Location intelligence distinguishes new SaaS offering

San Diego-based Inertia Systems today officially announces the launch of Inertia Platform, a cloud-based SaaS enterprise construction management platform that automatically connects and coordinates teams, processes, project and quality management through BIM and smart drawings.

The 10-year-old company, whose marketing tagline is “Closing the loop from design to built,” is introducing its platform at a time when the construction sector is still determining how best to use jobsite technology to improve productivity. A recent FMI Corp.-PlanGrid report estimated that construction overages and rework result in $177.5 billion in wasted labor costs annually in the U.S. alone.

Most project management software is list-based cloud collaboration, explains Matthew Hudelson, Inertia Systems’ CEO. What differentiates his company’s product is its “pivot to a location-based platform that leverages information from the BIM model.”

Generated automatically based on designs, each record created in the platform is automatically attached to its physical location on the project map and updated wherever designs change. Inertia Platform uses patent-pending technology to connect information from every solution and Building Team member (including contractors, owners, engineers and architects) throughout every phase in real time, ensuring all information stays connected and up to date throughout the construction process.

PLATFORM PROVIDES COMPLIANCE VERIFICATION

Among Inertia Platform's functions is the ability to create real-time mobile punchlists.

What’s unique about this software, Hudelson goes on, is that it provides collaborative information for Project Management, Quality Management, Performance Management, and Compliance Management. That last function is critical in California’s healthcare sector, which is highly regulated and where construction managers must prove to inspectors that their work complies with the state’s codes. “Inertia makes this information accessible quickly,” he says.

To develop its Inertia Platform, Inertia Systems has worked with leading construction management firms that include Turner Construction, McCarthy Building Companies, Clark Construction, Kiewit Construction, and AECOM. “We’ve worked alongside builders, owners, inspectors, architects, and team members to learn how our tools and workflows impact challenges they face and, in turn, learned to address their varying needs and inefficiencies in scalable ways throughout every single step of the construction process,” says Hudelson.

Inertia Systems has been used by dozens of owners and GCs in the healthcare, education, and sports and entertainment sectors. The projects it contributed to include the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford, Scripps Prebys Cardiovascular Institute, Sutter Health California Pacific Medical Center Van Ness Campus Hospital, and a major NFL stadium.

Rural hospitals present unique opportunities and challenges for healthcare facility operators. Oftentimes, the infrastructure and building systems have not been updated for years and require significant improvements in order to meet today’s modern medical demands. Additionally, as these smaller, more remote hospitals are acquired by larger regional and national healthcare systems, the first step by new ownership is often to update and rehabilitate the building. But how can this be done thoughtfully, economically, and efficiently in ways that allow the engineering and facility staff to adapt to the changes? And how can the updates accurately reflect the specific needs of rural communities and the afflictions with which these areas most commonly face?