
When public works officials in Courtenay on Vancouver Island, B.C., decided to contract for floor plan maps of their municipal buildings, they discovered a taxpayer-savings surprise.
“We tendered it out, and got different responses, and the fellow with the iGUIDE system was actually the most affordable. . . with the most value added,” said Chris Thompson, an asset management technologist with the city’s public works services department. “In fact it was $60,000 cheaper than the other bids,” he said.
Michael Koster of Varoom Studios in the 26,000 population Comox Valley community said city officials also discovered that they weren’t just saving money on the initial floor-plan mapping project. Koster, working with Kitchener based Planitar, creators of the iGUIDE Technology, said the photographic images with the floor plans have proven exceptionally useful to help city officials and contractors more efficiently and effectively manage the city’s properties.

Koster said Courtenay officials weren’t expecting the iGUIDE’s visual power and cost-saving efficiency when they first met with him earlier in the year. However, they quickly caught on – and other city departments joined in discovering its potential.
As an example, officials responsible for renting public spaces now can provide reliable information about meeting room capacity and layouts. The images and floor plans also will be helpful in describing and encouraging public building usage.
“It’s helpful for both staff and the public to have easy access to facility information at our fingertips,” said Lisa Zervakis, the city’s communications and marketing specialist. “For example, people interested in renting a room or facility, or teaching a program, can view our rooms without a site visit. The other good thing is that you can set it up to just show and feature certain spaces.”
However, the city’s public works department has already started saving money by receiving competitive bids for services that wouldn’t have been available without iGUIDE, suggesting that the taxpayer cost savings will ultimately be far greater than $60,000.
“We’ve had two or three companies already come in and do work that they wouldn’t have bid on,” Thompson said. The iGUIDE system has removed much of the need for expensive site visits, making it possible for contractors to review the environment and prepare their quotes.
