DPR Construction, JE Dunn, and The Living advance the AEC industry with three clever tech solutions.
The work processes and roles of architects, engineers, and general contractors are continuing to be disrupted by building information modeling and virtual design and construction technologies. Three emerging innovations are representative of the radical change that’s taking place in the commercial construction market.
MODEL-BASED VISUAL ESTIMATION BRINGS
REAL-TIME COST ESTIMATING TO THE DESIGN PHASE
Kansas City, Mo.-based general contractor JE Dunn Construction had a great in-house estimating tool at its disposal. Comprising more than 30 years of estimating calculations complied by the firm’s VP of Estimating, Martin Blood, the ATSE system (short for Art To Science Estimating) gave JE Dunn the information and know-how to be able to estimate prices accurately very early in the design process.
ATSE’s pricing engine takes into account design decisions to make sure the contractor has the right price and the building will meet code requirements. It also understands how building systems work together and what impact different decisions have on the installation and operation of those systems.
There was just one problem: JE Dunn couldn’t get designers to use ATSE. They didn’t believe the tool could be that accurate at the conceptual design stage.
The new tool, JE Dunn Lens, creates a data layer on top of an architect’s BIM model to provide real-time cost estimates.
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