Sun West Custom Homes Increases Collaboration Between Drafters & Field Teams with Autodesk Build

Founded in 1978, Sun West Custom Homes is a 30-person firm that designs and builds distinctive residential and commercial buildings in Nevada. Their unique buildings push the envelope in terms of design and include state-of-the art as well as experimental features, helping them earn the honor of designing and building The New American Home® for 2019, 2020, and 2024. The New American Home is the official home of the International Builders’ Show®, which brings together the best people in the residential construction industry to showcase cutting-edge trends.

Sun West has two main departments: commercial and residential. In general, each department works autonomously, managing their own projects from design through construction. However, there are two people, Lee Nave, CAD Manager, and Cody Milford, Project Coordinator, involved in every aspect of every project.

“While each department was effectively communicating via Microsoft Office tools, Cody and I were spending too much time trying to manage all the moving parts in both departments,” said Lee. “We were also starting to hear that some of our subcontractors, and we have hundreds of them, wanted to reduce the time it took for them to get information, submit RFIs, track updates, confirm resolutions, etc.”

As Lee and Cody began the search for a technology solution that would help them as well as their subcontractors, Sun West hired a new President of Construction with experience in Autodesk PlanGrid software, which digitizes blueprints and features version control and collaboration tools. “Autodesk no longer offers new subscriptions to PlanGrid, so the President of Construction spearheaded an evaluation of other products to see which could deliver the same or better features,” said Lee.

Due to his experience with Autodesk PlanGrid along with Sun West’s long history with IMAGINiT as their provider of Autodesk software, IMAGINiT was one of two companies the President of Construction approached to discuss potential solutions. “He was pleased to learn that Autodesk Build offered the same features as Autodesk PlanGrid and many others that would enable us to address our challenges and increase collaboration between and across teams, improve project performance, as well as reduce operational costs,” said Lee.

IMAGINiT assisted Sun West in securing the appropriate licenses and then met with Cody, Lee, and company leaders to grasp a particular requirement, identify the Autodesk Build component to address that need, and answer any questions. “Instead of doing a full-blown implementation at one time, we took it piece by piece,” said Lee. “It may have taken a bit longer than similar projects, but the process worked for us, and IMAGINiT was right there with us at each step.”

Sun West has more than 100 active users of Autodesk Build, including all internal designers and drafters as well as many subcontractors. Every project, both residential and commercial, is in the platform.

Here are some of the ways Sun West is using Autodesk Build:

• Issuing and Tracking RFIs – “A process that used to take a few days can often be handled within hours,” said Cody.

“Sometimes, an engineer’s design doesn’t align with how field personnel want to build or install it,” said Cody. “Now it’s easy for people in the field to submit their ideas and the engineers to quickly review, edit, or approve them.” He continued, “Tracking the RFIs is also easy. When one is issued, Autodesk Build notifies those with assignments, and it delivers the information and attachments needed to conduct the review.”

• Verifying Site Activities – With photos taken from the ground or with drones stored in Autodesk Build, Sun West can now confirm when activities occur on site, such as when products are delivered, how much is delivered, and where they are placed. “Easy access to the images means that everyone sees the same thing, so there is never any confusion about what happened when,” said Cody. “This had made a world of difference.”
• Managing Revisions – When revisions are uploaded into Autodesk Build, the revisions for that sheet are listed, so everyone understands the changes. If there are any questions, users can overlay the new sheets onto previous sheets for clarification. “Drafters markup the sheets and get the updated information back into the field as quickly as possible, making it a huge time saver,” said Cody.
• Ensuring Version Control – “The challenges associated with paper plans disappear with Autodesk Build, which always provides access to the current plans,” said Cody. “We can also easily go back and see who made all past revisions, why they made them and when, so we completely understand how we got to where we are today."

“Having IMAGINiT as a trusted partner jumpstarted this process and got us to the best solution quickly,” said Cody. “Now, with Autodesk Build, we no longer produce and review paper plans that blow around in the wind. Instead, people carry iPads, new information gets to the field quickly, and the onsite teams know they are viewing current information. It is helping us save time, reduce delays, and spend less.”