Design Phase Management

Early Partnership. Smarter Design. Better Builds.

Design Phase Management goes far beyond preconstruction. It’s continuous construction advocacy throughout design—keeping the project on budget and schedule while protecting constructability and long-term facility value.

When builders are at the table during design, the design team gains confidence. Confident teams make faster, more durable decisions. The result is far fewer changes during construction—and a building that can actually be built.

The DPM Toolkit

We’re adept at using the same tools as the design team. We provide systems details and BIM objects that boost design team productivity and confirm constructability.

Co-Location

On complex projects, we pull up a chair, literally. We embed directly with the design team—same room, same table, same problems. When builders and designers work side by side in real time, decisions happen faster, constructability stays front of mind, and the documents that come out the other end are cleaner, more coordinated, and far easier to build from.

VDC

TOCCI helped define the term VDC more than 20 years ago. Our Virtual Design and Construction (VDC) approach uses a range of tools and technologies including laser scanning and other reality capture tools to precisely detail site conditions. These tools help identify conflicts early, pre-validate existing conditions, and inform design with reliable data. With VDC, we reduce risk and enable smarter, faster design development.

Beyond BIM

Every builder uses BIM. We go beyond. On all major projects we employ Design for Manufacturing and Assembly (DfMA). DfMA is a process that uses multiple digital modeling tools to collapse the design, shop drawings and manufacturing process into an integrated assembly to increase prefabrication by up to 40%. Bringing fabricator’s standard detailing forward and early into the design process can produce up to 20+% savings in fabrication and installation cost of MEPS, structural, enclosure and finishes.

Radical thought: The goal is to eliminate the need for value engineering.

Improve design progress with 3 specific tools

Level of Development (LOD) specification: Every project needs a shared definition of “done.” LOD is the standard that provides one. It defines exactly how detailed and accurate the building model needs to be at each stage of design, so every member of the team is working from the same expectations. The enemy is gray area. LOD eliminates it.
BIM Execution Plan. Before design begins, everyone agrees on how the building model will be built, shared, and used. That agreement eliminates the miscommunication and rework that quietly consume 40% or more of design time. The enemy is redesign.
On-Time Owner decisions Latest Responsible Moment (LRM): Every decision has a deadline—the last possible moment it can be made without costing time or money. We map those deadlines early so the owner is never rushed, never surprised, and never making a big dollar choice in a five-minute conversation. The enemy is vacillation.

Link costs with steady cost validation

Iterative: DPM offers continuous cost control measures throughout the design process.
Scope Control: Prevent cost creep through frequent budget checks and prioritizing essential features, phasing out non-critical elements.

Push for cost effective solutions

Target Value Design (TVD): Most projects budget for a design—we design to a budget. Cost is a design constraint from day one, not a surprise at the end.
“Buildability:”A detail that looks clean on paper can be a nightmare in the field. We catch those inefficiencies early, before they become expensive change orders.
Reduce Total Cost of Ownership (TCO): Can it be built? Good. But can it be maintained? A building that’s cheap to construct but expensive to operate isn’t a win for the owner. We keep the full lifecycle in view throughout design.