Everyone knows what a construction project looks like – the equipment, workers, cranes, scaffolding, fences and noise are obvious indicators. Likewise, everyone has seen a huge roll of full-size construction drawings, even if it was in a cartoon or movie. What you may or may not know about a construction project is that there’s a massive middle ground between drawings on paper and the newly finished construction project. In this article, we’re talking about the purpose of mockups in construction and why they’re so important. Let’s dive in!
What Is A Mockup In Construction?
Simply put, a mockup in construction is a physical sample of some kind that’s meant to represent a portion of the finished construction project. Drawings are great, but they simply don’t have that tangible, visual quality that an actual physical sample brings to the table.
It only makes sense that Owners, Designers and Contractors alike get a real look at that they’re trying to build in order to provide direction and context.
In the next section, we’ll go through some examples.
Examples Of Construction Mockups
Now that we’ve defined what a mockup in construction is, let’s go through a few examples. Here are some common mockups you will see on many construction projects:
- Samples: Handheld, physical samples of a material or finished product that represents the final product.
- In-Situ: A small amount of work that’s built onsite ‘in-situ‘ for the purpose or review and discussion. This can include samples of caulking, paint or finished product that’s installed where they will eventually be. These are often removable mockups that don’t become part of the final product.
- Table Mockup: These mockups are built to illustrate the details of a finished building component, including fabrication and assembly details. An example may be a table-sized section of a roof that illustrates the finished surface and the assembly of subcomponents underneath it.
- Performance Mockup: These mockups are meant to test how a ‘prototype’ of the final finished work will perform compared to the performance standards for the project. This can include testing a product for it’s ability to weather correctly, stay water-tight or many other various performance criteria.
Let’s now get into the purpose of mockups in construction and why they’re so important!
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The Purpose Of Mockups In Construction & Why They’re So Important
Based on the types of mockups outlined above, let’s talk about the purpose of mockups in construction and why each of these types are so important!
Physical Samples Provide More Than Photos Or Drawings Ever Could
If a picture’s worth 1,000 words, how much is a physical sample worth? We have no idea, but it’s surely worth a lot more than just pictures!
Everybody benefits from inspecting and reviewing physical mockup samples on a project – from the Owner, to the Designer, to the manufacturer, and the Contractors too. Many specifications require that physical samples be submitted for approval before work begins.
As an example, consider a building that’s going to feature a custom-made exterior cladding system. It will be made in a custom color with a specific texture.
The only way that Owners and Designers know the final product will come out right is if they see it in person. The same color will look completely different on a cloudy vs. sunny way. Similarly, the texture may create certain shadows when the light hits it at a particular angle.
Details like this will be seen instantly when a physical sample is present. Time will be saved, adequate information will be received and a whole lot less money will be spent if physical samples are submitted!
In-Situ Mockups Give A Glimpse At The Final Product
In-situ mockups are very similar to physical samples. The only real difference lies in that in-situ mockups are actually installed on the building or structure, while physical samples remain separate.
In-situ mockups will actually be built on the job site. They’re supposed to provide a glimpse into the project’s future – how the actual finished product will look. Much like physical samples, this allows the Owners, Designers and Contractors to see how a product will look compared to adjacent materials, how it will perform when touching other materials, how it looks in various lighting, etc.
Rather than installing thousands of square feet of a particular paint, why not just paint a 10-ft x 10ft mockup section for everyone to review? The purpose of in-situ mockups in construction is to save everyone time, money and a big headache.
Table Mockups Allow A Design To Be Vetted For Aesthetics & Constructability
The greatest, most beautiful building might look great on paper but be totally unfeasible to construct. Whether it be due to time, sequence, resources, waste or future maintenance, some designs just aren’t meant to come to fruition.
This is the real beauty of a table mockup. Table mockups allow the manufacturer or installer to actually try building something as a practice run.
PROMOTION
Most contractors have run into a situation where a portion of a project is just not coming together. Nothing works like it should and it takes way too much time (money) to build it for real.
Contractors can lose massive amounts of money when they try to build something that’s just not feasible. Table mockups give contractors the opportunity to figure this out.
Designs can also be improved once a table mockup is built. Designers and Contractors alike can see when something just doesn’t look right or the assembly doesn’t make sense.
The purpose of table mockups in construction is to shorten the learning curve and minimize the risk of building something that’s just not right!
Performance Mockups Show Us How Well A Building REALLY Performs
When we go to buy a car, we read reviews, look at pictures, research features and estimate prices. However, none of this stuff really tells us whether or not we want the car for real. We can’t feel the car through this information. Instead, we take the car for a test drive. We open doors, press buttons and hit the gas. That’s how we truly figure out whether or not we like a particular car.
In many ways, this is the purpose of performance mockups in construction – to see what the building component will actually perform like in ‘real life’.
Windows, for instance, are expected to be air- and water-tight once they’re actually installed. A leaky window is something nobody wants. Rather than find out that a particular type of window leaks after it’s fabricated and installed, performance mockups allow a laboratory to spray the window with hurricane-force ‘rain’, pressurize it to mimic extreme temperature differentials and see how the windows actually perform.
This is tremendously valuable for all parties:
- Owners will know that the window design selected will perform as specified.
- Designers will know that they’ve specified an adequate product for the project.
- Manufacturers make sure that the windows they made actually perform and can in turn provide a warranty, etc.
- Contractors get to see what passes or fails from an installation point of view i.e. caulking, flashings, waterproofing, etc.
Performance mockups are like crash tests mixed with test drives of cars – they provide the opportunity for the mockup to ‘walk the walk’, not just talk.
The Purpose Of Mockups In Construction: In Summary
People don’t like to take blind leaps of faith – we want reassurance, information, proof and tangible evidence before we put all of our eggs in one basket. The construction industry is high-risk already – the purpose of mockups in construction is to remove the ‘blind faith’ aspect of a construction project and provide all parties with up-front, valuable insights. This saves time, money and lots of frustration for everyone involved.
I hope this article has been helpful. Thanks a lot for reading!
