Collaboration is a topic discussed frequently in the construction industry. As such, today’s teams are using even more tools and technology to advance and connect their workflows. Of course, successful collaboration isn't just about being working from the same software. One thing that high-functioning teams have in common is they share the same vision and work towards common goals.
Tomislav Zigo, Chief Technology Officer and Vice President at Clayco, knows more than a thing or two about leading top-performing teams. With decades of experience in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) sector, Tomislav has been at the forefront of implementing innovative solutions while keeping teams aligned.
We sat down with Tomislav to discuss his journey towards becoming VP and CTO at Clayco. We also talked about the challenges and opportunities in the evolving construction landscape and why he thinks the future of construction is as bright as ever.
Clayco is a full-service, turnkey, highly integrated design-builder. We started 40 years ago here in St. Louis. Our founder and chairman, Bob Clark, had a vision of a new type of construction company that would bring all the stakeholders under one roof. Through a high level of integration—in particular, through a design-build process—Clayco has become a highly competitive company in the U.S. market.
We're in numerous markets, including industrial, mission-critical, residential, and healthcare. Clayco has roughly north of 5.8 billion in revenue and over 3,000 people working in multiple brick-and-mortar locations. We are also rapidly expanding in the high-tech industry.
This has been an amazing ride for me. I've been with Clayco for 16 years and have been fortunate enough to work with extremely talented and dedicated teams.
In my current role as a CTO, I'm part of a larger group of people who are really making sure that our technology and technological aspirations are properly infused into our business model and secure a path forward.
Well, it was a long and winding path. Since I was a teenager, I have been fascinated with the built environment. Architecture was my love at first sight.
Then, through unforeseen things in life, I went to study mechanical engineering and worked in shipyards. That experience forged my idea of what construction could be. The knowledge and exposure I had back then led me to say, "Well, why don't we just blend the left side and the right side?"
I then got my Master's in Architecture here in St. Louis at Washington University and practiced architecture in large healthcare jobs. At the time, we had this tech evolution in the form of BIM, which created a really fertile ground for bringing architects and builders together.
I was looking for an environment where that could be possible, and Clayco happened to be in my backyard. Clayco's vision aligned with my passion, and the rest is history.
Like a few other things in my life, my objective was not to climb through the ranks. I aimed to bring value to the team and rally the people around an idea. I wanted to get buy-in by leading by example.
I was the person brought into Clayco to transform the organization from CAD-driven to more BIM-focused. At that point, people were not aware of BIM. So my job was to break out of the box and say, "This is not about BIM. This is not about a 3D model. This is about all of us working together, raising the quality, and helping with all the aspects of construction."
Then, little by little, we grew the team, my responsibilities grew, and my involvement in project delivery and business models expanded.
At this point, I'm more of a leader who, through experience, is capable of synthesizing and discussing with younger staff where we should be moving. I strive to provide a foundation for an even greater vision of technology within Clayco.
So, my journey here was gradual, and it wasn't planned. I didn't have a goal of being at a certain level by a certain age. I was just assuming responsibilities as they came to me, like anybody else here, no exceptions.
Emerging technology is such a buzzword. There are so many technologies emerging in this day and age.
Our mission in the world of construction is to become intensely aware of trends but also to safeguard who we are as builders and not be lured or attracted by shiny objects.
Granted, some of those objects will shine brighter, and some are destined to change how we do business. Construction needs to evolve at a rate that brings it closer to the evolution of manufacturing. Our main objective right now is the evolution of information technology. We want to accelerate that alignment and transformation.
AI is obviously on everybody's mind. We're looking into it internally with a collective mindset. How can we innovate within our realm and pick the specific zones where we want to tackle problems?
This is a long answer to your question, but I deliberately don't want to focus on "the one" technology that promises to transform the whole industry. So it's not, "Robotics is going to change everything we do." Sure, it will assist and alter how we do things, but that's not going to be the only thing that will change our field.
Like any other large construction design-build company, we suffer from certain things. We suffer from an abundance of point solutions. We're managing an evolving workforce. We're navigating rapid growth and infusing people from many different places.
We manage all of that by promoting consistency in our training processes. We also promote cultural adoption, which is very important when it comes to "Okay, so what do we do with data? How do we push this data?"
I firmly believe that, at our scale, there needs to be a platform-based approach. Whatever we do, we should do it with a functional platform in mind.
This platform-based approach ensures frictionless data connectivity and frictionless analytical capability that needs to flow both ways. It needs to flow up to the executive branch and down or laterally to those actually delivering the work.
The only way we can accelerate our work is to have a workforce that is informed in real-time and who can make timely decisions based on analytical capability. We cannot do this unless that platform-based approach is adopted, so that's a big focus for me.
As a company, we try to innovate on multiple fronts. If I need to be more specific, we look at areas around data capture and data governance, as well as anything around automation and precise documentation of the built environment.
And with analytical capabilities being magnified through machine learning, those are the areas where we are trying to focus.
Of course, there is always a focus on construction quality management and safety. How do we make those incremental changes to create greater good? And then, obviously, how do we structure our teams to benefit from and be more nimble in implementing those technological solutions?
Another big part of the team's focus is predictive analysis based on data, improving the concept of situational awareness based on AI technology, and, to some point, automation. There's robotics at the jobsite, but we're also asking how to pre-fabricate in a controlled environment. We are making progress in all those directions. One highly process-oriented aspect is maintaining strict control over our production processes and significantly stabilizing procurement processes.
I'm personally proud of seeing the technology team grow and become seamlessly infused in all aspects of our business. It's not "them and us." Rather, it's all of us binding the business through technology requirements. That's what personally makes me walk through Clayco's doors every day. It's great seeing the team being recognized and people walking away after hours, knowing that they contributed to something that is greater than the sum of its parts.
Beyond that, we did some rather interesting things. We managed to institute production tracking on our jobs, so we know, at any given point, where we are in terms of schedule and installation—all while providing near real-time data to our clients. It took some heavy lifting, we're now harvesting the fruits of the labor.
Another was operationalizing and making our jobsite control technology scalable and deployed across all Clayco jobsites. Our drones and cameras work in unison. They feed data for analysis—that's a mandate. And that was the vision of the Clayco leadership.
The third one, for good measure, is growing our reality capture capability and relying on this data to push the business further toward the client's requirements and offer something that transcends just project delivery. It's now offered as a third-party service to large industrial owners. It became the differentiator for the way Clayco does business.
Partnership is a great word. We have been fortunate enough to get to know the whole gamut of Autodesk's AEC product line. As a design-builder, you don't have a choice. You're either on the very front end, with this set of great design tools—that I have to say evolved significantly over the past 16 years—and then also be part of this great transformation when Autodesk shifted its focus toward a robust construction platform.
But I think the word partnership should be defined by understanding your client's needs and working closely with them for those needs to be woven into the fabric of Autodesk's platform.
I value our candid relationship where we can speak at a mature level about our needs and expectations and together drive the industry forward.
The future is bright. And at Clayco, the first step to advancing innovation is forging a solid plan that aligns with the business.
At this point, it's all about understanding and adopting changes around artificial intelligence and the evolving workforce. We aim to be more engaged in shaping the future workforce by collaborating with educational institutions.
That means being more engaged at the social level. I think that's what's really fueling our desire to change not only ourselves but also our environment and society.
Don't expect consistency. Things will change no matter what you do, so be ready to turn on a dime.
Also, always look out of the box. The answers that will change the construction industry will not necessarily come from the construction industry. So, be inquisitive, be curious, and break things occasionally.
You should also be a really good listener. I personally benefited from listening carefully to those who stepped into this industry before I did and brought their experience to the table. Learn when to be quiet and when to speak your mind.
The construction industry will not go away. There are two things we always need in our lives: food and shelter. Preparing for that change and having a critical view of what's coming are the things that I would recommend to anybody entering this industry. I guarantee them that what I set as targets today will change three years from now or sooner.
