Patent ID: 6922701
Filing Date: 2005-07-26
Classification: G06F,Y10S

Abstract:
1. A system for generating a post-CAD interactive profile of a building for use in building and remodeling projects, the system comprising: a CAD-independent profiling engine executable on a remotely accessible server linked to a computer network, the profiling engine being configured (a) to receive a plan set representing a physical description of the building at a point in time, (b) to create a post-CAD electronic profile of the building based on the elemental plan data, and (c) to store the post-CAD electronic profile in a profile database associated with the CAD-independent profiling engine; a user-accessible management application executable on a user computing device linked to the computer network, the management application being configured (a) to store asset data for the building in an asset profile database, the asset data including at least some data relating to component parts added to the building post-construction, which were not included in the pre-profiled plan set, (b) to enable a user to assign user-assigned asset properties to the component parts represented in the asset profile database, to thereby modify the asset data over time, and (c) to communicate the asset data, including the user-assigned properties over the computer network; an application engine executable on a remotely accessible server linked to a computer network, the application engine being configured (a) to receive the asset data from the management application, and to store the asset data with the user-assigned properties in the post-CAD building profile stored in the enhanced profile database, and (b) to make the post-CAD profile accessible to remote query via a computer network; and a build-to-order application executed on a third-party computer linked to the CAD-independent application engine via a computer network, the build-to-order application being configured, in response to an authorized query for a preliminary estimate of a building project, (a) to access the post-CAD profile of the building via the CAD-independent application engine over a computer network, and (b) to generate a preliminary estimate for the project based on the post-CAD profile of the building, wherein the preliminary estimate includes a preferred list of products for the component parts of the building.