Leveraging visual documentation to avoid rework

Author: Rosie Knox

When building a state-of-the-art environmental science campus on the seaside bluff of a national marine sanctuary in the United States, 1888-founded general contractor, Swinerton, leveraged Multivista’s visual documentation service to capture construction milestones and regular progress throughout this complex state-funded build.

Swinerton’s project manager, Jeff Stephenson, originally planned to leverage Multivista to meet the project’s progress photography requirement but found significant additional benefits throughout the 24-month project.

Avoiding rework and destructive verification delays

As the multi-use facility included both laboratories and offices for school personnel, in addition to progress photos, Multivista’s MEP Exact-Built® service was procured to capture the critical in-wall systems in each room before coverup.

“Each lab and office in the building required wall-hung cabinets, so proper backing was crucial for the stability of the casework install,” Stephenson explains. “During the casework install, the owner’s representative was away on vacation and, upon their return, they wanted to make sure that a number of important rooms had the backing installed per plans.”

Due to the vital nature of each laboratory, the owner needed visual confirmation that the backing was installed. Stephenson turned to the project’s progress photos to provide the owner the assurances they needed.

“Instead of slowing the construction process down and tearing out freshly-painted drywall, I used Multivista’s progress photos to show the time lapse of the rooms in question - from wall framing install to final paint,” Stephenson continues. “The photos clearly showed the backing installed at the proper locations.”

“I estimate approximately 15,000 USD [13,300 euros] in rework savings by avoiding the destructive verification that would have been needed to confirm the backing installation - not to mention mitigating the schedule impact of that rework.”

Swinerton leveraged the visual records to avoid rework on the same project soon after.

“Our project was on the coastline of the Pacific Ocean, which exposed all building elements to a corrosive, salt-water atmosphere, and our inspector noted some rusting on some exposed steel on the jobsite. We removed the noted rust, and the painter moved forward painting the steel,” says Stephenson.

When the inspector returned to the project site and questioned the rust removal, Stephenson showed the inspector Multivista’s date-stamped and location-indexed images captured the day after the rust was removed.

“As a result of the photos, we did not need to stop the painter’s progress,” Stephenson explains. “I estimate rework savings of approximately 12,000 USD by avoiding the need to strip and repaint the steel to prove the rust was removed.”

Laser focus on the build

With remote project stakeholders involved, providing regular project updates was critical. Multivista’s team of construction documentation specialists captured approximately 12,000 progress and milestone images, which allowed Swinerton to share real-time construction progress without tying up critical resources.

“Having Multivista also saved our PEs at least a couple hours a week, taking pictures and uploading them throughout the duration of the project. I estimate a savings of about 10,000 USD in salary time over the life of the project,” explains Stephenson.

“So just on these three items, our savings total almost 40,000 USD and that doesn’t take into account the amount of time we saved being able to navigate the site virtually by pinpointing exact locations based on your project mapping.”