Members of Tocci Building Corporation, a construction management firm headquartered in Woburn, Massachusetts.

In May 2019, work is slated to wrap up on The Graphic, the largest-ever modular construction project in Boston. This luxury living space features 171 units and 5,000 square feet of retail.

Cool. Calm. Constructed. This trendy tagline belongs to Tocci Building Corporation, a construction management firm headquartered in Woburn, Massachusetts that utilizes integrated project delivery (IPD) and virtual design solutions to build unique projects. Since its launch in 1985, the family-owned operation has worked to optimize the cost, design and assembly of buildings that perform efficiently and delight users.

“Construction is probably one of the most frenetic, unpredictable industries there is,” says business development associate Bart Tocci, son of the company’s founder, John Tocci Sr. “My father chose this tagline because it’s always our aim to stay calm and collected under pressure. Plus, our team thinks it’s cool to construct buildings that improve society—and to push the envelope by staying at the forefront of technology.”

This enlightened perspective is one of the hallmarks of the Tocci family, which hails from a long line of Italian stone masons. In pursuit of the American dream, John’s grandfather, Giovanni, emigrated from Italy in the 1920s to live in the U.S. with his wife and their 14 children. For nearly a century, the Tocci name has been etched into the fabric of Northeast and Mid-Atlantic construction by members of this hardworking, forward-thinking family.

Several other Toccis work at the construction firm today, including John’s wife, Lila, the director of company life, and his brother, V.J., a project executive who specializes in adaptive re-use and historic restoration.

In his role as CEO, John has continued his family’s legacy by seeking to develop more collaborative, productive relationships with designers and subcontractors. This, in turn, has spurred the company’s adoption of some of today’s most innovative built environment initiatives.

A Pioneer in Virtual Design and Construction

Tocci Building Corporation is a nationally recognized pioneer in virtual design and construction (VDC) processes, including building information modeling (BIM), which digitally represents the physical and functional characteristics of a facility.

“We were one of the first construction firms in the country to use BIM, back in the early 2000s,” Bart says. “We also used BIM on our first IPD project, a 61,000-square-foot office building in Waltham, Massachusetts, for Autodesk, a global software corporation. This Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum facility won about a dozen design awards.”

On the Autodesk project, the combination of BIM and IPD (an intensely collaborative design and construction method that unifies owners, architects and builders under a single contract) enhanced cooperation in profound ways. As a result, construction was completed under a condensed eight-and-a-half-month schedule, and savings produced allowed designers to upgrade many systems and finishes.

A key feature of IPD is early and ongoing collaboration by everyone on the extended design team. “Our team still talks about this project, almost in reverence,” Bart says. “All the different disciplines bonded strongly because everybody was pushing each other to do better, to create the most efficient building and the most effective processes.”

Compared to other forms of project delivery, the IPD model is more team-friendly. “IPD really represents a freedom of ideas. The process is ideal because it eliminates finger-pointing and blaming and shifts the focus to problem-solving. This is because there’s major profit sharing under the IPD model,” Bart says.

Modular Construction Speeds Progress

In addition to enhancing project collaboration, the company’s leadership is always looking for ways to make construction safer, faster and less wasteful. One current focus is modular construction—an innovative, sustainable construction method that utilizes lean manufacturing techniques to prefabricate module sections.

Speed to market is one of the biggest selling points when presenting this construction method to owners. Also, off-site construction in a climate-controlled factory environment offers protection from the elements and ensures materials are precisely made, leading to greater accuracy in production schedules and reduced job site waste. Other major benefits include reduced punch lists and improved safety during building erection.

At the time this article was written, Tocci Building Corporation was wrapping up work on The Graphic, the largest-ever modular construction project in Boston. The development of this luxury apartment complex consists of two components: restoration of the existing Graphic Arts Finishers Building, a brick-and-beam former factory housing 46 units, and construction of a new four-story modular building containing 125 units. “This 186,000-square-foot project had to be built within a tight, urban site next to a high-traffic roundabout. Our goal was to speed the building process and enhance quality while minimizing construction impacts to the surrounding neighborhood,” Bart says.

After crews built the modular building’s steel-and-concrete podium, all of the prefabricated modules were trucked to the site. Then, workers used a 400-ton crane to maneuver the 34,000-pound, wood-framed boxes into place. It took about six weeks to place all 128 modular boxes, which came complete with drywall, cabinets, lighting, showers, tile flooring and rough mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) systems. “The acoustics in this building are fantastic,” Bart adds. “These units have double walls, floors and ceilings.” The developer plans to seek LEED Gold certification for the new contemporary facility.

Advantages of Pre-Fab Wall Panels

Tocci Building Corporation also favors using panelized light-gauge steel, an alternative construction solution used on its Hilton Homewood Suites project in downtown Providence, Rhode Island. The extended-stay hotel, which opened earlier this year, consists of a two-story structural steel podium topped with six stories of structural light-gauge metal framing manufactured by Jobsite Steel Manufacturing (JSM).

As with The Graphic project, this 108,000-square-foot hospitality venue had tight site constraints that posed logistical challenges—which is one of the reasons the construction team opted for a prefabricated, panelized product.

Bart also notes the method facilitated cleaner, quicker construction and enabled the team to deliver an eighth floor, which wouldn’t have been feasible with stick framing due to increased ceiling heights.

When working with any highly-engineered system, the company’s VDC team is integral to supporting effective communication to ensure projects come together seamlessly. Owen Huisenga, Tocci Building Corporation’s VDC manager, worked closely with JSM to ensure the panels were coordinated correctly, helping to decrease costs and keep the project on schedule.

Building Is Our Passion

Though every project is unique, the 75-member team at Tocci Building Corporation approaches each one the same way: with a critical mind, a love for the work, an iron will to succeed and the humility to share what they’ve learned with others… even competitors.

“Building is our passion, and we use each day to perfect our craft,” Bart emphasizes. This starts with having loyal, dedicated employees who offer intelligent, creative solutions to address difficult building scenarios.

“We are fortunate to have an energetic, engaged team that supports our company’s successes by working to find the best solutions for our clients. This includes many long-standing employees—about a fourth of our team has been with us for 10 years or more,” Bart says.

He adds, “We’re progressive builders steeped in tradition. ‘Progressive’ and ‘tradition’ aren’t usually seen as compatible, but in forging ahead with emerging technology, sustainable methods and collaborative partnerships, we cannot forget our past as proud, hands-on immigrant stone masons. Our mission is to be the most intelligent, proactive and reliable builders in the Northeast.”