SPECIAL FEATURE
Laser-focused on the future
If there is an unofficial company
motto at ZELUS USA, it’s this: don’t
fear change.
It’s a philosophy the company ex-
ecutives embrace, and it’s an atti-
tude that ZELUS tries to convey to
its customers.
Based on grit, ZELUS is a com-
pany that literally started from a
park bench because they didn’t
have enough money to lease an of-
fice. Today, the company has
grown to nearly 100 employees and
is the largest digital as-built profes-
sional services company in the
world. It lists international giants
like Amazon and major American
companies like Target as its clients.
Headquartered in Phoenix, Zelus
has offices in New York, Idaho, and
Colorado and works on projects
around the world, including in Eu-
rope and the Far East, all while ex-
periencing 55 to 65 percent annual
revenue year over year growth.
ZELUS offers clients a very sim-
ple service: laser scanning their ex-
isting buildings (both inside and
out) and creating digital twins of fa-
cilities. The 2D and 3D digital ver-
sions can then be used to guide
future alterations and renovations.
The highly precise nature of the dig-
ital models means that future proj-
ects can be planned to an exacting
degree, ensuring things like pre-fab
additions or structures can be built
to fit perfectly, that conveyor sys-
tems are designed to make the best
use of every nook and cranny, that
store shelving or distribution centre
racking is laid out for maximum ac-
cess, or that hospitals can move pa-
tients through triage most
efficiently. It also means the best
practices in computational fluid dy-
namics can be used to analyze how
to best heat or cool a facility.
Since the laser scanning is eye-
safe and because it can be per-
formed in a live, active facility, the
decision to employ a company to
6 – OCTOBER 2019 — Florida Construction News
perform the service should be an
easy one, but ZELUS CEO Ken
Smerz says that first-time cus-
tomers can be reluctant.
“People to say ‘no’ to us because
they’re afraid of change. That’s the
single biggest objection we hear.”
To get over this fear and to un-
derstand the benefits of a scanning
service, Smerz says businesses
need to ask themselves one thing:
“What if? What if we could manage
this building?”
To answer that question Zelus
typically tells clients to set a metric.
“How much do you want to
save? Is your goal 13 percent in op-
erational costs or facilities? Is it
seven percent? Stick a number to it
and then proceed from that metric,”
he says.
Having precise data allows archi-
tects and engineers to quickly cre-
ate designs or make changes to
plans, leading to greater efficien-
cies and cost savings.
“We’re helping people change.
We’re helping them mitigate costs
and expenses as it relates to the
construction process, as it relates
to the renovation process. So that’s
the early value proposition,” says
Smerz. ZELUS, which will likely add an
additional 40 to 60 people over the
next year, recently hired Ron Nauta
to serve as the company’s head di-
rector of virtual design and con-
struction (VDC), an approach that
Smerz says pairs nicely with laser
scanning and, more importantly, is
the future of construction.
“I believe what is driving VDC is
the trade labor shortage, nationally
and internationally. If you’re an
owner or general contractor or and
an architect or an engineer, you
have to start using VDC techniques
and methods. Kids don’t want to
pound nails anymore, so you’re
going to have to design that pipe
and that routing more efficiently—
so do a lot more, build the same
with less people.”
Embrace change.