Galway-headquartered leading main contractor uses OpenSpace reality capture to expedite payment applications, track progress, and avoid disputes
For more than 70 years, JJ Rhatigan & Company has set high standards for construction in Ireland and the UK and has aimed to provide innovative, sustainable construction solutions that exceed clients’ expectations.
The company sought a documentation solution to increase operational efficiency while also
providing substantive evidence to resolve potential disputes.
Sonny McAnulty, digital construction manager at JJ Rhatigan, oversees the delivery and implementation of the company’s various digital tools.
Prior to evaluating OpenSpace, Sonny describes the photo documentation process as disorganised, stating: “It was predominantly ad hoc and didn’t provide a complete picture.”
While the digital team said their eyes had been opened to the power of reality capture, they were most concerned about finding a user-friendly solution. Sonny had run a trial of
another provider on two school projects before moving to OpenSpace, which he ultimately selected because it was easier to use, faster, and had a reduced margin of error when taking captures.
Use OpenSpace for a single source of truth
Initially, JJ Rhatigan ran a trial of OpenSpace capture on a pilot project at a third-level
academic building in Maynooth. Some key subcontractor packages were changed during the project, but fortunately, this didn’t disrupt the team’s progress.
“The OpenSpace captures acted as a clear demarcation record of works done before and after the change of subcontractor. This helped the site team massively to avoid any issues when it came to what was and was not included in the new subcontractor’s scope,” says Sonny. “It was then that the site team members really bought into the platform’s value.”
After the pilot, JJ Rhatigan signed a multiyear enterprise deal in February 2022 to roll out OpenSpace across all of the company’s projects. To launch the wider implementation, OpenSpace provided an initial training session with a dedicated customer success manager – and that was all it took.
From then on, JJ Rhatigan’s digital construction team felt confident enough to provide subsequent training to the rest of the company and manage the rollout.
“The OpenSpace captures acted as a clear demarcation record of works done before and after the change of subcontractor. This helped the site team massively to avoid any issues when it came to what was and was not included in the new subcontractor’s scope. It was then that the site team members really bought into the platform’s value.”
Satisfaction achieved across all role types
When surveyed internally, 100% of JJ Rhatigan’s employees taking part in the survey agreed that OpenSpace has improved accountability and transparency. Moreover, 97% either agreed or strongly agreed that OpenSpace improved visibility into project progress.
The survey reflected input from people spanning a variety of roles, including site engineers, quantity surveyors, design coordinators, project managers, commercial managers, and directors. The results revealed a breadth of benefits across the team:
Quantity surveyors
Those surveyed stated that OpenSpace has been very useful for assessing payment applications by making it easier to verify work completed in the weeks and days leading up to a new payment. These team members had complete photographic evidence to substantiate any assessments they made.
According to one quantity surveyor: “OpenSpace does save time if you missed something while on a site walk or couldn’t gain access to a particular area at that time. Also, you may not be located on-site all the time and OpenSpace may save the travel time to site.”
Health and safety advisers
From a health and safety point of view, OpenSpace has helped JJ Rhatigan demonstrate that its work environment is safe and makes it easier to maintain a safer work environment.
OpenSpace provides evidence of work completed and allows teams to compare what an area looked like when a subcontractor was working there in order to identify what could have caused an accident, which subcontractors have also validated.
Site engineers and project managers
Using OpenSpace, JJ Rhatigan has been able to strengthen relationships with subcontractors thanks to more efficient collaboration. Some of the company’s projects are very complex, with, for example, multiple units per floor, multiple floors per block, and several blocks on a project site to be managed.
It can be a challenge to keep track of so many areas on a job site, but using OpenSpace, teams were able to quickly get photo documentation of the site uploaded and check that a subcontractor’s claims for getting a specific amount of work done were indeed correct.
A site engineer at the company said: “I found having the up-to-date views of the entire site really useful for collaborating with design team members, subcontractors, and our
own site team. It often saved time not having to rush out to a site to get a picture of a specific area. It was also useful for closing out issues that were raised, as they could be checked if complete from the desk.”
Learn more about OpenSpace and request a demo.
*Please note: This is a commercial profile.
