Fitzemeyer & Tocci Revolutionizes Accessibility and Company-Wide Communications

Battling Bottlenecks with Licensing Flexibility

For the past 60 years, Fitzemeyer & Tocci’s 55-person family-owned outfit has delivered innovative MEP and FP solutions to some of the U.S.’ most renowned healthcare and academic institutions. Determined to continue providing its clients with the highest quality service, F&T continually invests in technology across its trades. Helping spearhead the movement is F&T Associate BIM and Technology Manager, Dan Villeneuve. In analyzing the organization’s current construction management software F&T noticed accessibility and license model restrictions, not to mention the cumbersome and costly nature of system updates. Craving an increase in automation, communication and efficiency across its organization, F&T knew these goals were unattainable with the software tools at hand. F&T also aimed to improve visibility and model access, effectively reducing bottlenecking with data sharing and decision-making. “With our old licensing structure and localized file server environment, we found that our decision makers didn’t always have the immediate design model transparency they needed,” Villeneuve shares. Another item on F&T’s wish list—more effective communication. “We wanted to restructure our licensing and expand model environment accessibility to everyone involved on the project,” Villeneuve says.

“We really saw an open opportunity for Autodesk Build to eliminate unnecessary steps during document reviews.”

- Dan Villeneuve, Associate BIM and Technology Manager

Champions of Swift Tech Adoption

After vetting numerous software solutions, the evaluating committee ranked Autodesk Build highest for its user experience, extensive partner network and connected environment.

“Autodesk knows the AEC industry better than any other software development company out there. We saw a lot of untapped potential and believed naming Autodesk our primary partner would allow us to do our jobs better. It’s reassuring to have a reliable platform and Autodesk’s commitment to ever evolving their applications means we can continue increasing efficiencies within each project.”

- Dan Villeneuve, Associate BIM and Technology Manager

To drive adoption and familiarity with Autodesk Build, Fitzemeyer & Tocci started with a “soft launch,” opening up a sample environment to any employees wanting to explore prior to formal training. The original rollout plan was robust and involved a tiered approach. First, F&T identified a team of Autodesk Build “superusers,” comprised of representatives across various F&T trades and departments. This involved partnership leveraged its collective experiences to shape the new environment and workflows using production-specific feedback and seasoned perspective, effectively inspiring an organic, widespread adoption. “The Autodesk Construction Cloud learning center ensured every feature could be self-taught and some found this path more valuable even than Autodesk’s instructor-led training—each approach served a different learning style” Villeneuve says. “I have to give everyone at F&T the credit they deserve. Our employee culture is truly skilled with new tech. I didn’t even have to push for software adoption; everyone was willing to do their part to improve our processes because the benefits and value spoke for themselves.” As a result, F&T remained on schedule and on budget and soon, began using Autodesk Build for every project.

Unearthing Transparency and Accuracy with a Single Source of Truth

F&T established a common data environment with Autodesk Build, and from that, automated processes and maximized the use of data points across multiple projects. “We’re really looking to get our data to work for us,” says Villeneuve. “We want to use the collective knowledge in our files to automate our practices, leveraging design learnings we’ve already captured or are capturing now to maximize efficiency.” Today, Fitzemeyer & Tocci can more readily optimize project workflows too. Increasing visibility and communication both inside and outside of the organization. “Autodesk Build has a construction-friendly workflow,” says Villeneuve. “It’s helped connect our construction administrators, project managers, market leaders and design team, so everybody knows where the project stands throughout the pre-planning and design stages and even after our deliverables leave our environment.”

Capturing and sharing data is critical to F&T’s overall mission. Autodesk Build enables the company to have a more robust QA/QC process; custom forms standardize data collection and dashboards track capabilities, offering executives real-time insights across multiple projects. “While our design team is typically quicker to adopt certain technologies, we’re seeing that our commissioning and construction management departments, who less frequently utilize new applications, are also recognizing benefits by reviewing drawings, capturing site conditions and referencing issues while onsite,” says Villeneuve. “It’s a newfound capability available to every department, both in the office and while out in the field and has boosted efficiency across the board.” Villeneuve sees opportunity to continually evolve workflows for future client projects too.

“Autodesk Construction Cloud is providing a visibility and a transparency that the AEC industry always needed but was not able to achieve until now.”

- Dan Villeneuve, Associate BIM and Technology Manager

Villeneuve continues, “The biggest benefit we’ve experienced is the collective accessibility across our entire organization, which I’m confident will only further propel F&T down a path of continued growth, allowing us to deliver our clients with the service they deserve.”