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Information Technology: BuilderVision
New builders' software tool allows
customers to make virtual product selections
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| BuilderVision allow
customers to imagine the consequences of their choices. |
Builders know that building homes or multifamily units is
often much easier than dealing with customers and their many
product choices. Helping customers choose between granite
and marble countertops or pick one grade of roof tile over
another can be labor intensive and time consuming.
BuilderVision software may change that. This "what-if"
interactive tool allows customers to virtually "sample"
different building products for their new home or office-all
on the builder's Website.
"We upload the builder's home images as well as the
manufacturers' products onto the builder's Website,"
says Dan Dempsey, CEO of BuilderVision, Northville, Mich.
"Then the buyer goes into selection mode and applies
the real products to a real outcome."
The buyer can see photographs of rooms-along with other details
such as electrical and HVAC systems-next to lists of product
choices. The buyer simply clicks on the materials and colors
and the screen displays them in their finished form. The program
also calculates the cost of each new product choice or combination
of products.
"It saves the builder a lot of time," says Dempsey,
"And he can suggest upgrades and options to the customer."
Brendan Crowe, a marketing Web master for America's Home
Place, Gainesville, Ga., says that BuilderVision also draws
prospective buyers into a builder's Web site. "It gets
the ball rolling," he says. "They can bring a printout
of the model they are looking at, and various materials and
colors they can use."
It's another way to keep them on the Web site longer and
engage them in an interactive experience with the product.
Dempsey adds that BuilderVision tailors the software so the
builder can control the selection environment.
"We let the builders choose if they want to present
just one aspect of the job to the client before moving on,"
he says.
BuilderVision takes 60 to 90 days to set up. It then becomes
part of the builder's Web site. It costs $9,500 to build the
initial tool and $199 per month to host it on the site from
the BuilderVision server. BuilderVision clients can also upload
their own projects, with some training, which is also available
online.
The cost is $100 to $200 per image for builders who want
BuilderVision to upload their images for them. The builder
provides the home images and product lists, and Builder-Vision
uploads them, Dempsey says.
BuilderVision
43641 Nine Mile Road
Northville, Mich. 48167
customerservice@buildervision.com
248-380-9080
800-754-9090.
www.buildervision.com
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