Watch your home being built online

By PETER GRIFFIN

Fletcher Wood Panels Building Technologies has spent about $1 million bringing its suppliers, builders and home-buyers together in a cyber-community to cut costs and improve communications.

The web portal, part of the Fletcher Building division's new LifeSpace Homes franchise, allows builders to place orders for materials, manage sales prospects via the internet and post plans and pictures for home-buyers to view.

Wood Panels general manager Clive Nothling said the company looked internationally for someone to develop the portal, but, unable to find anyone, resorted to building the web services itself.

Suppliers offering everything from concrete to bathroom fittings have their own customised webpages where price databases are updated regularly and builders' orders can be managed.

Whangarei builder Phil Codlin has been involved in trials of the system and said he was now able to place orders for building supplies online, cutting the need to visit wholesalers and wade through the associated invoices.

"Customers can come to me with a sketch of what they want. I send it away and working drawings are prepared online," he said.

"The system produces a bill of materials automatically as the drawings are being done."

Fletcher uses the architectural design software Archi-CAD and Artlantis rendering tools to generate the building plans and 3-D designs for builders and home-buyers.

And realistic walk-throughs allow customers to tinker with the design and colour schemes as they go. Changes in price are worked out automatically.

When a house sale becomes unconditional and building begins, clients are given access to their own webpage where builders can post photographs of the construction.

Mr Nothling said home-buyers were more demanding these days and having their own webpage allowed them to play a more active role in the construction of their dream house.

"They can see plans, colour perspectives, working drawings, construction schedules.

"They'll be able to watch their house getting built online."

Fletcher has begun extending the services to builders across the country.

They pay Fletcher for the services as part of a royalty on each house sold.

The company hopes to have blanket national coverage in three to four years.

It is aiming to get between 15 and 30 franchisees online, some of which build up to 80 homes a year.

Links:

Fletcher Building