While November 5 may have been Election Day in the U.S., it didn’t slow the attendance at the second annual VDC Leadership Exchange (VDCLEx). The event continues to grow, attracting both VDC professionals and newcomers alike. With a wide range of topics on the agenda, Owners and practitioners are eager to elevate digital innovation within the design-build conversation.
Paperless Builders
The opening keynote started with a holistic approach and call to action to rethink traditional paper-based processes and embrace the digital environment we now work in. Hamzah Shanbari, Director of Innovation at Haskell, discussed the why, what and how of construction technology driving this much-needed evolution. He advocated shifting away from static paper-based workflows to a digital transformation that optimizes efficiency and productivity. While acknowledging that change is difficult, Shanbari outlined practical steps to identify and address hurdles in the change cycle, emphasizing the importance of presenting opportunities, not just solutions, and ensuring technology adoption aligns with business goals and industry needs.
What I find most valuable about attending this conference is the exceptional caliber of attendees. It’s fantastic for networking and provides invaluable resources. There’s a dynamic push-and-pull where you not only gain insights from the presentations but are also encouraged to ask questions and engage deeply. It fosters real involvement and collaboration.
Cindy Baldwin, President, VDCO Tech
VDC Deep Dive
The VDC Deep Dive sessions explored the importance of data management and how design-build teams can leverage it to enhance collaboration and decision-making. Gilbane shared how they tapped into as-built models — initially used in preconstruction and construction stages — to gather data that informed conceptual estimating during project pursuit and planning. These models, which typically represent 1-2% of the original construction cost, offer significant value by reducing fieldwork costs and improving understanding of the built environment. There are even greater opportunities to utilize this data in future projects.
The next session focused on Artificial Intelligence (AI). Though AI is often discussed in the media, it’s not always deeply explored. At VDCLEx, however, VDCO Tech and Woolpert took a deeper dive into AI’s challenges and opportunities in the design-build space. The presentation highlighted that “AI is a game-changer for the industry” and that “machines are not just tools — they are now teammates, reshaping how humans and technology interact.” The session provided real-world examples of how AI can be used for analysis, augmentation and automation, helping design-build teams stay competitive and innovative in the years ahead.
I was especially excited about the session on VDC for small projects. It’s an interesting topic because I’ve often heard people say certain projects are too small to integrate that kind of technology. What I learned, particularly from the perspective of general contractors and designers, is that it’s less about the size of the project and more about its complexity. I plan to take that insight back to my peers in the industry and start exploring ways we can tailor technology applications to fit smaller projects effectively.
Ted Mort, COO, Cadnetics
VDC for Non-VDC Professionals
This track provided case studies of how VDC was leveraged on specific design-build projects. Traditionally, BIM and VDC have been associated with large-scale projects, but as design-builders gain more experience, these tools have become ingrained in everyday workflows, making scale less of a focus. The collaborative design-build team of McCarthy and Hoefer Welker presented two healthcare projects, each less than 40,000 square feet, demonstrating tangible outcomes. Early trade partner engagement and technology integration for prefabrication, field layout and installation led to 60% faster completion of the building shell, a 30% schedule reduction for interior framing and a 6% construction cost savings compared to traditional methods.
With the California State University system facing a significant student housing crisis, the design-build team of Whiting-Turner and Steinberg Hart offered a creative solution using steel modular construction for efficiency, quality control and speed. By combining their expertise in design-build, VDC and modular construction with FullStack Modular, they developed a modular strategy to create nine new housing buildings at Cal Poly. This project will provide 4,100 new beds, making it the largest student housing project in California, with all the new beds built using modular units, drastically reducing the overall construction timeline.
Connecting with design-build and contractor teams at this conference has been invaluable. It clarified their mindset and processes, helping me, as an Owner, better align my expectations with construction realities. This experience has given me a much clearer understanding of the design-build process.
Robert Brown, Sr. Project Control Systems Manager, DFW International Airport
Digital Twins
The final VDCLEx session focused on the Evolution of a Digital Twin at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW), an Owner’s perspective on how a project should begin with the end in mind. The term “digital twin” is still relatively new to the construction industry. Still, Robert Brown from DFW has been developing a digital twin of the world’s third-busiest airport since 2017. The initiative aims to achieve operational efficiency by transitioning from a reactive to a predictive management approach. The digital twin will serve as a virtual representation of the entire airport campus, creating a “single source of truth” for all information across the site.
DBIA thanks all the speakers, attendees and sponsors for another successful VDCLEx. We look forward to continuing the digital innovation conversation throughout the year and hope to see everyone again next November in Las Vegas!
VDCLEx Premium Sponsors
- McCarthy Building Companies, Inc.
- Procore Technologies
- Join, Inc.
- Excelize Services Inc.
- LeapThought Corp.
- BuildingPoint Central
- Conspectus, Inc.
VDCLEx Sponsors
