Comstock's magazine 1217 - December 2017 | Page 55

front on the project so when we are in
construction, we don’t have as many
surprises.” The company has utilized
the technology at Del Paso Manor El-
ementary School, Sacramento State’s
University Union and UC Davis’ Betty
Irene Moore School of Nursing, to name
a few.
Virtual reality demonstrations also
generate buy-in and excitement for
construction that can often be disrup-
tive. McCarthy showed students at Bella
Vista High School how to put on goggles
to virtually walk through the new sci-
ence wing that will be built at their high
school. Last summer, they gave students
at Sacramento State the chance to sport
headsets to explore their new student
union building on campus.
Homebuilders are also experiment-
ing with virtual reality. In Sacramento,
prospective homebuyers can visit the
sales office at The Mill at Broadway to
virtually tour model homes before put-
ting down a reservation deposit for one
of the new homes.
Standing in a 10-foot by 10-foot
room, a buyer can put on a headset,
take a step and virtually walk around
their new home with the motion-
tracking technology in the headset.
“We weren’t sure how it would be
received,” says David Martinelli, chief
operating officer of Vision Launchers,
a Sacramento marketing and branding
firm hired by The Mill. “But, it’s giving
homebuyers more confidence.” 
That confidence has translated into
sales. All the homes released in the
first two phases were reserved within a
week, Martinelli says. And the sales us-
ing the virtual tours at The Mill are on
par with the sales of previous neighbor-
hoods that had physical model homes
for people to tour.
At the end of the day, architects and
builders who are using virtual real-
ity in the Sacramento region agree that
this new tool is helping them deliver on
expectations and producing happier
clients.
“There’s nothing worse than pour-
ing your heart and soul into a project
for two years and have someone be
disappointed,” says Laura Knauss,
a principal at Lionakis. “This erases
that. We can keep fine tuning a proj-
ect virtually until there is a universal
‘ah ha!’”. n
Samantha Young is a veteran
journalist who has covered local,
state and national politics from
Arkansas to Washington D.C. and
California. She is a former reporter
for the Associated Press. On Twitter
@youngsamantha.
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December 2017 | comstocksmag.com
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