Commercial Contractor Leverages Uponor BIM Services to Expand Capacity

When Colorado-based Olson Plumbing & Heating was awarded the plumbing, variable refrigerant flow (VRF) system, and refrigerant lines in the $60 million, 185,000-square-foot Centennial High School project in Pueblo, they needed additional BIM resources to manage their expanding project load.

Being committed to BIM as a business model, with only a three-person CAD department and this type of skilled labor being extremely hard to find, they found it difficult to develop their in-house capabilities. Having many successful projects with Uponor Construction Services for estimation and design on projects in the past, Olson turned to Uponor BIM Services to help manage the workload on the new high school project.

Using a digital model provided by project architect MOA Architecture, Uponor BIM Services populated it with all the pipe, fittings, equipment, and other products specified. They then moved into the coordination phase to identify potential clashes with other trades on the project.

“With Uponor, we had a professional third party who could take their modeling and drawing to full, fabrication-level detailing,” explains Lana Marsh, project manager, Olson Plumbing & Heating.

Uponor BIM Services provided full plumbing modeling and coordination, full VRF system modeling and coordination, spool and install drawings, and hangers with points for field layout along with representation during multi-trade coordination with the general contractor.

When it came to installation time, this benefitted the Olson team with less rework, reduced job-site waste, and higher workforce productivity. In fact, one project change to raise an underground plumbing drainage line several feet spared Olson from having to dig a deeper trench, which saved significant labor as well as earth-moving equipment rental costs.

“Using Uponor’s resources has enabled us to grow our company without having to create a whole office floor of CAD specialists,” Marsh professes. “We are definitely planning to use them for future projects.”

Learn more about Uponor BIM Services.