Four Ways a Subcontractor Maximizes Project Coordination and Adoption with OpenSpace

In today’s fast-paced construction industry, effective project coordination and adoption of innovative technologies are paramount for success. One technology revolutionizing the construction process is reality capture. We recently sat down with OpenSpace customer Dikkie Anderson, Senior Project Manager with Nevell Group, a commercial interior and exterior wall systems specialty trade contractor. We talked about how quickly their teams adopted OpenSpace and how the tech has facilitated seamless project coordination.

1. RFIs: One important area where Nevell Group has seen success in coordination and resolving issues is ensuring clarity on Requests for Information (RFIs). Dikkie highlighted a specific example where questions arose regarding the detailed drawing on the second floor of a project that was located two hours away from its main office. With photo documentation from OpenSpace, the team could easily pull up captures and view the state of construction and make informed decisions on pricing and necessary adjustments. This real-time visibility into the project’s progress significantly reduced the risk of costly changes, and saved time.

2. Design intent vs. as-built: OpenSpace has proven invaluable for Nevell Group in clarifying complexities on the construction site. For instance, concerns were raised about the support for window shades in a particular area. By overlaying the model view with the site conditions captured by OpenSpace, the team could identify discrepancies between the design and actual construction, empowering them to address potential issues proactively, avoiding delays and rework down the line.

3. Quality control: Nevell Group also relies on reality capture for quality control (QC). Through side-by-side comparisons of their models and site conditions in OpenSpace, their teams can ensure all necessary elements are in place as per the design specifications. With this meticulous QC process, Nevell not only mitigated risks but also enhanced the overall project quality and efficiency.

4. Communication and collaboration: Nevell Group takes advantage of OpenSpace to facilitate effective communication and collaboration among project stakeholders. By providing a centralized platform for sharing and reviewing site documentation, teams can quickly access relevant information and coordinate their efforts more efficiently. This streamlined communication workflow fostered a culture of collaboration and accountability, ultimately driving project success and quick adoption of OpenSpace across the organization.

Stay Ahead of the Curve with Reality Capture

Integrating OpenSpace reality capture into construction projects offers numerous benefits—by harnessing the power of real-time data and visualization, teams can mitigate risk, optimize workflows, and deliver projects on time and within budget. As the construction industry continues to evolve, embracing construction reality capture tools like OpenSpace will be crucial for staying ahead of the curve and achieving excellence in project delivery.

Frequently Asked Questions

How does OpenSpace compare to other reality capture technologies available in the market, and what sets it apart in terms of project coordination and adoption?

Many things set OpenSpace apart as the market leader in 360 construction project documentation, but foundationally it comes down to two things: ease of use and scalability. Many reality capture companies promise advanced features such as progress tracking or VDC capabilities that leverage reality capture data, but the truth is you can only realize the benefits of those advanced features if they’re easy to use—your project teams need to be able to easily and quickly capture the job. OpenSpace has invested the time, money, and resources to ensure that the capture and upload experience is fast, simple, and reliable so that teams can consistently capture projects weekly, daily, or even multiple times a day. OpenSpace has also invested in the technical infrastructure that delivers scalability. Our tech works for more than one job, it works for all of your jobs—and our numbers prove it: deployed in 93 countries on over 42,000 projects, over 29.2 billion square feet and over 1.7 billion images captured, and over 214,000 users.

Tell me more about how OpenSpace facilitates effective communication and collaboration among project stakeholders?

OpenSpace provides best-in-class navigation tools, making it incredibly easy to find what you’re looking for. This has been true from day one, and we continue to invest in delivering the most intuitive navigation experience. The latest example is our recent upgrade to Capture Paths.

With OpenSpace, you get unlimited users, enabling you to easily share access to your captures with as many stakeholders as you’d like at no additional charge.

Our versatile Field Notes feature enables teams in the office and in the field to track issues, collaborate on design and project planning, work through punch lists and QA/QC, provide asset information for project closeout and O&M packages, and more.

Shared Folders in OpenSpace enables you to share specific captures with external stakeholders—this means you can share only what is pertinent when collaborating with outside parties.

OpenSpace BIM Compare makes it easier than ever for your field teams to access and navigate your BIM model. Everyone on the team can compare the coordinated design conditions in the BIM against as-built conditions in the field. And for active BIM users, OpenSpace BIM+ offers additional tools for effective field coordination.

What are potential challenges users might face when implementing OpenSpace for reality capture, and how can these be addressed to ensure smooth integration and maximum benefits?

A technology is only useful if it’s adopted in the field, and many organizations have faced difficulty in training users. To avoid this challenge, OpenSpace has invested a considerable amount of resources into ensuring that it’s easy and smooth to get your teams up and running with the platform. We offer learning materials including the online OpenSpace Academy plus access to our world-class Solutions Engineering team for training and consultative services and 24/6 help from our Support team via phone, email, and in-product chat.

Lack of ownership of obtaining goals and desired adoption metrics is another potential challenge. To overcome this, we strongly encourage the following strategies:

• Define what successful implementation looks like for your company, and set goals and objectives to achieve the desired implementation.
• Find an internal champion to oversee and own the implementation and continued use of OpenSpace for your company. This person will typically order, track, and deploy all hardware; will be an internal product expert and resource for training, questions, and troubleshooting; and will be the main point of contact with OpenSpace to surface questions, product feedback, and concerns. Also, your champion will be on point to keep your organization’s relationship with OpenSpace active and on the same page. For larger organizations, we recommend having a champion for each department, office, or region.

Test Drive OpenSpace

If you’d like to jump into an actual documented OpenSpace project, check out our free interactive demo. Click around to see just how easy it is to navigate and collaborate.