Scottsdale luxury homebuilder first in state to use virtual reality in design process – Phoenix Business Journal

The clients can view the virtual reality using a Google cardboard headset and a smartphone BIMx app from anywhere.

Cullum Homes has been an early adopter of technology for years, and has been dabbling in virtual reality for about 18 months. The virtual reality capabilities were released in November and Cullum Homes has been exporting the BIM model into VR since then, said Rod Cullum, owner and founder of Cullum Homes.

Our entire staff is using the virtual reality component for the clients and the design process, Cullum said. We can solve architectural problems during the process instead of at construction.

By everyone working in one program, it saves the company money and time on projects, Cullum-Colwell said.

This helps save money because we can actually see where the money should be spent, without wasting any money, by physically looking at the model, she said. We can show the air conditioning and the plumbing pipes before construction to show any problems.

To fully give the view of where the house will be built, Cullum Homes employees take 360-degree photos of the environment and then digitally place the house inside those photos, said Eddie Strong, director of architecture for Cullum Homes.

This way we can physically show the mountain view from their living room couch, Strong said. It allows us to look at the space. You cant really feel space through 2D. Architects and builders can see in 3D. Homeowners cannot.

The VR experience also gives homeowners confidence during the custom process so they can actually see what it will look like. Any changes can be easily made digitally instead of spending $10,000 on a physical smaller model.

Were trying to facilitate a comfort zone, Cullum said. Now they can take those ideas and put it into a digital model.

The VR model process also builds a budget along the way as features are designed, instead of putting the budget together later in the process.

We can now easily change out materials and selections in the design phase, know the cost and view it all in a virtual environment, Strong said.

This process also allows Cullum Homes to move to an almost paperless job site, except for the government permitting and inspection process.

We can spend more time designing and less time producing construction documents, Cullum-Colwell said. The homes are better because of that, and the designs are better.

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Scottsdale luxury homebuilder first in state to use virtual reality in design process - Phoenix Business Journal