Granger Construction, a General Contractor based out of Lansing, Michigan, utilized OpenSpace to document the Caro Psychiatric Hospital project in Caro, Michigan. Granger Construction was selected as the Construction Management partner by the State of Michigan Department of Technology, Management and Budget (DTMB) and the Department of Health and Human Services to construct a new 100-bed, 127,000 SF psychiatric hospital in Caro, Michigan.
Why is this important?
The Caro Psychiatric Hospital project replaced the existing, aging facility, and brought all support services under one roof, better meeting the long-term psychiatric care needs in Michigan. The project provided the central Michigan region with vital access to physical and mental health resources and the hospital is one of the largest employers in the region.
Granger began using OpenSpace on the Caro project in 2021 to help enhance jobsite documentation and provide jobsite visibility for remote teams. At the time, jobsite visibility for offsite team members was critical as jobsite visits were limited due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Using OpenSpace, site documentation provided increased transparency and access for the Owner, design team, and all project partners. This in turn allowed issues to be resolved quickly.
In addition to jobsite visibility, the Granger team used OpenSpace to coordinate work with subcontractors. Anytime there was a coordination issue, subcontractors could talk through the issue with the Granger team and open the latest capture and BIM viewer to verify and resolve conflicts. This helped the team quickly resolve onsite issues and created a comfort level between Granger and their subcontractors to discuss issues when they arrose.
The Granger team also leveraged OpenSpace Track, OpenSpace’s progress tracking tool, to track installation of walls, ceilings, doors, and flooring. Track provided the Granger team with a quick and easy tool to verify installation for billing and scheduling.
Lastly, OpenSpace improved ease of locating as-built conditions in any space by “peeling back the layers.” For example, after construction was complete, the team quickly designed a new door opening between patient rooms and located a door location in a wall section where it would not interfere with in-wall plumbing or electrical. This made the work cleaner and more efficient for the Owner and removed the need for any destructive investigation to improve the building post-construction.
Caro was the pilot OpenSpace project for Granger and helped champion the use across the whole company. By the end of the Caro project, over 16 Granger project teams had started to use OpenSpace.
Key Benefits of Using OpenSpace
- Increased jobsite transparency and visual communication with stakeholders.
- Consistent site condition tracking for real-time comparisons against the BIM model and easier dispute resolution.
- Improved visuals through BIM viewer for trade coordination and new team member onboarding and training.
- AI powered progress tracking to verify installation of walls, ceilings, doors, and flooring.
- Project documentation history to verify work in place and provide the owner with a deliverable for their facilities management group.