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Luxury Apartment Complex Photo Documentation Case Study

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Developer Trusts Multivista to Track Progress

Multi-family Developer Trusts Multivista to Track Project Progress

When building a 285-unit luxury apartment complex in Miami, ZOM, one of Florida’s leading developers, wanted to keep tabs on construction progress to make sure things were on schedule and on budget. However, with several projects in development and several stakeholders to keep in the loop, they didn’t want to have to make additional site visits.

So, in order to track the progress of the BLU at North Bay Village project in Miami, ZOM turned to the construction photo documentation expertise of Multivista.

THE SITUATION

Founded in 1977, ZOM built its reputation from the ground up, eventually becoming one of the most highly-regarded multi-family developers in the United States. With more than 16,500 apartments developed, ZOM’s staff are meticulous about deliverables and quality assurance on every project. Unfortunately, ZOM’s desire for careful record-keeping was not being met by their architects and contractors, leaving them on the hook for taking photographs of as-built conditions.

ZOM found the perfect answer to their problems in Multivista. Multivista documents the progression of construction projects through professional photography and an easy-to-use online platform.

Before Multivista, the process of tracking the progression of our construction was much more manual,” says Brett Gelsomino, Development Project Manager at ZOM. Aside from the regular architect reports, a ZOM employee or the contractor would snap pictures randomly or as needed. Although these were useful, we had to dig through phones or cameras to find shots, time stamp images, upload, and organize. It took time away from other important tasks.

My favorite feature in the Multivista platform is being able to select a few pictures and generate a report with date and time stamps, location markers, and all associated information. It can show the evolution of one detail over time, or it can show specifics in an area at a certain time, and then I can print it or email it to anyone involved in the project.

When a Multivista photographer comes on site to take pictures, we’re getting hundreds of shots,” Gelsomino explains. “That was incredibly difficult for us to do before. We were really only taking specific shots, so it wasn’t nearly as thorough compared to the amount of information and pictures we now have access to in the Multivista platform.

Brett Gelsomino - Project Manager

THE BLU PROJECT

ZOM hired Multivista to track construction progress on the BLU at North Bay Village project. For this apartment development, ZOM chose the following shoot types:

Interior and exterior progressions
Mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) Exact-Built
Window installations Exact-Built

The main advantage for us in using Multivista has really been about maintaining the highest level of quality control and verification.

Construction at BLU has been going very well, but if we ever do run into anything, it’s useful having the pictures to see how things were assembled or what’s going on behind the walls without having major delays or expenses associated with tearing things apart.

Brett Gelsomino - Project Manager

PLUMBING AND MECHANICAL PHOTOS HELP PROJECT MANAGEMENT

ZOM used Multivista’s MEP photographs to identify and coordinate plumbing and mechanical details proactively. The project manager also loved being able to access exterior and interior progression photos remotely through the Multivista platform, saving him countless visits to the job site.

The advantage of remaining informed between site visits extended to ZOM’s capital partners as well.

Multivista has definitely made my job easier, especially when it comes to photographic reporting. I get such a variety of images and angles that I can share with stakeholders, whether it’s interior or exterior photos, micro or macro level details; it’s all there in the platform — dated, organized, and easy to find.

Multivista has been really helpful in keeping our capital partners informed about the progress of construction from far away. We always keep them plugged into the development, but a picture is worth a thousand words.

For ZOM, there is so much value in Multivista’s services and platform that we will likely continue to use them for all of our ground-up developments. Simply put, I would rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it. It’s a great tool to document and archive all stages of construction progress, and the documentation remains on file long after project completion.

Brett Gelsomino - Project Manager

CONSTRUCTION PHOTO DOCUMENTATION RESULTS

In the 17 months that Multivista worked on the BLU site, a total of 19,625 images were taken and attached to the project plans. In addition, Gelsomino and the ZOM team used the Multivista app to snap their own pictures and directly index them to the architectural drawings, access their project floor plans and photos from the field, and view their high-resolution webcam streams.

ZOM has continued to invest in Multivista, contracting their services on 11 additional multi- family developments.