Daikin Applied Office Building in Verona, Virginia
Blauch Brothers is currently designing and installing the complete plumbing and HVAC systems at the new Daikin Applied office building in Verona, VA. This project marks another milestone in our ongoing relationship with Daikin, following our successful industrial chiller replacement at their Verona production facility. Now, we are bringing that same standard of precision and reliability to their new office construction.
The Advantages of a Design-Build
Our team is currently installing the underground plumbing that will provide clean water to the building and carry away sanitary waste. Because this piping will eventually be covered by the concrete slab, every line, connection, and penetration must be carefully coordinated with the future walls and building layout before the concrete is poured. Once the slab is in place, making changes becomes much more difficult, so getting this phase right is critical.
This is a design-build project, which means our in-house engineering team designed the plumbing and HVAC systems, and our own crews are installing them. That gives our field team a direct connection to the people who developed the design and a better understanding of the reasoning behind each layout and system decision. With engineering and construction working together under one roof, questions can be answered quickly, potential conflicts can be addressed early, and the project can move forward with greater coordination from design through installation.
Solutions Through Planning and Technology
To guarantee exact placement, our team utilizes a Trimble RTS 573 total station. This advanced electronic surveying tool handles the complex calculations required to lay out the trenching, ensuring our plumbers start in the exact right spot.
Beyond our own installation work, Blauch Brothers actively supports the general contractor by leading the Virtual Design and Construction (VDC) process. By coordinating all the trade partners and keeping the 3D computer-aided design model aligned, we ensure that every team knows exactly where their systems belong once they step out into the field.
Collaboration and Delivering Value
General contractors increasingly rely on our VDC capabilities to drive trade coordination. By managing these complexities on the front end, we make the general contractor's job easier and help them deliver a higher quality product to their customers.
We deliver value by communicating clearly with other trade partners, being present when we are needed, and maintaining the productivity required to keep the project on schedule.
A Standard of Reliability
The true measure of successful mechanical contracting isn't what you see when a building is finished. It is what you never have to worry about over the next two decades. For a facility like Daikin’s new office, the plumbing and HVAC systems need to disappear into the background and allow people to do their jobs without thinking of it further. By executing this underground phase with total accuracy, we are ensuring that these critical systems perform seamlessly for the life of the building. As John, our project manager on the Daikin build, noted: "When we do this right, nobody thinks about plumbing for 20 years.”
