Profile: Precision Plumbing - Doing it Right

Courtesy Precision Plumbing - Charlotte, NC

I sat down with Charlie Brown, president of Precision Plumbing in Charlotte, and we talked about how they are using emerging technology to improve quality, production, and profits. Precision is a leader in the local plumbing market and they are fully invested in emerging technologies – more than any plumbing contractor I have talked with.

 Precision is using CADPIPE (see note below) along with other technologies to detail working models at LOD 5 – down to hanger placement and seismic restraints. Then they prefab and pallatize the whole job, use Total Stations to layout underground piping, sleeve and hanger placement, and Just In Time(JIT) delivery to have what is needed on the job site when it is needed. The efficiency is exemplary.

According to Mr. Brown, there have been bumps along the way. Time is always an issue. We all know how general contractors like to award a contract today and start construction yesterday. To achieve full efficiency, Mr. Brown notes, there must be time at the front-end to detail the model, coordinate with other trades, and start prefabrication during the pre-construction phase. As he told me, using BIM to only produce an 'as-built' model at the end of the project is a waste of resources from the contractor's point of view.

I've been preaching on this for awhile, and I've said it time and again on this blog, Building Information Technology will change the way we work if we embrace it in the plumbing industry. Precision Plumbing is a perfect example of that idea. They are leveraging the available technologies and searching for new innovations going forward. But it also needs to be understood and embraced industry wide for full efficiency, and time must be scheduled for contractors to detail models, coordinate, and do the work of prefabrication.

But this isn't a new concept. Mechanical contractors have always required lead time for duct fabrication and were the first of the MEP's to use CAD and automated production. Precision has shown that having that time at the front-end doesn't add to the overall project schedule, it can actually shorten the schedule since much of the work is accomplished in the pre-construction phase through prefabrication. Once the job starts the installation is faster, more accurate, and higher quality. Win-Win, right?

But it's not just the plumbing trade which needs to climb on board – it takes all the MEP contractors to coordinate their work. It does absolutely no good to coordinate my LOD 500 model with the electricians less than 100 model. I'm not picking on electricians, but generally the mechanical contractors are already detailing to a high LOD for their prefabrication of duct and pipe, and Sprinkler Fitters have used prefabrication for years. Plumbers and electricians have traditionally been the slack ones.

I've written a lot so far about design and detailing, but it doesn't end there. As I've suggested in other posts, adoption of the new technologies should be industry wide and organization wide. At Precision they have a modeling team in house, a prefabrication unit, and all their foremen have access to the models and drawings 'in the cloud' via their iPads. It is a complete integration of technology company wide.

That is important. The man in the field needs to understand and embrace the new paradigm. The installation in the field must match what is being modeled and prefabricated or we are all wasting our time. And there needs to be a free flow of information, in all directions, between modeling, prefabrication, and installation. It cannot be a top-down approach dumping pallets of pipe in the field.

Some of those old-guys in the field may be the hardest to drag on board, but they are also the greatest wealth of knowledge and experience in any organization. The technologies are getting easier and easier to use, which helps, and once tradesmen see how it all comes together to make their job easier they will climb on. But that is an important point I've also made before – the technology should make our jobs easier and more productive, not more complicated.

Note: If you've been reading my blog for awhile you know I like Autodesk Revit. SysQue, which I've mentioned here before, plugs into Revit and allows you to get the same level of detail you need for production. I talked to some engineer friends and they tell me they prefer SysQue precisely because it sits on Revit, not AutoCAD like CADPIPE - allowing you all the great features of Revit which AutoCAD lacks. Mr. Brown says he prefers AutoCAD and CADPIPE. But either way, there are tools available to get the detail you need for layout, prefabrication, and production.