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App helps purchasers buy off-plan and track construction progress
An app has been launched that provides easy visualisation tools from 3D BIM models to help home buyers see what they are buying off-plan, monitor progress and assist with handover and snagging post completion.
The software, developed by Finnish firm GBuilder, is already being used in the UK. It provides a BIM 3D model of each home plus full internal specification.
The company’s latest app converts CAD files to interactive, high definition 3D models where buyers can freely move around, view the different material and appliance options, admire the views, and even furnish and decorate their home, making it possible, for the first time, to show every apartment or house to buyers.
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The module is a part of GBuilder software that digitalises the customer-related tasks, management of material choices and configurations, change orders, and defect reports. The platform works as a collaboration and data hub for the developer, the customer, and the contractor.
TVZ Properties, the developer of Treasure House in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter, has been employing the GBuilder virtual compilator to assist sales, where 50% of the properties have now sold off-plan.
Harri Majala, CEO and founder of GBuilder says: “We had the home buyer in mind from the get-go. We saw his or her role rising in this business, we wanted to create the right tool. We wanted to take the customer journey even further.”
With the new 3D module, the home buyer can visualise their exact home, view the different material and appliance options and the exact cost implications. The system works on any device with an internet connection so buyers can log in from their own home, without visiting a sales agent or a showroom.
“We have always had a 3D modelling feature in GBuilder, and it’s been built on Unity engine,” says Majala. “However, the users’ computer and bandwidth have set limitations on the quality. With the new feature from Unity we are no longer restricted by those factors and we can deliver stunning, dynamic, high-definition 3D models to any computer or mobile device even on low bandwidth. According to Unity, GBuilder is the first, and so far the only, contech-company in the world that has this.”
The 3D ties in perfectly to the GBuilder product as the same model is used when buyers are making and confirming their material choices. GBuilder can then automatically process the material confirmations from all buyers and it automatically creates the bill of quantities and the bill of materials, crucial data to support the construction process.
“Traditionally home buyers have had to look at generic sample pictures or models. Or go to the showroom. GBuilder enables one to give an experience that is personal and very emotional right from the start, a key factor in selling off-plan property,” says Jarmo Ollila, chief sales officer of GBuilder.
The software is currently being used in more than 300 projects throughout Europe. The first projects with the new HD3D are launching in July.
GBuilder has already created a BIM-based solution for housebuilders to enable them to more easily customise homes and provide a more accurate model of the building process from first contact to sales, through construction and into the warranty period and after-sales service.
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