Victor, who has been in the building game for several decades, started the Rivergum Group in 1994, which through its various businesses ‘strives to create and deliver market leading outcomes’ for its customers and clients. An early adopter of both augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) into its sales processes, the group can now add this latest initiative to its core business – a big step forward in its virtual technology offering, and, according to Victor, ‘a first for South Australia’.
‘Innovation for our business drives everything we do, and Plan Lab is just one of a number of new innovations we have to offer,’ he says.
Officially launched on 15 December 2020 with South Australian Premier Steven Marshall in attendance, the projection experience in the 370m2 facility – which has the capability to project large apartment complexes, not just detached housing – has so far been welcomed by the consumer market. One of the reasons Victor believes this to be the case is because people generally find visualising floor plans and whether they will capture their lifestyle requirements to be a challenge.
Even with the benefits of AR and VR, which bring 2D drawings to life upon a screen, physically being able to walk around in a full-scale floor plan and get a sense of room sizes and layout, plus interact with moveable furniture and walls, provides a much clearer picture for homeowners. Of course, this is why display homes have long been considered a powerful sales weapon in a builder’s arsenal. However, when you don’t have the customer’s desired house design available to browse through, you may well end up losing their interest to a competitor.