Every few years, I invite readers and colleagues to contribute guest columns in the series Technology and my Hobby/Passion. Over a hundred contributed in the last decade on their birding, charities, cooking, music, sports and every other passion, and how it keeps evolving with technology. Click here and scroll down to read them all.
This time it is Bill and Leila Hewitt. Bill had contributed to this series in 2014 on his skills at Artisanal Baking. We welcome him back and also congratulate him for starting a new job this week as President and CEO of Aternity. Previously, he was a private equity partner, CEO of Exari Systems and Kalido, and held senior sales, marketing and management positions at companies including Novell, Peoplesoft, Hyperion Software and IBM. Bill received his degree in Business Administration from the Boston University Questrom School of Business, where he was named a distinguished alumni in 2009.
Whenever I talk to Bill, I hear about his travels and his virtual management of teams, how he stays in touch with his twins in college, the myriad of domestic projects he is working on. This column gives you a glimpse to how he juggles multiple balls - collaborating on everything and with everybody using technology. He specifically talks about the fascinating scope of digital collaboration on a new housing project:
My wife and I recently bought a small summer home on the Rhode Island coast. We are in the process of adding more room onto the property, something we are not unfamiliar with, having build two houses in the past. This time, however, technology is playing a key role in speeding up the process through better collaboration with the design, construction and decorating team.
I’m using LucidChart.com as the amateur draftsman to create rough floor plans and elevations and share them with the architect. She in turn uses them to create AutoCAD drawings to create the full construction prints for permits and the structural engineers in addition to the contractor. Because there is so much information online, we can explore different green technologies (ducted mini-splits, hydronic radiant heat, sustainable materials, on-demand water heaters) and new technologies like dielectric mirrors, which allow you to make your TV look like a framed mirror or Samsung’s FrameTV, which displays museum quality art when your TV is turned off.
We set up Pinterest and Houzz Ideabooks to share ideas with everyone so they know the direction we want to take the project. Houzz gives us the ability to include everyone in the process, including family members.
The builder has a system to report on progress through photographic evidence using apps like Fieldlens (acquired by WeWork) which can be used to validate certain parts of the project and ask for feedback on materials, finishes in real-time. Fieldlens also gives the general contractor an efficient way to collaborate with subcontractors. The video below describes more of the app.
We will also source mostly of the plumbing and lighting fixtures online. We did this with our last build, sourcing over 150 items and saving 30% over retail. We use build.com almost exclusively, and never set foot in a brick and mortar store (with the possible exception of shopping for tile.) Anything that gets installed, lighting, kitchen appliances, light fixtures, carpet, tile all get sourced online. Our experience has been the customer service is substantially better. All of the trade work will be carried out by craftsman who live and work within a 10 mile radius, a commitment we decided was a great way to make us good neighbors in our new town.
The design time on our first house was about 4 months. The build took another year, and about 5% of the expense went to rework, mostly caused by misunderstanding or mistakes between the design/build participants. This one will take about 4 weeks, for design, 25% less in time to build and we expect less than 1% rework. With better design, the builder can discuss various options for heating, cooling, windows etc in advance, which in turns speeds up the building process. With more certainty upfront, the builder can be more specific with subcontractors, which in turn results in shorter project time and fewer errors.
Finally as a bonus, our security system allows us to assign individual pins to the contractor and subs, and we have mounted what is typically a field camera used for hunting to take 25 pictures a day to create a time-lapse movie as well as catch anyone who shouldn't be there.
All of this technology helps to reduce errors, cost and speed project completion. It also allows many things to be completed in parallel vs a more traditional serial process. Good for everyone!
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