Subject: [NEXTEL-1] For builder, wireless app hits nail on the head

From: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 02 Oct 2003 11:15:53 -0400

For builder, wireless app hits nail on the head

September 29, 2003
Jim Rendon
SearchMobileComputing.com News Writer

Wireless technologies often give the biggest bang for the buck to industries
that are not often tech savvy. For one homebuilder, that was certainly the
case.

Amberwood Homes Inc., (http://www.wemovewalls.com/) Arizona's largest custom
homebuilder, faced the same problem homebuilders across the country do:
Inevitable delays cause constant rescheduling of dozens of subcontractors,
adding time and expense to the home building process.

Dan Johnson, project manger at Phoenix-based Amberwood, said that
traditionally he went from construction site to construction site, examining
progress and noting problems. Later, upon returning to his desk, he would
update paperwork and inform subcontractors about any delays or repair work
needed.

"That was not the best system," Johnson said. "I wanted to act on a problem
the moment I noticed it. I could forget things if I waited until I got back
[to] the trailer."

Through one of his co-workers, Johnson heard about an application from a
Scottsdale, Ariz., wireless vendor, AirToolz Software LLC.
Over the course of two years, AirToolz worked with Johnson and Amberwood to create
an application that addresses real job site problems.

Johnson has deployed PalmVII PDAs to his four managers, who visit each
construction site a number of times a day. When they find a problem, instead
of jotting down the problem or making a cell phone call to a subcontractor,
the application lets them send a memo to a subcontractor requesting that
they to return to fix it or re-work their schedule.

All that communication is done on the job site at the moment that the
problem is discovered.

Johnson has also found that the application works well for resolving more
immediate problems. For example, he said, at his sites, workers are not
allowed to park on the job site; they must park on the street, or face a
possible $500 fine. But enforcing that rule often leads to bitter arguments
between site managers and subcontractors, and multiple phone calls are
sometimes needed to find a solution.

With the new application, Johnson can just send a memo to the offending
company notifying them of the fine. He said that, within minutes, the
offending truck is usually moved.

In addition, the application tracks and records the communication between
Amberwood and its subcontractors, which can be very helpful in case of
litigation, an increasing issue in the construction industry.

Though the construction industry is not known for its high-tech employees,
Johnson said, training has not been overly burdensome. But he is amused by
how his employees do and don't use their PDAs. Many simply use it for the
application and are almost afraid to touch it for anything else, he said.
Many don't even store phone numbers on the PDA, but go to their cell phone
instead for numbers.

Johnson wanted to eliminate 95% of the 40 to 50 calls a supervisor makes in
an average day. Right now, that number has been cut by 50%.

More important, the application has helped Amberwood build homes more
quickly. AirToolz had hoped to shave 10% off the amount of time it takes
Amberwood to build a home, said Thaddeus West, director of products
management at AirToolz. Amberwood has seen even better returns, at times
shaving 30 days off the average 90 to 120 days needed to complete a custom
home.

The application has helped the entire home building process move much more
smoothly, Johnson said.

http://searchmobilecomputing.techtarget.com/originalContent/0,289142,sid40_gci929767,00.html

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