Tocci Building Corp. applies 5D-BIM and new project alliances in a continual search for a better way to do business
By Tom Nicholson
From its headquarters in Woburn, Mass., Tocci is growing its cutting-edge project management capabilities and expanding its geographic reach.
(Photo: Lori Duprey)
The first indication that the tocci Building Corp. is not the typical, medium-sized construction management company is on the Woburn, Mass.-based firm’s Website. That is where there are quotes from famous innovators, including one by Thomas Edison that says, “There are no rules here—we’re trying to accomplish something.”
It is a fair assessment of the firm, which has found success by breaking tradition. The 80-employee construction management firm has forged ahead in implementing building information modeling on most of its projects and is a longtime user of integrated delivery methods.
The commitment to innovation and technology that sets the company apart comes from the vision Tocci’s leaders share to build not only better structures but also a better industry.
The Three Cs
Tocci
“We are looking for a better way to do business,” says CEO John Tocci, a third-generation owner of the firm that was founded in 1922 by his Italian immigrant grandfather, Giovanni Tocci. Since taking the helm in 1981 and transforming the former public works constructor into a general contractor and then finally a construction management firm by 1985, Tocci has been an aggressive early adopter of new methods. He has prioritized the firm’s technology capabilities and placed it ahead of the industry curve.
Tocci admits that pioneering has been “painful,” but says that BIM technology and a willingness to embrace new forms of integrated delivery have streamlined Tocci’s projects and helped the firm avoid painful pitfalls in designs, budgets, schedules and bottom lines.
Tocci Corp. is constantly moving forward with its "quest for the Holy Grail of collaboration."
(Photo: Lori Duprey)
Today’s compartmentalized design and construction processes—and the adversarial relationships it imposes on architects and contractors—is an industry burden, Tocci says. And while the firm’s motto—“Cool, Calm, Constructed”—may seem an atypical calling card in an industry rife with stakeholder conflict, fierce competition and market travails, it says much about what Tocci strives for in integrating teams and technology to streamline projects. The motto promises steadfast project delivery and embodies
Tocci’s aim to end conflict among owners, architects and contractors. “If we can accelerate this, we can get back to where we were 100 years ago, when the architect was also the master builder,” Tocci says. “What we have is a broken industry. We are trying to turn that around. I [am] weary of the conflict.”
The firm manages eight or nine projects a year, which range from commercial, mixed-use, institutional, residential and retail buildings, to, most recently, hotels in the $120-million to $150-million range, Tocci says.
Tocci has jumped head first into computer technology, cutting change orders nearly in half by using 5D BIM software to streamline project designs, budgets and schedules.
(Photo: Lori Duprey)
Using CM-at-risk as its primary delivery method and specializing in performing CM-as-builder projects, Tocci teams with architects and owners during design and uses 5D-BIM to validate processes. 5D-BIM provides a metric for cost and scheduling along with 3D-design to weed out design clashes and tweak budgets.
By detecting clashes early, the firm has reduced change orders on its projects by about 50%, Tocci says. The firm has architects on its staff, enabling it to readily interface with outside architects and owners during the design phase.
“We have a passion for design and sensitivity for what the architect does,” Tocci adds. “But that’s not to say we aren’t concerned about budgets and schedules.”
As construction manager on the 227-unit Togar Suites residential complex in Union, N.J., the firm relied on BIM to keep things cool and calm.
(Photo: Lori Duprey)
Working mostly in New England, and recently expanding into New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, with current prospects as far south as Washington, D.C., Tocci’s BIM capabilities are opening up new markets, says Richard Lampman, the firm’s vice president of client development.
The firm entered into the hospitality market last year as the CM on a project to design and build a pair of hotels for Starwood Hotels and Resorts in Lexington, Mass.
“We are working to identify clients who believe in this approach,” says Lampman. “Some clients are still skeptical, but we are selling the vision of this refined process and starting to see owners seek us out because of our BIM capabilities.”
Being ahead of the curve comes with its own challenges, Lampman says. Because most subcontractors in the region are not equipped to use BIM, “there are some contractual barriers because for most subcontractors, using BIM is wading into the unknown. But we are starting to see more subcontractors, particularly in steel and plumbing, who have jumped into this,” he adds. “We have a visionary leader, and there are a lot of competent builders, but there aren’t a lot of visionaries.”
As the firm’s project planner and self-described “set-up man,” Joe Ferolito, Tocci’s vice president of planning and cost engineering, says, “There is the best of both worlds here. It’s a midsized company with a small, family owned aspect, but then there are the larger-capacity advantages we have based on volume and geographic reach.”
Ferolito says the firm was an early adopter of Timberline estimating software, and now that BIM is shifting the traditional role of estimator into a broader planning and cost-engineering function, he is a team member from marketing to closeout.
At the core of the firm’s CM approach is a passion for design and aesthetics. Striking structures figure prominently in its portfolio.
(Photo: Lori Duprey)
“Here we have the freedom and flexibility to be creative,” Ferolito says. “There is a willingness here to take chances.”
Lampman agrees that the firm is the right size to take risks. “Where a larger company would not be as flexible, we are trying to change the way we do things in this business,” and that includes the way clients are treated, he says. “This is a project-oriented industry, but we don’t see it that way. We see it as a client-oriented business, and clients are owners, architects, subcontractors and everyone else involved. With clients we try to remove a lot of unknowns and build a trust relationship.”
Thompson West
Part of that relationship-building goes to Amy Thompson West, Tocci’s director of marketing/labor and community relations. “We put together programs for our high-visibility projects to establish a communication with communities,” she says. “I go to town meetings and neutralize any problems by letting them know what is taking place in their communities, what we are building and how we are building it. I let them know we aren’t from Mars.”
That approach to relationships at Tocci goes beyond the scope of projects, as evidenced by the firm’s commitment to charitable programs. Of the many efforts the firm makes, Thompson West this year headed a program in Philadelphia, where the firm is CM on the Dobson Mills apartment complex, where 67 children painted an 80-ft mural under the city’s Mural Arts Program.
Last year, the firm contributed 795 wheelchairs through World Vision and provided materials and volunteers for two Habitat for Humanity houses in Reading, Mass.
Tocci entered the hospitality market by managing construction of three Candlewood Suites extended-stay hotels in Burlington and Braintree, Mass., and Jersey City, N.J. (Photo: Lori Duprey)
Project Alliance
But the firm isn’t finished yet with its headlong rush into the future, in what Thompson West says is a “quest for the Holy Grail of collaboration.” Tocci has embarked on a research experiment to further push the envelope of the way things are done.
The experiment, planned for this fall, is a mock $150-million project to design and build a 150,000-sq-ft building, in which Philadelphia-based architect Kling Associates will act as the designer, pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson the owner and Tocci as constructor. It will test a new project delivery method in which the three entities form a limited liability company and proceed through the project as one entity.
Called “project alliance,” the method has shown promise on projects internationally, but it is new in U.S. construction, Tocci says. “In project alliance, we are all soldiers on the wall together, defending the project as one,” he adds. “We want to see how this works.”
TOCCI BUILDING CORP. TOP TEN PROJECTS
1. Business Service Center
Woburn, Mass.
55,000-sq-ft office building, 1990
Owner: Kullenberg Development Corp.
Delivery: Integrated team
2. Eaglewood Shops
North Andover, Mass.
77,000-sq-ft outlet complex, 2006
Owner: TCR Inc.
Delivery: Design-build
3.BMW Service Center
Peabody, Mass.
47,000-sq-ft auto dealership, 2005
Owner: BMW of Peabody
Delivery: Design-build
4.Union Station
Union, N.J.
400,000-sq-ft residential, 2007
Owner: Togar Corporate Suites
Delivery: Construction management
5.Ocean Club
Revere, Mass.
660,000-sq-ft condominium complex, 2007
Owner: Fustolo Development LLC
Delivery: Preconstruction
6.Capital Cove
Providence, R.I.
160,000-sq-ft condominium complex, 2008
Owner: Capital Cove LLC
Delivery: Construction management
7.The Aloft and The Element
Lexington, Mass.
66,000-sq-ft and 78,000-sq-ft hotels, 2008
Owner: Starwood Hotels and Resorts
Delivery: Construction management
8.Russell Street Condominiums
Cambridge, Mass.
41,800-sq-ft condominium complex, 2007
Owner: Russell Street Builders LLC
Delivery: Construction management
9.Cedar Crest Village
Pompton Plains, N.J.
839,299-sq-ft retirement community, 2005
Owner: Erickson Retirement
Delivery: Construction management
10.Grandview Condominiums
Lowell, Mass.
134,000-sq- ft condominium complex. 2007
Owner: Grandview Development LLC
Delivery: Construction management
