How RG Construction Uses
OpenSpace to Stay Within
Budget and Get Paid on Time
Chicago-Based Specialty Trade Is an Avid User of OpenSpace Track Progress
Tracking, Which Automatically Generates Accurate Percent Completes

Goal: Introduce Reliable, Scalable Progress
Tracking

Strategy: Use OpenSpace Track for
Progress Tracking, QA/QC and More

A specialty drywall contractor based in Chicago, RG

After vetting multiple photo documentation solutions,

Construction struggled with manual progress tracking

Lampkinbecause of how onerous it was. (Someone would have tobecause it wasn’t a “one-trick pony.”

recommended

OpenSpace—inlarge

partwalk the site with a clipboard and the plan, make notes witha highlighter, and return to the office to do the takeoff“From the start, we saw OpenSpace as a great QA/QC

and figure out the installed footage.) Including travel totool because of the ability to compare specific areas

the site and back, it would take at least four hours eachof the site on different dates and the BIM integration,”time.

said Brian Garcea, an RG Principal and part of thethird generation of the family-owned business. “TheThe company understood that reliable progress tracking

applications of it beyond getting captures and being awould deliver several benefits, including facilitation of on-CYA tool were very compelling.”

time payments and better adherence to lean construction
principles, and wanted to explore technologies that could
make it possible in a time-efficient way.
On top of this, RG’s Director of Innovation and Technology,
Luther Lampkin, was focused on identifying a solutionthat would be intuitive to use. “I always have to consider
whether a technology is simple and repeatable enoughfor team members of all age ranges to very easily andseamlessly understand it,” he said.

It’s the holy grail for tradecontractors to have consistent
data points that are easily
quantifiable to identify yourpercent complete based onwhere you are in the project.”
Brian Garcea, RG Principal

Another key differentiator was ease of use. “Everyperson in our company, whether they’re in their 60s or

4020s, knows how to use it,” Garcea said. “When I got myfather and uncles on OpenSpace and heard them call it
the best thing ever, we knew we’d hit on something. It’sHOURSSAVED MONTHLY THROUGHREMOTE MONITORING

letting them do things they’ve wanted to do forever, likefollow the progress of a jobsite that’s four hours away on

10X FASTERa daily basis.”

THAN TRADITIONALAPPROACHES TO

RG has been an avid user of OpenSpace’s Progress

PROGRESS TRACKING

Tracking feature on job sites such as the Illinois MasonicMedical Center. It works via AI classifiers, which aretrained to recognize framing, drywall and other items andcompare progress between captures. Results are thenmapped to plans and referenced to takeoffs to generatequantities and percent completes.

When I first saw the projection,
it looked like we were going to
be 20% over budget. We ended
up 10% to 15% under budget.
Adam Bessert, Senior Estimator/Project Manager“It’s the holy grail for trade contractors to have consistent
data points that are easily quantifiable to identify yourpercent complete based on where you are in the project,”
Garcea said.

Results: On-Time Payments and Greater
Operational Efficiency“OpenSpace is the single best tool we’ve had in termsof jobsite information,” Garcea said. “Having real-timeinsight into our progress that lets us quickly adjust how
we’re working in the field is what lean is all about. It’s aninvaluable tool for our company.”
RG is seeing strong results from OpenSpace in thefollowing areas:•Progress Tracking is, RG always knows how budget
hours are tracking against actual hours. “It’s easy

OpenSpace has been extremely useful on highly-for us to show when we’re ahead of schedule andregulated healthcare projects in particular. In cases

tracking better than production,” Garcea said. This,

where inspectors want to confirm that fire stop joints orin turn, makes it easier to get invoices approved in alife safety details were installed correctly in congested

timely manner.

ceilings, RG can simply show the OpenSpace capturesfrom before the pipes and ductwork were put in.

Facilitation of payments: Because of how accurate•

Greater ability to stay within budget: In cases whereRG may not be meeting their planned productions,“Without those captures, we’d have to open up theProgress Tracking helps them quickly course-correct.

ceiling and get someone to crawl in with a flashlight toOn his first OpenSpace project, Senior Estimator/

show the inspector,” said Bessert, “and we’d probably

Project Manager Adam Bessert discovered that their

have to pay field labor to do that.”hours spent for a portion of their partition framing

Speed and convenience: Bessert uses OpenSpace

work were significantly more than anticipated. Hein part to track progress in terms of manpower andfound this was due to how the team was leveraging aproductivity. This helps ensure the right tradesmencertain technology and steered them to use it moreare on the job and resources are allocated properly

efficiently. “Without OpenSpace, we might not haveacross projects. He sits at his desk and does it incaught it until the entire floor was framed,” Bessert

30 minutes. “I can look at select partitions thatsaid. “When I first saw the projection, it looked likehave been framed and different conditions, and I

we were going to be 20% over budget. We ended up

don’t have to take four hours out of my day to go to10% to 15% under budget.” The Illinois Masonic Medical

downtown Chicago and walk around the site,”

Center project they’re currently wrapping up had ahe said.

$30 million budget and will come in $1 million under
that, which enabled the owners to buy a $400,000
scheduling system they wanted. Though RG was only
one of the trades, OpenSpace helped them to do theirpart to stay under budget.
•••

Building a competitive advantage: Lampkin believes
OpenSpace has helped RG win some of its current
projects by enhancing its reputation among GCs andowners. They’re increasingly seen as a technologysavvy company with data-driven decision-making

Adherence to lean building principles: RG is involved

processes. “On active projects, owners are looking toin an increasing number of projects that operate

us to set up OpenSpace for them,” he said. “They’reon the Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) model,

looking to us more as a trusted partner, since we’re

which rewards operational efficiency and cutting

adding value in new ways.”waste. Progress Tracking helps them adhere to leanprinciples while providing real-time feedback toowners and other trade partners on how they are
executing on the project. “In the IPD format, wewin when there’s a more efficient way to build,”
Garcea said.