Open Space Helps Enhance
Collaboration Between Suffolk
and Trade Partners
OpenSpace’s Field Notes Helped an Assistant Superintendent Keep aComplex 53-Story High-Rise Project on Tracktrue state of the project which enhanced communication

Goal: Improve OversightOn the Ritz-Carlton Residences project in Sunny Isles
Beach, Max Sanchez was faced with a tall task.
An Assistant Superintendent for Suffolk, Sanchez had
recently been put in charge of a critical path componentof the project - the window wall system for the 53-story
building which would ultimately drive the project’s delivery
date. After a ten-week lead time for the window units tobe delivered on site from Brazil, the schedule to install wassignificantly compressed.

and accountability with the trade partners performing
the work.
“I’d use OpenSpace to quickly pull up the image I neededwith the specific trade partners performing the work,” hesaid. “It gave the entire project team better visibility into
the actual progress and what work was still outstanding.”
Up to that point, Sanchez’s colleagues had poked fun
at him for wearing a camera on his hard hat. But after
seeing the positive impact of OpenSpace, the team andowners enthusiastically supported it.

“We were faced with an extremely aggressive schedule,”
said Sanchez, “but OpenSpace helped me manage theinstallation with the trade partners and keep the projecton track.”

Strategy: Deploy Open Space to Monitor
Progress and Increase Accountability
As the installation process continued, Sanchez began touse OpenSpace on a trial basis, which entailed walking thesite with a 360 camera mounted to his hard hat to capture
images and have them automatically mapped to the projectplans. Through this process, he was able to demonstrate theWe were faced with an extremely
aggressive schedule, butOpenSpace helped me manage theinstallation with the trade partners andkeep the project on track.”
Max Sanchez, Assistant Superintendent
Suffolk ConstructionSanchez began using OpenSpace every day and found thedaily and took up to 76 Field Notes at a time, which

Field Notes feature to be particularly useful. The on-site

he could quickly export into a PDF to share withproject team used Field Notes to take pictures and jot down

his team. Images were captured and mapped to thenotes during site walks to document details they observed,

project plans automatically, making documentationsuch as missing interior corners or caulking.

10X faster than manual capture. “A 53-story building
is a lot of area to cover, but this was a perfect way of

According to Sanchez, “Accountability is critical on a

tracking everything,” he said.

project of this magnitude, and OpenSpace helped me
manage that process much more

A 53-story building is a
lot of area to cover, butOpenSpace was a perfect wayof tracking everything.”

effectively with our trade partners.”

Results: More Efficient and Effective
Workflow; 50% Savings on Travel
Suffolk Construction improved its processes for managing
subcontractors using OpenSpace, resulting in greater
accountability and an earlier project delivery date.
“We’re seeing organic adoption of OpenSpace on projects
because the multi-faceted benefits of collecting real-time

Max Sanchez, Assistant Superintendent
Suffolk Construction

ACCELERATEDPROJECT DELIVERY

visual data,” said Claire Romaine, Suffolk Construction’s
Smart Lab Director. “Project teams benefit from thepassive collection of full context photos, and owners loveOpenSpace’s platform to experience virtual walkthroughsof their project.”•Greater accountability: OpenSpace enabled Sanchez
and his team to monitor progress of the windowwall installation in minute detail and ensure that thesubcontractors stayed on schedule.

•Improved workflow: Based in part on his successmanaging this project, Sanchez was recently promoted
to the role of Smart Lab Director, where he intends
toencourage

superintendents

throughout

thecompany to use OpenSpace because of the workflow
improvements it enables.
•Time savings: Sanchez estimates that using OpenSpace
resulted in the project being completed a month fasterthan it would otherwise have been.

•Reduced documentation time: Sanchez walked the site

10X
50%

1 MONTHFASTER
DOCUMENTATIONSAVINGS
ON TRAVEL