what we live for. And this is why we do big VDC on small projects, is because when the owner is satisfied with the work and we've enhanced the way we build a project, million times worth it.

So the big reveal. Look at that happy face. So this is Ted. All of this hard work and consistency and drive and messaging and building relationships and selecting the right tools and implementing reality capture, having these unique point of views, led us to a point where we could create a business plan on how we approach big VDC on small projects in our region.

And so what we were able to do was create a 30-page business plan that supported a direction to go with Ted to do this as a full-time role at DPR. So we created a new role at DPR where Ted's focus was 100% dedicated to educating our business units and project teams on the value of big VDC in small projects and how to do it.

And so, again, if you recall where we started five years ago, we just simply went out and scanned the space. We looked through the submittals and spec drawings and did a constructability analysis. That was about a 24-hour turnaround. And so going from that five years ago to where we're at now really speaks to what is achievable on small projects.

So we really want to make sure that this message gets across to the world that you can absolutely do big VDC on small projects. Thank you.