Start Building Featured in Forbes

Start Building was recently featured on Forbes.com. The article titled, “Coronavirus Pandemic Could End Housing’s Yearning For Technology” was written by Jennifer Castenson on March 26, 2020. You can find it here.

I’ve pulled and highlighted a few of my quotes.

The article starts with facing the reality of a remote workforce.

“Communication and project management will continue to be key factors, and everyone will need to adapt to virtual meetings,” said Tim Sandlund, founder of Start Building, a resource for technology and innovation within the building products industry. “Tools like Zoom allow for simple and easy video meetings directly from your phone, tablet or computer. App Innovations like BuildBook make collaboration and communication incredibly simple, and can help build efficiencies within your projects.” 

I then talked about specific technologies that could help contractors and builders during social distancing.

“Managers need to walk the construction site to check work, code approvals and permits need to be issued throughout the process,” said Sandlund. “Technology like Streem AR allows video collaboration and the ability to interact in augmented reality while being remote. You basically video chat and show what you need to show, and the user on the other end can write notes, circle items, point out issues, all while being across town.”

He also points out that virtual reality technology is the next level of innovation, providing a platform for whole demo homes to be viewed online and to be fully interactive.

“Prospective buyers could walk through the entire home as if they were there, but let's be honest, in the short term it will be difficult to convince people to put on a headset during the COVID-19 outbreak,” said Sandlund. 

Will this pandemic increase the building products industry adoption of technology? I believe so.

Sandlund predicts that now, rather than AR and VR technology being common in five years, it will be just two to three years.

Sandlund thinks that these automated processes will just enhance creativity and innovativeness. Organizations that are able to adopt new technologies will build more efficiency now, and then will be able to focus on what's coming, being more nimble, innovative and responsive.