New Tech Business Welcomed in Delray Beach

Dec. 8, 2010 - PRLog -- By Leon Fooksman

It is shortly after lunch on a recent Monday, and Kristi Vick is happy to be the only person in the office of one of Delray Beach’s newest technology-based businesses.  

“It’s good that everyone is out,” said Vick, co-owner of Multivista Construction Documentation. “It means we’re out in the field and working on growing our business.”

Since officially opening in January in a 1927-built house on Federal Highway, Vick’s company is finding success in a niche market of photographing construction projects and using a web-based application to enable property owners, general contractors, and architects to monitor their projects during construction.

“We’re growing very fast and expecting to surpass our goals in the first year,” Vick said, who has lived in Delray Beach for 15 years with her young family.

Vick, along with three business partners, opened Multivista in Delray Beach because it is a central location for their company’s territory in South Florida.

There are also many other reasons for picking Delray Beach.

They like the city’s small-town, business-friendly atmosphere. And, they qualified for a rental assistance grant from the Delray Beach Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA), which has helped them save money to reinvest in their company.  

“That grant was a huge incentive for us to open in Delray Beach,” Vick said.

Multivista is also a good match for Delray Beach, which has been working on drawing more technology-based companies into the downtown district, said Elizabeth Butler, the CRA’s grants and marketing coordinator.

Multivista documents every square foot of construction and renovation projects with high-resolution digital photographs, which the staff indexes within the computer-aided design (CAD) drawings of the project. Within 24 hours, clients can easily access the documentation through a web-based application and navigate to exact locations throughout the project site.

Vick’s team takes the photos during milestones in the construction schedule. They provide visual images -- known as “as-builts” -- of what is within every wall, floor, ceiling, and slab, capturing every component of the construction process.

“It’s like we give them x-ray vision,” Vick said.

The company, which is part of a franchise founded in Canada’s British Columbia, already has more than 60 clients throughout South Florida, including the new Marlins stadium in Miami, Florida Atlantic University, Palm Beach State College, and Plumosa School of the Arts in Delray Beach.

Vick and her partners have another office in Orlando, and they plan to open new offices in the Florida Panhandle and Tampa in the coming months.

Overall, Multivista has 27 locations in North America and plans to open 40 more next year, Vick says.

“Our product is about transparency,” she said. “As an owner, you want to monitor your trades and assure transparency of your building for future additions /renovations or issues that may arise, post construction. And, from a general contractor’s perspective, you want to monitor your trades and protect yourself from future litigation.”

A natural saleswoman with a passion for helping clients, Vick spent her career working with technology for the construction industry. She sold software and information services throughout the Southeast.

Then, she learned about Multivista and immediately wanted in.  

“It was the perfect product,” Vick said. “It’s a niche that nobody else fills.”

So began a new phase in her life as a managing principal of a business. She is a fast learner who connects quickly with new clients.

“I love being out there and seeing the clients’ eyes light up when they understand the benefits of the product,” Vick said.

For more information on Multivista Construction Documentation, visit www.multivista.com. The Delray Beach office is at 277 SE Fifth Ave. The phone number is 561-272-2223.
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Leon Fooksman is a journalist who writes for the Delray Beach Community Redevelopment Agency. You can reach him at leon[at]astorytellingcompany.com.

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About the Delray Beach Community Redevelopment Agency: Our mission is to foster and directly assist in the redevelopment of the Community Redevelopment Area in order to eliminate blight, create a sustainable downtown and encourage economic growth, thus improving the attractiveness and quality of life of the CRA District and the City of Delray Beach as a whole.