b'onsite construction. It lends itself wellCrawford Dewar is manager ofFor those who have jumped into DFMA, to automation, and, because it offers aengineering, estimating and sales forbesides the advantage of speed, you sheltered indoor working environment, itGuardian Structures, which has appliedend up with a higher quality product, and can accommodate the abilities of older,two decades of modular bridge-buildingI often say that I would rather assemble experienced workers. Were bringingexperiences to building. We cansomething than construct something. some of that tacit knowledge into thedesign anything from slab-on-grade upBecause its manufactured in a plant, plant, and they can train the youngerto about 17 storeys in the design-assistyou get more reliability, says Dewar. Im generation, says Galvin, adding thatphase. The design approach is similar,a very big supporter of DFMA. I think manufacturing is six times safer thanbut there are considerably moreit will end up costing the owner less in traditional construction. details, he says. change of work orders. I just wish that Of course, there are some drawbacks.more people were doing it.The most significant is to make sure allHowever, we find the majority of the key decisions are made by all thegeneral contractors doing projectsThe truth is that we have the expertise right people at the very beginning of theunder 50,000 square feet dont haveto be more creative than we have project, right down to product selection.people who are really skilled in Revit ortraditionally been, says Mollenhauer. For many its a change. Change is neverNavisworks, says Dewar. We wouldWe are beginning to see that easy, and it typically goes with lessonslove to see more contractors lookingcontractors who are going to succeed learned, Galvin says. If you plan it outat 3D drawing, but Canada for somein the new normal will be those who are early and get the right people involved, itreason is still stuck on 2D. In the U.S.,willing to think outside the box. Modular will be a very positive experience, and asome of the top firms are using 4Dconstruction is just one piece of a lot of value-adds will come to fruition. and 5D. larger puzzle. THE CONSTRUCTION OF MODULAR ELEMENTS AT THE MASSIVE PCL AGILE BUILDING IN TORONTOBUILDERSDIGEST Quarter 2 202023'