OnsiteIQ streamlines delivery of CIG Communities Real Estate Development Pipeline

Intro

CIG Communities is a family-owned real estate company specializing in acquiring, developing, and managing class A/B residential and commercial properties. With over 1,200 multi-family homes across the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic, and Southeast, the company’s primary aim is to create value and cash flow for stakeholders, customers, and partners. This includes constructing new assets with oversight from the in-house construction management team, and turning over finished properties to the property management arm for long term ownership and income generation. 

The Challenge

The focus on class A/B projects in prominent locations such as downtown Cincinnati, Nashville, or Naples, Florida, creates additional project complexity. Not only are the project locations geographically distributed from the construction management team’s corporate office but projects often require contracting with local general contractors that CIG Communities are working with for the first time. Having clear and objective insight into construction performance remotely, while having confidence to release milestone payments require innovative thinking to achieve.

  • Verifiable Progress Tracking
  • Payment Application Verification
  • Transparency & Accountability
  • Maintenance & Operations

The Solution

Brian Crecco, Senior Vice President of Construction was no stranger to construction technology, having tried various tools throughout his career to drive construction efficiency. After assessing the landscape of possible solutions, he contracted with OnsiteIQ to help manage the construction portfolio and ensure the highest transparency and accountability with general contractors, including objective data on progress and pay applications. OnsiteIQ immediately began weekly 360 video capture on Aspire Kenwood, a 248-unit Class A apartment community, the first phase of the mixed-use development known as The Gallery at Kenwood, that also includes an office building, a Residence Inn hotel, two restaurants, along with an 801 space public parking garage.  . Within weeks, Brian was receiving percentage complete progress data for each trade across 18 major milestones with visual reference to collaborate with stakeholders. This enabled confident release of project funds based on objective ground truth and provided an early indicator to potential project risks. 

The Results

Verifiable Progress Tracking

OnsiteIQ enables Brian Crecco’s team to conduct 200% more site ‘visits’ and saves roughly $10,000 per month in travel costs. The increased ability to observe ground truth including percentage complete data for key trades ensures milestones are not only hit but trending in the right direction. 

Pay Application Verification

Now, CIG Communities can disperse project funds based on objective and verifiable progress data and only pay for work completed. This additional insight ensures the balance of leverage between owner and general contractor is fairly maintained and excess risk is never taken on. In addition, reports for lenders are easily pulled together from OnsiteIQ data. 

 

Transparency & Accountability

With the power to monitor construction progress independently of general contractor provided data, transparency is undoubtedly provided. This creates a transparent view of performance and drives heightened accountability. Now, CIG Communities can raise issues observed including working through RFIs with the architect directly from visuals of real-world site conditions. 

Maintenance & Operations

In one instance at the Aspire Kenwood, a resident complained of a knocking noise in their apartment. With OnsiteIQ construction data, Brian Crecco was able to locate a quality issue with plumbing installation. Not only was he able to quickly locate the issue, this visual evidence was shown to the subcontractor who fixed the issue at their expense. 

Conclusion

CIG Communities has since expanded OnsiteIQ from Aspire at Kenwood to two additional properties and plans to continue doing so as more developments break ground. The team is now able to view their projects remotely at any time, giving them confidence to manage more projects simultaneously without physical site visits. Additionally, objective data on construction performance is readily available which improves transparency with general contractors and enhances accountability. Payment Applications are only approved for work performed and the pipeline of development projects is streamlined.