In keeping with an aggressive business plan focused on software development for the construction industry, Autodesk has made two key acquisitions that it hopes will broaden its construction management platforms.
Today, the company says that it has completed its $875 million cash acquisition of PlanGrid, a seven-year-old startup based in San Francisco, which provides construction productivity software that enables GCs, subcontractors, and owners to have real-time access to project plans, digital blueprints, punch lists, work tasks, progress imagery, daily field reports, and submittals.
Also today, Autodesk discloses that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire BuildingConnected for $275 million in net cash. San Francisco-based BuildingConnected was founded in 2012, and has grown to become the largest digital network of construction professionals, with more than 700,000 people in its database. Its cofounder Dustin DeVan had been a general contractor before starting the company, which currently has about 180 employees.
BuildingConnected helps owners and GCs find and hire qualified contractors for their projects. It moves Autodesk into preconstruction planning to help contractors decide which subs and suppliers to go with. It includes TradeTapp, a subcontractor risk analysis platform; and Bid Board Pro, a platform that helps subs manage and win more bids. BuildingConnected’s customers include such contractor giants as Turner, McCarthy, Mortenson, StructureTone, Skanska, Clark, Ryan Companies, and AECOM.
(Autodesk has taken a particular interest in developing products that get subs more involved earlier in projects. At its recent Autodesk University event in Las Vegas, Autodesk showcased its strategic alliance with eSub Construction Software, a cloud-based system of record for trades to plan and track their employees’ productivity. eSub is the field data component within Autodesk’s BIM 360 platform.)
Its latest acquisition “provides an opportunity for Autodesk and BuildingConnected to connect every business in the construction industry, becoming the definitive source of information throughout the sector,” says Jim Lynch, Vice President and General Manager, Autodesk Construction Solutions. “Our tools empower all stakeholders with greater visibility and better information to make immediate decisions. We’re excited about creating a robust digital marketplace for the global construction industry, helping to boost productivity, while lowering cost and risk.”
BuildingConnected has 700,000 trades in its database, and helps contractors select the best subs and suppliers for their projects. Image: Autodesk
A late bloomer when it comes to implementing technology, the construction sector is now embracing tech to help manage projects at a time when the industry is grappling with labor shortages and other factors that cause 70% of construction projects to be delivered late and/or over budget.
Capturing, analyzing, and disseminating design- and construction-related data are the primary objectives of Autodesk’s product development and expansion strategies. “We are trying to completely digitize the construction process all the way from design to build,” Andrew Anagnost, Autodesk’s evangelical CEO, tells Forbes. “With the completion of [the purchase of] BuildingConnected, we feel we have acquired all the important assets we need to acquire.”
Clayco, the design-build firm, chose Autodesk BIM 360 and PlanGrid to help digitize each step of the construction process in order to accelerate project delivery, reduce risk and increase productivity. “I’m excited to see how Autodesk and PlanGrid will work together to encourage collaboration between the project team and owners from the time a building is conceived, all the way through to handover,” says Bob Clark, Clayco’s founder and CEO.
Autodesk expects PlanGrid to contribute approximately $100 million in annual recurring revenue. Autodesk does not project any ARR from its acquisition of BuildingConnected.
Related Stories
| Aug 11, 2010
Concrete Solutions
About five or six years ago, officials at the University of California at Berkeley came to the conclusion that they needed to build a proper home for the university's collection of 900,000 rare Chinese, Japanese, and Korean books and materials. East Asian studies is an important curriculum at Berkeley, with more than 70 scholars teaching some 200 courses devoted to the topic, and Berkeley's pro...
| Aug 11, 2010
Piano's 'Flying Carpet'
Italian architect Renzo Piano refers to his $294 million, 264,000-sf Modern Wing of the Art Institute of Chicago as a “temple of light.” That's all well and good, but how did Piano and the engineers from London-based Arup create an almost entirely naturally lit interior while still protecting the priceless works of art in the Institute's third-floor galleries from dangerous ultravio...
| Aug 11, 2010
Bronze Award: John G. Shedd Aquarium, Chicago, Ill.
To complete the $55 million renovation of the historic John G. Shedd Aquarium in the allotted 17-month schedule, the Building Team had to move fast to renovate and update exhibit and back-of-house maintenance spaces, expand the visitor group holding area, upgrade the mechanical systems, and construct a single-story steel structure on top of the existing oceanarium to accommodate staff office sp...
| Aug 11, 2010
AIA Course: Building with concrete – Design and construction techniques
Concrete maintains a special reputation for strength, durability, flexibility, and sustainability. These associations and a host of other factors have made it one of the most widely used building materials globally in just one century. Take this free AIA/CES course from Building Design+Construction and earn 1.0 AIA learning unit.
| Aug 11, 2010
Great Solutions: Green Building
27. Next-Generation Green Roofs Sprout up in New York New York is not particularly known for its green roofs, but two recent projects may put the Big Apple on the map. In spring 2010, the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts will debut one of the nation's first fully walkable green roofs. Located across from the Juilliard School in Lincoln Center's North Plaza, Illumination Lawn will consist ...
| Aug 11, 2010
Pioneer Courthouse: Shaking up the court
In the days when three-quarters of America was a wild, lawless no-man's land, Pioneer Courthouse in Portland, Ore., stood out as a symbol of justice and national unity. The oldest surviving federal structure in the Pacific Northwest and the second-oldest courthouse west of the Mississippi, Pioneer Courthouse was designed in 1875 by Alfred Mullett, the Supervising Architect of the Treasury.
| Aug 11, 2010
Gold Award: Eisenhower Theater, Washington, D.C.
The Eisenhower Theater in the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., opened in 1971. By the turn of the century, after three-plus decades of heavy use, the 1,142-seat box-within-a-box playhouse on the Potomac was starting to show its age. Poor lighting and tired, worn finishes created a gloomy atmosphere.
| Aug 11, 2010
Great Solutions: Business Management
22. Commercial Properties Repositioned for University USE Tocci Building Companies is finding success in repositioning commercial properties for university use, and it expects the trend to continue. The firm's Capital Cove project in Providence, R.I., for instance, was originally designed by Elkus Manfredi (with design continued by HDS Architects) to be a mixed-use complex with private, market-...
| Aug 11, 2010
Seven tips for specifying and designing with insulated metal wall panels
Insulated metal panels, or IMPs, have been a popular exterior wall cladding choice for more than 30 years. These sandwich panels are composed of liquid insulating foam, such as polyurethane, injected between two aluminum or steel metal face panels to form a solid, monolithic unit. The result is a lightweight, highly insulated (R-14 to R-30, depending on the thickness of the panel) exterior clad...
| Aug 11, 2010
Nurturing the Community
The best seat in the house at the new Seahawks Stadium in Seattle isn't on the 50-yard line. It's in the southeast corner, at the very top of the upper bowl. "From there you have a corner-to-corner view of the field and an inspiring grasp of the surrounding city," says Kelly Kerns, project leader with architect/engineer Ellerbe Becket, Kansas City, Mo.
