Modularization.
If You Build It, They Will Come.
Bieg’s initial vision for icon Mechanical as a trend setter and industry pioneer began taking shape in the early 2000’s and hit full stride by 2010. One of the factors spurring icon’s rapid growth was its introduction of a new concept to the local construction industry – modularization and off-site construction.
This approach provided project owners and general contractors with efficiencies in time, money, and reduced risk.
"We decided to build a pipe
fabrication shop in 2009,”
Schaeffer said. “There were
only a few jobs at the time
where this would benefit us,
but we could sure see the
future and how this would not
only benefit us, but the entire
industry.”
Schaeffer’s “if you build it, they will come” prediction was right. icon turned a vacant lot into a state-of-the-art modularization shop, and the projects came.
Once icon’s prefab capabilities began circulating throughout the market, the company nearly had its pick of jobs, Schaeffer said.
Today, icon’s modularization shops boast over 100,000 square-feet of covered, environmentally controlled space.
This space enables the firm’s expert craftsmen and women to begin designing and fabricating piping and ductwork as soon as icon has been awarded a project and building plans have been approved.
icon’s design-build approach saves general contractors and owners substantial time and money by pre-building system components concurrently off-site while not having to work around other onsite sub-contractors. And, most importantly, project safety goes up since icon workers are building in a controlled environment.
icon President, Jeff Rush said icon has the capacity to pre-fabricate pretty much anything that can be transported on a tractor trailer and can fit into the building.
“It’s a game-changer,” Rush said, noting that on a fairly recent project for Pfizer, icon’s prefab/modularization method enabled the facility to be completed three months early, saving the owner over a million dollars.
He said the prefab was well underway before Pfizer even broke ground on the building.
“We have the capacity to design it, build it, and install it. That’s as seamless and efficient as it gets in this industry.”
Award-Winning Pfizer BioPlace Project: Nearly 3,500 LF of Core Walls were completely pre-assembled in icon's shops and transported to the site.
Tim Schaeffer