Case Study: Cohn Construction achieves 90% reduction in design coordination and drawing review time and saves thousands in survey costs with Trimble

Cohn Construction Develops Powerful 3D Design Workflow

Cohn Construction Services, a Columbia, SC–based design‑build commercial contractor, needed to scale its Virtual Design Construction (VDC) capabilities to win and deliver a complex 32,000 sq ft Palmetto Health Orthopedic facility. With multiple trade partners using different design tools and hundreds of pages of shop drawings to review, the team faced time‑consuming coordination, potential misalignment in the field, and an impractical manual review process.

Cohn adopted Trimble SketchUp Pro alongside Trimble Field Link/Field Points and RTS773 Robotic Total Stations (with a Kenai tablet) to import IFC models, identify and fix misaligned embeds and foundations, and drive field layout directly from the coordinated model. The new workflow cut design coordination and drawing‑review time by 90%, saved an estimated $25,000–$30,000 in survey costs, reclaimed six–seven weeks of contractor/modeling effort, and kept the project on schedule.

Cohn Construction

Doug Putlock

President