Powering Market Diversification and Expansion with Data

PLAZA CONSTRUCTION

Dodge Case Studies

+ Creating Accurate Forecasts

+ Evaluating Market Entry

+ Tracking Real-Time Market Data

+ Building Construction Partnerships

Plaza Construction was formed in 1986 as part of a New

York City-based real estate and development company.

The firm grew substantially throughout the last 30 years,

opening regional offices in the Southeast and Mid-At-

lantic regions of the U.S. In 2014, Plaza was acquired by

China Construction America, a subsidiary of China State

Construction Engineering Corp. Ltd., the world’s largest

construction and real estate conglomerate.

Plaza Construction has built its reputation as one of the

nation’s top construction management firms and as a

forward-thinking company on the move. Under its new in-

ternational ownership, Plaza is committed to diversifying,

growing, and expanding. Given the scope of their plans—

and the hundreds of millions of dollars at stake—Plaza

turned to Dodge as its data partner for collecting and

analyzing market intelligence.

Dodge: The First Step To Market Entry “One of our biggest challenges is the need to obtain and

analyze real-time market conditions that can and will

affect our business,” says David Munoz, Plaza’s VP of

Business Development. “As one of the nation’s leading

builders it is important for us to stay informed of global

and national events that can affect our market. Events

such as political changes, current lending environments,

advancement in technology, and other variables greatly

impact the architect, engineer, contractor (AEC)

community and can become leading indicators for

future market conditions. We do our best to stay on top

of current events and how they will affect our business.

Tools such as MarketShare and BuildShare help us

analyze the impacts of such events and how and where

those events affect local and national market conditions.”

Munoz further notes that this construction data must be

DODGE CASE STUDY | PLAZA CONSTRUCTION “ When evaluating the market and looking for real-time, credible data, I start with Dodge.”

Powering Market Diversification and Expansion with Advanced Data

Plaza Construction is one of the

nation’s foremost construction management

and general contracting firms with headquar-

ters in New York and regional offices in Miami

and Washington, D.C. Positioned for growth, the

company’s roots are based in construction, real

estate, investment and development manage-

ment. Regarded as a company built and managed

by builders, Plaza maintains a core portfolio of

prestigious commercial, educational, healthcare,

hospitality, infrastructure, transportation, retail,

and residential projects.

David Munoz, Vice President of

Business Development Plaza Construction

This Major Contractor Turns To Dodge as its source for new market intel

CHALLENGES Choosing new markets can be risky without the availability of accurate real-time forecasting data. Plaza Construction desired real-time market data to support its strategies. They also wanted the ability to evaluate current industry-driven activity— another tall order if data is limited, frequently inaccurate, or obsolete.

user-friendly. “There is a lot of data avail-

able in the market which can become

daunting when trying to navigate and

understand how the market is viewed and

delivered by data providers. Dodge has

become our baseline platform. We feel

it is user-friendly, easy-to-navigate and

correlates best with our understanding of

the market and how we view and discuss

our business.”

By delivering in-depth reports from over

80 metro areas across the US, Dodge

provides Plaza with a bird’s-eye view of

the entire nation.

“We need to be able to follow multiple

influencers simultaneously because

everything—from Brexit to political insta-

bilities—impacts lending, labor availabil-

ity, interest rates, etc. This in turn affects

construction worldwide.”

Munoz likes the flexibility of Dodge’s

forecasting tools. “I have the ability to

look ahead with Dodge instantly and

completely. Dodge allows me to look at

a market from a macro or micro level,

giving me the ability to examine details

which in the past were very difficult to

obtain.” He further adds that the Dodge

platform increases his team’s efficiency.

“Our time is limited and the information

we require in order to act on key oppor-

tunities and potential relationships is

critical. It’s all right there.”

Keep Your Intelligence Credible and Accurate As well as being clear and very easy to

follow, another benefit of Dodge report-

ing is that when companies need to

perform large-scale analyses on behalf

of C-suite personnel, the data is there.

In Plaza’s effort to diversify and expand

its market presence, its executive team

routinely develops market reports and

strategies which require the most accu-

SOLUTIONS Dodge created customized data feeds through their MarketShare and BuildShare platforms which Plaza utilized to size and forecast metro areas of interest, analyze and prepare reports, and target architects, owners, engineers, and subcontractors for partnerships.

DODGE CASE STUDY | PLAZA CONSTRUCTION

rate information available on the market.

The Dodge tool and its metrics have

become a credible source of information

for Plaza.

“The information captured on the Dodge

Global Network is critical when you need

to dig deeper,” Munoz continues. “I

really appreciate the way Dodge built its

platform, especially how they organize

the information, with the terms used to

describe certain attributes such as con-

struction starts, values, geography, and

building types.”

Always Keep Abreast of the AEC Community In addition to updating customers about

areas and business types to pinpoint,

Dodge Data also provides key intelligence

about other players and markets in a

category. Whether one needs to track

early stage involvement or just take note

of certain behaviors, Dodge delivers the

facts. As Munoz explains, “At Plaza we

also like to use BuildShare when we need

to track market movement. We get a very

good snapshot of the local AEC market

and a look at the patterns and consisten-

cies across owners, subcontractors, mar-

ket types, designers, and so on. We get

a good sense of who is where and what

that activity looks like. This is extremely

valuable for developing business because

it identifies areas of opportunities for

market penetration.” In addition, Munoz

says having this accurate information

“eliminates your desire to enter mar-

kets or areas that are congested and

time-consuming to penetrate.”

Dodge Data & Analytics provides trusted market intelligence that helps construction professionals grow their business. Dodge is creating an integrated platform that unifies and simplifies the design,

bid and build process, bringing data on people, projects and products into a single hub for the entire industry, from building product manufacturers to contractors and specialty trades to architects and

engineers. The company’s products include Dodge Global Network, Dodge SpecShare®, Dodge BuildShare®, Dodge MarketShare™, Dodge PipeLine and CP for Salesforce.

To learn more, visit www.construction.com.

Case Study Summary

PROBLEMS

+ Inadequate forecasting tools

+ Inaccurate data

+ No sales prioritization

SOLUTIONS

+ Delivered forecasting data

+ Immediate, updated and accurate market intel

+ Data on AEC community

+ Data on potential partners

CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT AND GENERAL CONTRACTING FIRM

New York, New York

750+ employees

MarketShare and BuildShare

DODGE CASE STUDY | PLAZA CONSTRUCTION