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Information Technology November/December 2008 Home Movies High-definition camera system allows better jobsite surveillance By Debra Wood A new high-definition Web camera system provides sharp images that help contractors and owners remotely monitor and record progress on construction projects. “I was impressed with the functionality of the camera and clarity of the picture,” says Paul Walker, information technology director at Hoar Construction, Birmingham, Ala.
Walker says the Megapixel Advanced system from EarthCam Inc., Hackensack, N.J., has not disappointed him. “With this 8-megapixel camera, [the image] is crisp, and you can get a lot of details out of the images that you couldn‘t get from other cameras,” Walker says. Hoar began taking Webcam images of its projects about six years ago. Cameras typically are mounted high above the action. The company makes the images available at its Website, which allows the public to watch the project evolve. Hoar also uses the system to document how much work is completed. “We can watch as each floor is being poured and check how much progress is being made on an hourly basis,” Walker says. “Outside the marketing piece and show-and-tell, it can help with the management process on a particular project.” Brian Cury, founder and CEO of EarthCam, says higher resolution produces better shots for documentation, archiving and time-lapse movies. EarthCam manages the imagery and content on EarthCam servers. The servers communicate with the camera regularly. If something is amiss, EarthCam can reboot the camera and correct any problems, Cury says. “Every five minutes we give them a slice of whatever happened that day,” Cury says. “The information you can glean from documenting a project from start to finish is invaluable.” EarthCam gives the construction firm tools to compare images, create slide shows and add text, which provides the project manager an opportunity, among other things, to mark up a photo of an unlocked gate, add a reminder to improve after-hours security and then circulate it to the appropriate people on his or her team. Owners and architects can monitor progress without leaving the office, which saves time and money formerly spent on fuel, Cury says. A civil contractor or department of transportation might use the camera to keep an eye on safety during a road-building project, he adds. The 8-megapixel camera is built to withstand dust, sand and severe weather. It is protected by a heavy-duty sealed enclosure as well as a heater and cooling fan. The system comes with a windshield wiper and washer-fluid tank, so someone can remotely wash the glass or program the camera to clean the lens at set intervals or in inclement weather. The construction firm buys the camera and pays EarthCam a management fee while the camera is operating at a jobsite. The camera and one year of software support for the 8-megapixel system costs between $5,000 and $10,000. The company provides a Website, documents weather conditions and time-date stamps the images. EarthCam offers a variety of Webcam options, including a 45-megapixel panoramic camera. EarthCam Inc.
Sizing It Up New software makes remote jobsite estimates easier to do In a time of fluctuating gasoline prices, avoiding unnecessary trips to a jobsite to measure potential projects can help the bottom line. UPHOTOMEASURE software from Digi- contractor Corp., Tarzana, Calif., lets contractors determine size with a simple digital image of the site. “UPHOTO is accurate for us to be doing upfront estimating without spending a lot of time and energy, and that includes labor, vehicles and fuel,” says Tom Nelson, vice president and sales manager for Indigo Signworks, Fargo, N.D. “And it’s simple to use.” When a customer asks an Indigo salesperson for an estimate, the employee takes a digital image of the job. Something of a known size, such as an 8.5-in. by 11-in. piece of paper, serves as a point of reference in the photo. The salesperson then downloads the image into UPHOTO and calculates the measurements. Indigo no longer needs to send a truck and crew out to obtain sizes on jobs it has not secured. An hourly truck rate runs $130 per hour for two workers and obtaining measurements takes at least an hour. Meanwhile, that truck is not available to complete a billable service. In addition, scaling and measuring formerly required the expertise of the firm’s art department.
On smaller jobs far from one of Indigo’s offices, Nelson often asks the potential customer to take the photo and send it electronically along with the firm’s logo. “I’ve found it to be a way to include the customer in the process,” Nelson says. “They develop ownership of the project.” Indigo will install the sign when a truck is in the area. “It saves them money, and it helps us to do more projects when we are out and about,” Nelson says. Paul Minor, CEO and president of Digicontractor, a remodeling contractor, came up with the idea for UPHOTO about three years ago as a means of saving time when providing estimates. He says some small contractors have used Google Earth and UPHOTO to measure rooftops or landscape before giving an estimate of what the job will cost. Nelson estimates it took him about 15 minutes to feel comfortable using UPHOTO software. Then he went to jobsites, measured and compared his UPHOTO results with the on-the-ground outcome. He says he found it “eerily” accurate, even more so when he zoomed in. Nelson recommends using a camera with at least 4 megapixels to obtain crisper images, which are easier to measure, and to take the photo straight on, not at an angle. UPHOTOMEASURE works on a PC platform running Windows XP. It retails for $249 per user but discounts are available at the company’s Website. It is also available for single use or with short-term subscriptions. Digicontractor Corp.
Real-Time Tracker Web-based data system gathers wide range of job information Construction firms can bet-ter manage projects when they have immediate, online access to labor hours and equipment use. “BUILD2WIN does everything we need, all in one place—payroll, job cost, quantity tracking,” says Jesse Pero, an estimator and project manager at Hoffman Bros. Inc., Battle Creek, Mich. The company began using BUILD2WIN, a new product from BID2WIN Software Inc., Portsmouth, N.H., within the past year. “The job-cost tracking is invaluable because it gives you the ability to look at your job and make adjustments to it as it moves along,” Pero adds. BUILD2WIN collects data and tracks production activity. It then instantaneously transfers it back to the office, with no need for synchronization between the laptop and the company’s server or importation into a management system. “It allows for a more efficient gathering of the information and provides management with the ability to see, in real time, the profitability of the work that is going on in the field,” says Paul McKeon, president of BID2WIN. For instance, the system can help the manger learn if the job falls behind on labor, ahead on equipment or if the cost per linear feet for pipe comes in as expected. By having this information immediately, the company can act quickly to fix the situation. The Web-based software, created on a Microsoft platform, runs on a laptop. No software is installed on the computers, so it does not require updates.
Foremen, supervisors or project managers enter the information on one screen, in a linear layout. BUILD2WIN electronically transfers payroll information to an accounting software program, eliminating the need for written time sheets and re-entering data. “It happens seamlessly, without trips to the home office, hard copies or faxing,” Pero says. “It saves time and money. Rather than our superintendent making an hour run to the office once a week, we can leave him on the job where we really need him.” Pero also likes the software’s smooth flow of information about quantities of materials placed on a job. “The actual quantity placed—for instance, asphalt on unit-based contracts—is what we get paid, and we need to track those quantities,” he says. “BUILD2WIN pulls that all into one program.” Management can access BUILD2WIN from any computer with an Internet connection, so managers can check on projects while on the road and find out the percentage of work that has been completed or actual-versus-estimated costs. The information is presented in a dashboard format, with graphs and pie charts. “You are looking at treetop-level summary information in a graphical way,” McKeon says. “You can click on a part of the bar or pie and it will drill down into the data that makes up that bar or pie chart.” Hoffman Bros. keeps the data as a daily log, which managers can access to determine rain days or other events affecting a project. The company also uses the historical information in its estimating. BUILD2WIN costs about $3,000 per user for one to nine users and $2,500 for 10 to 19 users, and the price may be reduced further based on volume. It is appropriate for infrastructure work and general construction. BID2WIN Software Inc.
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