HAP Construction Relies on OpenSpace
to Keep Payments Moving
New York-Based Construction Firm Used 360 Photo Documentation toApprove Invoices While Many Team Members Worked Remotely

Goal: Facilitate Billing Process During thePandemic
HAP Construction had a project underway to build two
20-story residential towers when COVID-19 hit New York
City. The team needed to set up processes for remote
project management, since the number of people allowed

Passos and his team were struck by how quickly
OpenSpace could fully capture the entire footprint. It
took three minutes to capture each floor and only twohours for an entire building—at least 10 times faster thanmanual capture. Attaching a 360 camera to someone’s
hard hat and having them walk the site regularly were theto visit the site was limited.

only requirements; OpenSpace would capture thousands

One specific area of remote management concern wasbackground.

the approval of subcontractor invoices. If the ProjectManagement team couldn’t be on site regularly, how
could it confirm that specific work had been completedof images per walk and map them to the project plan in the“I taught our intern how to use OpenSpace in less than
20 minutes, and he did the entire building in two hours,”

to specifications?

Passos said.

Strategy: Use OpenSpace to Confirm WorkIs Complete

When COVID hit, Passos and his team began relying on

HAP Construction had begun using OpenSpace todocument the 300,000-square-foot project long
before the lockdown began—in May 2019. They used it
to improve site documentation and to make schedulingmore efficient.
“We’ve used it religiously on the site,” said HAPConstruction Project Engineer JC Passos.

OpenSpace captures to sign off on work before releasing
payments to subcontractors. An on-site team member
would update the capture every three days to give remotecolleagues an up-to-date view of the project.

It keeps a great record of what’s
been done every time you closea billing period.”
JC Passos
Project Engineer, HAP Construction

“OpenSpace was great to have during our bank requisition

40% LESS TIME SPENT

invoicing meetings because we could walk the floor
virtually,” Passos said. “So if a sub billed for drywall thatON SCHEDULING

was put up on the seventh floor, no one would have to100X

physically go there to check it. We could use OpenSpace
to confirm, which was really valuable.”

MORE COMPLETE
DOCUMENTATION

Even as conditions continue to normalize on construction
sites, Passos intends to keep using OpenSpace for billing
purposes.

Results:“It keeps a great record of what’s been done every time

Due to the success of using OpenSpace on the residential

you close a billing period,” he said.

towers project, HAP Construction has plans to deploy iton two additional projects this year. Overall, 360 photo

Separate from the payment application, HAP Construction

documentation has helped HAP Construction in threehas been using OpenSpace to make scheduling more

key ways:efficient. This work used to entail visiting different areasof the site to ensure that the assigned task had been•

Reduced documentation time: A 300,000-square-

completed, but now the same thing can be accomplishedfoot project site can be thoroughly captured in four

from a computer.

hours, which is at least 10 times faster than manual

It saves time on taking pictures
around the site, but the qualityof the documentation really
improves everything we do.”capture.
•Construction would document a project by having
one of the superintendents arrive early to takepictures with their mobile phone. But this didn’t
happen consistently, which made the documentation

JC Passos
Project Engineer, HAP Construction

spotty and unreliable. With OpenSpace, HAP
Construction has a robust record to refer back to“For each task, there’s potentially 10 minutes of time

if needed. “It made us feel that we were covered

saved by using OpenSpace,” said Project Manager Sacha

and that we couldn’t be taken advantage of during

Vives, who’s responsible for scheduling on the residential

COVID,” Passos said. “It saves time on taking pictures

towers project. He estimates that he’s spending up toaround the site, but the quality of the documentation

40% less time on scheduling. “That’s a lot of valuable timereally improves everything we do.”when you add it up.”•Vivesalso

appreciates

OpenSpace’s

A more complete record: Historically, HAP

Process efficiencies: OpenSpace has streamlined

side-by-side

internal processes like scheduling, making it possible

comparison feature. It lets him see the same area on

to complete tasks from behind a computer instead ofdifferent dates to monitor how work is progressing,traversing a massive project site.

helping him keep the team on schedule.