What?
Gilbane Building Company, a globally integrated construction firm, utilized OpenSpace to document the Pink Shell Resort complex in Fort Myers after Hurricane Ian struck the west coast of Florida this past fall. Pink Shell Resort is a large condominium complex located on Estero Island and consists of three buildings with nine stories and 205 units in total. After Hurricane Ian passed, the Gilbane team was called in to help assess damage to the resort, begin demolition on floors that needed repairs, and start remediation work on lower levels of the building.
Why is this important?
Hurricane Ian struck Florida this past September and devastated a majority of the state. It’s estimated that the hurricane caused $40-$70B of property damage and displaced thousands of residents. The Fort Myers area was hit especially hard and locations such as Estero Island lost all power, water, gas, and sewer.
Due to the size and magnitude of damage, the Pink Shell Resort posed a challenge for both the Gilbane and GRS (Gilbane Reconstruction Services) Team as to the best way to document damages and assess the cost for repairs. In addition to the size of the project, the Gilbane team faced the following challenges.
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There was no access to power, water, gas, or sewer utilities on the island for weeks after the storm.
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Structural engineer inspections were needed prior to work starting as the 20-25’ hurricane storm surge damaged structural elements of the building. Electrical inspections also needed to be performed for each building.
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Drywall, casework, appliances, and flooring all needed to be inspected and removed quickly to prevent future damage to the existing structure.
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Condominium associations needed to review and approve all work that exceeded what was covered under insurance claims.
Due to the complexity and tight schedule of the project, the Gilbane team leveraged OpenSpace to quickly document damages and communicate remediation work to the GRS and insurance teams. The team was able to capture the project in less than a week and document the condition of all 200+ units. Captures were shared with the GRS and insurance teams and the simplicity of navigating captures made it really easy for external teams to review and approve remediation work quickly.
Rather than reverting to old school methods for documentation, the forward-thinking team leveraged technologies like OpenSpace to quickly capture a large space and communicate needed repairs to GRS and insurance teams to prevent further deterioration of the buildings. OpenSpace also made it easy to communicate damages and improvements to external teams that were not familiar with construction.
Work is still ongoing at the Pink Shell Resort and OpenSpace captures are still being used to help assess and track remediation work. A big thank you to Nate Price, Joe Budelis, Meghan Brolley, Kevin Virag, Robert Moore, Windy Pierre-Louis, and the entire Gilbane group for taking on this project and assisting a community in need. Our team was honored to partner with Gilbane on this project and be able to provide our services free of charge.
Key Benefits of Using OpenSpace
🔨 Quickly and easily document the jobsite with 360 video captures. 200+ units were captured and presented to the GRS team in 4 days.
💰 Effectively communicate damage to GRS and insurance teams to assess property damage and cost for repairs.
📈 Realtime progress tracking to show demolition and remediation progress being made.
📸 Photo documentation to show existing and finished spaces and verify time worked.