Virtual payoff: web-based 3D tools can save time and slash labor costs - Review: tools & equipment

Building Products, Nov-Dec, 2003 by Steve Zurier

The future--at least when it comes to collaborative Web-based 3D design tools---is finally here.

The latest products let builders, remodelers, and designers exchange and annotate 3D CAD images in real time. They make it easier than ever for home buyers to select options via the Web. And there's even new video software that lets you build 3D CAD drawings, develop full-motion videos, and post them on a Web site.

Some collaborative design products are hosted by third parties on the Internet and cost several thousand dollars. A few are shrink-wrapped products priced around $1,000, well within reach of small builders and many remodelers.

While demand for Web-based 3D tools is unclear, builders who've jumped in report significant time and labor savings. Dominic Maleno, vice president of Maleno Development in Erie, Pa., develops about 50 units a year. Maleno uses eZ from New York-based Sigma Design to exchange 3D images with Bill Moses, senior designer at Loc, an Erie-based manufacturer of wall panels, trusses, and floor systems. The software, which costs $399 for a one-user license, lets Maleno and Moses view the same 3D image and make real-time annotations.

"As time moved on and everybody became so busy, I got tired of tracking down plans and having files upon files in hard copy folders," says Maleno. "Now, [Bill] will e-mail a print, I'll make the changes, and we'll have it done in one hour and neither of us left the office."

Maleno also uses eZ to save all his 3D images to his laptop, so when he's on the road he can e-mail changes back and forth to designers and customers. For now, the builder still faxes prints to most of his subcontractors.

"I don't think it's needed for subs; they are typically looking at a finished copy of the plan and not making changes," he says, adding that he's started using eZ with his kitchen suppliers, mostly because there are so many details that go into building a kitchen.

A NEW FRONTIER

Meanwhile, New Frontier Cos., based in Springfield, III., uses Builderfinish to let customers select options online. Peter Robinson, director of construction, says New Frontier runs Builderfinish for its University Village Project in Chicago, a mix of condo-miniums, townhomes, and mid-rises that sell for $165,000 to $700,000.

Robinson credits Builderfinish with allowing his company to operate its design center with less than one person. Here's how the builder uses the product: New Frontier gives customers a pass code; they enter the Builderfinish site and look at the overall floor plans, individual rooms, and a 3D rendering of the kitchen. (The University Village Project has 53 floor plans and roughly 4,000 selections for each floor plan type.) As the customer makes selections, the system calculates a mortgage payment.

Robinson says New Frontier uses 3D renderings mostly for the kitchen, where the customer selects floor colors, cabinets, countertops, and appliances. "The kitchen makes the most sense to do in 3D because there's so much you have to put together and color coordinate," he says.

One of Robinson's goals is to integrate Builderfinish into the company's Primavera Expedition construction management system software. But one roadblock is that Expedition needs more detailed information than Builderfinish provides.

"If we're putting in a listel on a ceramic tile, for example, we need to tell Expedition how high off the floor it goes," says Robinson. "But Builderfinish is putting that feature in, so once we get to that point, we can go from Builderfinish into Expedition. The idea is to go from the design specs to ordering to paying subs, but we'll do that later this year."

Another system that lets prospective home buyers make options selections and view amenities via the Web comes from Aareas Interactive. Jim Ritchie, senior vice president of sales and marketing at Tridel, one of the largest high-rise condominium and townhome developers in Toronto, says Aareas Interactive's Web-based 3D rendering system provides his firm with more qualified leads. Tridel employees e-mail home buyers all the black lines, pricing, and 3D renderings of the project's exterior, lobby, and recreation center.

Sending this information up front gives customers a better understanding of the project.

The Aareas Interactive product also reduces the number of model homes Tridel needs. Ritchie says his firm has moved away from building model suites, except for a model kitchen every so often. Instead of models, Tridel puts a workstation in each sales office and gives the prospect access to the Aareas Interactive system.

The 3D renderings also streamline the design process, allowing Tridel to make numerous changes well before customers ever see the design.

MORE 3D TOOLS

Builders should also check out what David Porter, president of David Porter Associates Architects in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., is doing with DataCad and Camtasia Studio from TechSmith. Porter says for a little more than $1,000 in software costs, he now posts full-motion videos on his Web site.