Thursday, September 8, 2022 | The adage, “a picture is worth a thousand words,” holds true with construction projects, especially when visuals can provide benefits beyond enhanced communication, such as improved jobsite safety and project quality. At Granger Construction, teams are increasingly incorporating visual technology, such as drone footage, OpenSpace 360 site capture, and building information modeling (BIM), to help advance the art of building and improve the customer experience.
In the following video and transcript, owner and architect partners for the DTMB Caro Center share benefits visual technology has brought to their project.
- Maria Alvaro – Project Director, Department of Technology, Management and Budget (DTMB), State of Michigan
- David Giroux – Principal-in-charge Architect, Integrated Design Solutions (IDS)
Maria: My name is Maria Alvaro. I am a Project Director. I work within the Design and Construction Division at DTMB. I’ve been working with Granger for the past year. I took this project over from another Project Director. I’m with the A-team at Granger.
Working with Granger, one of the technologies that we have used are drone photos, and the drone photos have come in handy for the stakeholder meetings. I have also used Granger’s drone photos to let our constituents know exactly how the project is going.
Another one of Granger’s construction technologies that they use is OpenSpace. It’s an interesting concept, because they basically wear a hat that has a camera attached to it, and they can walk through the entire building. So if there’s an issue, we can go ahead and take a look at the issue and move forward from there. It’s a faster way of communication and resolution.
David: My name is David Giroux. I’m an architect by trade and I am a Principal at the firm Integrated Design Solutions, and on the Caro project, I was the Principal-in-charge.
The use of OpenSpace and the drone photography gave us the confidence that they were on the right track and it gave us a window into the real-time construction, and we could respond to things as they were happening versus being reactionary.
Maria: Part of using this type of technology enables Granger to be very transparent and not have to bring everybody out onto site. In addition, it’s also a wonderful tool for safety. We don’t have to have tour groups coming through where safety would be an issue for people that are not used to being on construction sites.
David: If a customer had approached me and asked if they should be using the same technology on their project, I would endorse it 100 percent. There’s a benefit during the construction to be able to see in real-time how it’s progressing. But there’s the added benefit of that becoming their record going forward, something that their facilities group can also rely on in the future if they want to unpeel the layers and see what’s behind the drywall or underneath the studs.
Maria: One positive experience we had using OpenSpace was actually looking at the catwalks and understanding where the IT components could actually be fed down below the catwalks and then through the ceilings.
We had a State of Michigan employee that didn’t understand how the building was being built. So for her, to actually be able to see what was going on within the building actually helped her understand how we would be able to fit the wireless access points into the building itself.
David: My experience with Granger Construction Company is that they select technologies for their projects that add value and make our lives easier. It’s not about using the latest and greatest technology because it’s available, but that they’ve truly vetted it and it provides value to their client, to the team, and us overall.
Maria: Granger’s use of technology helped build my confidence within the construction team, and I really enjoy the fact that, because of the the technology, if I need something from them, they’re able to send me photos whenever I need them, and be able to help me with whatever project that I have to do.
David: It’s exciting to have a partner like Granger, who’s at the forefront of using these technologies as we read and learn about what’s coming. It’s pretty encouraging and amazing where we’re going to be in a couple years or even another decade from now, and how we use drone technology and how we use BIM modeling [Building Information Modeling]. So, it’s encouraging to have a partner on our team that’s at the forefront of utilizing that.
