LV ‘dotCOM dreamHOME’ construction plans readied

Monday, Aug. 21, 2000 | 11:20 a.m.

Participants

Several companies with an Internet presence are participating in the dotCOM dreamHOME project, sponsored by iShow.com and JLC LIVE.

In addition to Realtor James Beasley (Spanish Hills Realty), residential designer Pete Larez, developer Paul Trudeau (Hilltop Development) and the Clark County Building Department, all of Las Vegas, project participants include:

GE Appliances, Amazon.com, TheJobSite.com, Polysteel, Buildscape, Cybermax, Channelinx.com, BobVila.com, ChameleonPower.com, BasicTelepresence (basict.com), ChiefArchitect.com, Kalinweb.com, Windsor Mill, LoanWorks.com and Tiberline.com.

A team of Internet-savvy business people is using online resources to build a custom home in Las Vegas and will let interested consumers monitor its construction from their computers.

The home will be built in Las Vegas' Spanish Hills area and will involve a designer, builder and real estate broker from Las Vegas. Several other companies from across the nation are participating in the effort, known as the dotCOM dreamHOME project.

Conceived by iShow.com, Seattle, and JLC LIVE, Williston, Vt., the organizers of the project selected Las Vegas to build the house because favorable weather will minimize construction delays and because of the booming local real estate market.

iShow.com is a technology company specializing in streaming media and Internet broadcasts. JLC LIVE is the Internet version of the Journal of Light Construction and produces publications and training seminars on the construction industry.

Organizers already have placed a camera on the construction site and will have it on 24 hours when work begins next month. People with access to the Internet will be able to log on to www.dotcomdreamhome.com to see a live picture of the site during the 18-month project.

All aspects of the project, from selecting brokers and builders to furnishing, marketing and selling the completed home, will in some way use the Internet. And some of the key participants work and live in Las Vegas.

Participants James Beasley, owner of Spanish Hills Realty, and Paul Trudeau, owner of Hilltop Development, formed a new company, Las Vegas Luxury Homes, and are using that to build the house.

Beasley, whose Spanish Hills operation is featured in the September edition of Millionaire magazine, said he has been committed to having an Internet presence since the early days of the technology.

"We've offered virtual tours of some of homes and when the dotCOM dreamHOME project is completed, we'll offer it for sale and people will be able to submit online bids," Beasley said.

Beasley's partner at Las Vegas Luxury Homes will be the developer of the $2 million home.

Trudeau, who has built in Las Vegas for two years and has worked in Nevada for six years, said he has always had an interest in the high-tech side of construction.

"If you're not already using the Internet in construction, you're behind," Trudeau said.

He recalled that no one was sure just how valuable fax machines would be to a contractors when they first came out. The fax turned out to be a valuable tool because documents could be transmitted quickly.

"Within a year, I was buying a lot of fax machines," he said.

Web cameras and the Internet are the next generation of communication from the construction site to the owner, Trudeau said.

"Many of my owners are out of town or spend time away from the site," he said. "With this technology, they can tie in and observe where we need to make changes, all in real time."

And, in the dotCOM dreamHOME project, anyone can be in on that process.

The live web-cam, which is being managed by iShow.com, will enable people to watch construction and even zoom in on certain aspects of the project.

"It's a viewer-controlled camera," said Louis Manon III, a spokesman for iShow. "You'll log on, wait in line, then get about 60 seconds to run the camera viewing the site."

Trudeau, who has used cameras on his job sites before, said construction workers generally don't view the eye in the sky as a "Big Brother" watching their every move.

"They recognize it as a construction tool," he said.

Hand-held live cameras on a job site can be used to photograph unexpected problems encountered in the construction process so that decisions can be reached on how to solve them. With a construction foreman, developer and home owner tied in to the same picture, decisions can be made immediately, minimizing delays.

But another participant in the dotCOM dreamHOME project doesn't expect onsite cameras to change the way inspections are conducted.

Bob Weber, director of Clark County Building Department, said on-site cameras are a good supervision aid, but they won't change the way his staff inspects buildings under construction.

Weber, an inspector for 21 years, said there are too many details that can't be detected by a camera.

"We have to look at the detail," Weber said. "Are the welds done properly? There are a number of things you won't be able to see with a camera and can only be checked by physically being there."

But Weber said inquiries and even plans are being transmitted to his office by e-mail from project participants.

The plans for the 7,200-square-foot, four-bedroom home are being drafted by Pete Larez, a residential designer who has worked in Las Vegas for 22 years.

Larez said he had to develop a special computer program to enable him to e-mail blueprints to inspectors and the developer.

"For me, it's a very fun project," Larez said. "It's an opportunity to meet other people in the trade and use a lot of new products available through the Internet. We'll be using a Styrofoam exterior wall with a very high insulation value and several new lighting and media products."

Larez said the home would include just over 4,000 square feet of livable space on the first floor, which will include living and dining rooms, family, media and game rooms, an office, a large kitchen with a bay-window breakfast nook, a sunken wet bar, a laundry room and a foyer. It also will have an oversized three-car garage and two covered patios.

An elevator will access the second floor, which will have a master bedroom, separate his-and-her master bathrooms, a sitting room and an exercise room and three other bedrooms, each with their own bathroom. Balconies will have views overlooking the city lights on one side of the house and Red Rock Canyon on the other side.

iShow.com says there are 13 construction manufacturers participating as product and service suppliers for the project, which is expected to be completed in early 2002.

archive