How Commodore Construction
Uses OpenSpace for Substantial
Time and Money Savings
The New York State-based trade contractor streamlines the execution of$1-million-plus builds with the help of OpenSpace

Goal: Modernize Operations and Save Timedocumentation, enhance progress tracking and make

Located in the greater New York City area’s Mountin the field. After dozens of conversations with tech

Vernon, Commodore Construction has a nearly 20-year

providers, Niewiadomski oversaw the onboarding of justtrack record as a multi-trade contractor. Their services

four new technologies in the last year, one of which wasinclude interior renovation and retrofitting as well as newOpenSpace.

building core and shell work, and they have expertise in thehealthcare and hospitality industries.

information from BIM models more accessible to people

Strategy: Deploy OpenSpace on Projects
with Budgets of $1 Million or MoreStarting in January 2021, Commodore took on thechallenging project of overhauling technology across theOpenSpace has been deployed across six different

company, which employs more than 300 people acrossprojects so far. Because the technology is so easy to use,

six divisions. This effort has been spearheaded by Senior

it was quickly adopted by field teams. Foremen, Project

Project Manager David Niewiadomski.

Engineers and other employees simply strap a 360° camera
to their hard hats and walk the site while OpenSpace

Niewiadomski’s aim was to introduce new technologies

captures imagery in the background and automatically pinsthat would streamline existing processes and add value

it to the project plan.

where possible. Among other objectives, he wanted
to improve the efficiency of progress tracking, which
historically (and especially on large healthcare projects)
required significant time investment.
He spent well over 100 hours vetting different platforms
and software solutions that could improve photo

OpenSpace’s value is already reallyhigh, and I know it’s going to geteven higher.”David Niewiadomski, Senior Project Manager
Commodore Construction

“It was really simple to get it out there,” Niewiadomski said.

“OpenSpace’s value is already really high, and I know it’s

“It really just requires a couple of clicks and you’re on yourgoing to get even higher,” Niewiadomski said.

way. There’s been no real frustrations from the field.”
Niewiadomski is also enthusiastic about OpenSpace’s BIM

ON10-15 SAVED
PROGRESS TRACKING
HOURS PER WEEK

Viewer feature, which lets both field teams and office staff
see actual site conditions alongside the BIM model so that
mistakes and inconsistencies can be spotted quickly—
before any ceilings or walls are closed.

EMPLOYEES’UP TO 2 FULL-TIMESALARIES SAVED ON
ISSUE MAPPING“The side-by-side viewing capability really grabbed myattention,” Niewiadomski said of his first exposure toOpenSpace. “Historically, we would spend all this timebuilding models, but they wouldn’t be leveraged by people
in the field. OpenSpace makes it easy for field teams toResults: Huge Time Savings, Savings onRework and Precision Budgetingrefer to the model in their day-to-day work.”“I would recommend OpenSpace to everyone, except my
By leveraging OpenSpace Track (OpenSpace’s automatedcompetitors,” Niewiadomski joked.

progress tracking feature), Commodore has also sped up
its weekly production assessments. Based on captured

OpenSpace’s intuitive and accessible design has allowed

imagery from site walks, OpenSpace Track automaticallyfor a renaissance in multiple aspects of daily work atquantifies percent completes in trades like cement pours

Commodore—fromor drywall, resulting in massive time savings.

management to issue resolution.

progresstracking

toschedule

So far, Commodore Construction has seen results in theThis level of access anddocumentation essentiallyequals protection.”David Niewiadomski, Senior Project Manager
Commodore Construction

following areas:•Avoidance of Rework: OpenSpace’s robust photo
documentation rapidly clears up the disputes that canarise when many different subcontractors have hands
on a project. “This level of access and documentation
essentially equals protection,” Niewiadomski said,“Previously we had been taking manual notes in order topointing out that Commodore is now able to easily

track progress, which was extremely time-consuming anddispute erroneous claims through a robust backlog

sometimes inaccurate,” Niewiadomski said.

of historical imagery. The ability to compare on-theground realities with the BIM model has also proven

OpenSpace has been so beneficial that the company isvaluable, especially in the prevention of costly rework.

expanding its usage and testing out new LiDAR sensor“Just last week I was talking with the GC on a big project

integrations for quick and accurate 3D scanning, which

who wanted to close out the ceilings,” Niewiadomski

enables remote measurement and quality checks.

said. “I was able to pull out OpenSpace and show him themodel, our current progress and exactly why we shouldn’t
do that yet,” preventing a potentially expensive misstep.

•Reduced Man-Hours: On large-scale projects,
Commodore is also putting OpenSpace’s Field
Notes application to use, which lets foremen quickly•

Time Savings: Using OpenSpace Track to calculate

describe issues and problems they encounter—withpercent completes for drywall installation is saving thetheir notes automatically pinned to the site plan.

company 10 to 15 hours a week (based on how long manual

These are then consolidated into a comprehensive

progress tracking would have taken). Over the lifespanreport that can be distributed to architects,of a project, this adds up to many reclaimed hours. The

subcontractors and other stakeholders in just a few

technology also lets Project Executives and other seniorclicks to expedite issue resolution. “I’ve worked onstaff stay in the loop via virtual walkthroughs without

jobs in the past where that kind of reporting was two

having to be physically on-site as often, cutting down on

people’s full time jobs,” Niewiadomski said. With thetravel time. Niewiadomski personally used to commute

help of Field Notes, issue mapping is now a half-day

to each project almost every week. “By the time I got

job for one person, “which equals huge savings.”

back to the office, it would be too late to even turn mycomputer on,” he recalled. Since he can drop in virtuallywhenever he wants to to see the lay of the land, he now
only goes in-person when he has a specific objective.
•Better

Schedule

Management:

OpenSpacehashelped Commodore’s leadership manage schedules
by accurately gauging pace and rate of work via
OpenSpace Track, ”which helps us allocate the rightamount of manpower to each path so we can stay on
track to meet or beat budgets,” Niewiadomski explained.