here's a neat case study (neat also because the 2nd page shows a plugin used internally by turner which could be seen as a bit of a preview of the type of changes we may see in sketchup itself)
http://sketchupdate.blogspot.com/2012/01/sketchup-pro-case-study-turner.html
these people are building the tallest building in usa (and i happen to have a perfectly framed view of the thing down my street 😉 )..
of course they're not using sketchup as the backbone but they've definitely found a way to integrate it into their company.. and seriously, if sketchup wasn't helping them make things happen, they wouldn't be using it.
there isn't a one software solution out there right now.. even i use a two software approach for the drawings (3 if you count layout as a separate software)..
i guarantee your friend could find a way to use sketchup in a way that would benefit if he so desired.
(ok.. not quite with the guarantee bit.. i don't actually know what he does)
[edit] hm.. maybe they aren't building the towers.. just the crazy new downtown station.. in which case, i don't have much of a view of said project..