蚀刻未来
V和als Develop New 构建ing Technology to Reduce Errors
一辆皮卡的后挡板上的蓝图随风飘动，一角被咖啡弄脏了. One page keeps blowing away while another was carried off by a supervisor. 在房子里面, 一名工人决定临场发挥，而不是找个人为他解释建筑说明.
结果? 昂贵的返工, increasing building time 和 budget, 这是, 反过来, passed on indirectly to the homebuyer through inflated building estimates.
施工错误, 通常称为返工, cost about $538 billion nationally in 2020, according to data from PlanGrid, which surveyed 600 construction leaders. Other research shows 10% to 25% of project costs are lost through errors.
“Rework is waste,” said Alex Baird, operations manager for Shea Homes in Boise.
The use of blueprints is nearly 200 years old, 和 building construction still relies heavily on this same technology. 事实上, 创新 in construction is not measured in months or years but in decades, 利维·史密斯说, CEO of Franklin 构建ing Supply, a Boise-based building supply company.
“A two-to-three-decade gap is not 创新,” he said.
That is why when Smith encountered V和al alumni Nick Stoppello ’13, 还有帕特·丘奇曼15年和16年的, at the Hacking for Homebuilders entrepreneur pitch in Boise in October 2021, he saw an opportunity to incubate talent, 热情和, 最重要的是, 创新. Their 业务, Flashpoint 构建ing Systems, found its biggest advocate.
“我发现我不喜欢别人告诉我，因为我们一直都是这样做的.’”
——尼克·斯托普罗
“Do you want to know why construction is so expensive?斯托佩洛问道. “Because they aren’t set up to succeed.”
He means no disrespect to his colleagues in the industry. He, too, comes from a background in construction. After graduating from University of Idaho with a bachelor’s degree in 业务, he moved to Seattle to work with a contractor. 这次实习让他接触到了各种建筑类型，包括数据中心, as well as a high-rise apartment building 和 业务 building.
作为一名项目经理，他也了解到施工中的错误是正常的，是可以接受的. He knew there had to be a better way.
“我发现我不喜欢别人告诉我‘因为我们一直都是这么做的’，”斯托佩洛说.
同时，他儿时的朋友, 牧师, was working his way through bachelor’s 和 master’s degrees in 体系结构 看到80年代早期的计算机辅助设计(CAD)等技术仍然在建筑规划中起着主导作用. 彻奇曼毕业后在一家建筑公司工作，这使他成为了一名建筑主管——在那里他看到了和斯托佩洛同样的问题, 但是在不同的帽子下.
一天晚上，朋友们哀叹施工效率低下导致了代价高昂的错误.
“我们想知道是否有一种不同的方式来传达我们在现场需要的东西,丘奇曼说.
作为一名学生，他通过在纸上绘制计划，然后在其上建造四分之三比例的模型. That was the flashpoint from which their 业务 was born.
这对搭档将蓝图直接激光雕刻在地板底层材料上，以向建筑商展示建筑是如何组成的. It removes reliance on blueprints, language barriers 和 communication deserts.
制度的创建
为了验证他们的假设，他们躲在宝藏谷夏季炎热的一个仓库里. With only the light from a large overhead projector beaming down from above, the duo traced blueprints onto subfloor with Sharpies. 他们追踪了5个,就在项目计划发货的前一天，丘奇曼意识到路线不对，木板偏离了90度.
创新的导火索
By etching blueprints on the subfloors of new construction, 破坏者校友和闪点老板尼克·斯托佩洛和帕特·丘奇曼正在帮助建筑行业避免昂贵的返工.
“I think I just laughed when he told me,’” Stoppello said. “We spent about 30 man-hours snuffing Sharpies in the dark. But I just thought, ‘We’ll get it next time.’”
不久之后，一个在商业建筑上尝试他们想法的机会出现了，他们证明了这个概念.
地板上都有记号, 在丘奇曼和斯托佩洛到达工地进行指导之前，施工人员已经把商业大楼组装好了.
“It was intuitive enough they just did it,” Stoppello said.
随着第二轮基于夏普的蚀刻技术的成功，投资者很感兴趣. 他们用这笔初始投资购买了第一台大型数控机床, which engraves sheets of plywood using software-driven movement.
“We couldn’t even spell CNC when we started,” Stoppello quipped.
For six months they waited for the custom CNC machine from a partner in Florida. 在没有任何说明书的情况下，他们兴奋地开始蚀刻，把它插上电源. 他们看到了什么, through the transparent end caps of the machine, was water slowly rising in the electronics control center of the $50,000台设备.
“That was a fork in our road,丘奇曼说 of the decision to proceed or quit. “我们太蠢了，不会放弃. We took it apart – 和 learned a lot right away.”
他们一块一块地重新组装数控机床，但知道他们需要更多的时间来学习蚀刻完整的建筑物. 为了收支平衡, they put the CNC machine to work making wine boxes, leather patches 和 other arts 和 crafts.
“We had stretched ourselves to where we had no more money,丘奇曼说. “We did a lot of weird stuff to keep the lights on.”
与此同时，他们一直在努力调整建筑蚀刻，并说服承包商给他们一个机会. 他们获得了一些机会，直到一个“为房屋建筑而黑客”竞赛的广告给了他们所需的立足点. 它是与富兰克林建筑供应等主要行业利益相关者建立关系的催化剂.
每个人都需要帮助
Smith, CEO of Franklin 构建ing Supply, attended the competition. An advocate for 创新, he offered to incubate Flashpoint 构建ing Systems. 他们一致认为，获得和接近建筑材料，并直接融入运输材料到建筑工地的流动是关键. 史密斯在富兰克林的停车场后面开了一家小商店，在那里，叉车可以很容易地把材料运到他们的工厂, 包装后, 将它们直接放在卡车上，以便与其他现场材料一起装运.
“What works is having them in the yard,” Smith said. “We have to be part of the solution.”
Another piece of the solution came from the duo’s alma mater. 他们联系了犹他大学的可再生材料实验室及其主任阿曼多·麦克唐纳，请他们帮助测试底板，以确保激光刻蚀不会影响产品的性能.
“It is important to help companies out,” McDonald said.
His lab tests for three or four companies each semester. It is a valuable resource for industries, 它为研究生和博士后候选人提供了现实世界的经验.
附加价值
Flashpoint不仅将建筑计划交付给利益相关者, 每个项目的预先协调也会发现冲突，或者建筑计划的各个部分不协调的地方. 排水管与地板托梁相冲突，或者门的秋千走错了方向，这些都是很快就会暴露出来的冲突的典型例子. Clash detection 和 pre-planning are the first steps in Flashpoint’s process.
从那里, 他们通过使用传统建筑工地上的废物来填补设计中的空白，从而优化了地下地板的使用. By layering the pages of a building plan, 项目的全貌提高了效率，并为理解项目涉众提供了一个整体视图.
While the results of their 创新 may show in the bottom line over time, 正是创新本身让史密斯和贝尔德在公司的起步阶段坐到了谈判桌前.
“We are trying to normalize 创新,” Baird said. “We are all about the power of ‘what if.’”