Q&A: Casey Rue Solving Common CRE Challenges with Technology

By Dennis Kaiser

Tustin, CA-based Common Areas recently launched “Common Plans,” a cloud-based, asset mapping subsidiary. The company focused on those who own, manage, and service commercial real estate properties from apartment complexes, retail centers and healthcare properties, to office buildings, municipal facilities and education assets.  

The patent pending technology—when combined with Common Areas—provides collaborative, GPS-enabled site & building plans that empower users to more accurately and efficiently locate, create, and share online work orders plotted in and around properties and facilities.

Connect Media asked Casey Rue, the company’s founder and CEO, to share how it can be use as a general property management tool at any type of property in our latest 3 CRE Q&A.

Q: In a nutshell, what does Common Plans do?
A: Common Plans are easy-to-understand, multi-level plans converted from architectural, engineering and system drawings designed for collaborative use in the ongoing operations of properties and facilities. They’re intentionally simple for everyone to use and share.

By using Common Plans’ patent pending technology in tandem with Common Areas, property owners, managers and service providers can more accurately and efficiently locate, create, and share online work orders in and around properties and facilities. Clients can plot and share work orders by GPS location, and even tie them to a building’s level and asset layer (e.g. plumbing, electrical, life safety equipment, and landscaping among others).

Q: How did Common Plans come into existence?
A: Having easy access to plans when managing or servicing a property or facility can be incredibly beneficial, and sometimes even critical in order to get a job done. However, having easy access to plans is often a luxury. Furthermore, traditional architectural plans are often cumbersome, technical, hard to read and even harder to share with everyone who may need them in any given situation. Common Plans solves this problem by providing plans that everyone can read and easily share with those who need access.

Common Plans represents one step in the ongoing evolution of Common Areas, a sister company to Common Plans. Common Areas provides collaborative operations software that revolutionizes how property/facility owners and managers connect with the teams that maintain them. By better organizing, scheduling and tracking all types of maintenance and repair work, an entire team is empowered, and greater levels of efficiencies are created. Greater efficiencies translate to savings of time and money—valuable commodities for any business.

Common Plans elevates those efficiencies to the next level. Using the latest in cloud-based technology, Common Plans eliminates guesswork, making it easier and more precise to identify the location of a maintenance/work order matter.

Q: How long does it take to get Common Plans up and running, and what do users need to get started?
A: Getting started is simple and can be done with as few or as many plans that our clients can provide to us. This also plays a part in the timing, as obviously the larger and more intricate the set of plans, the more amount of work and time it will take to convert them into Common Plans.

There are three levels of Common Plans that build on one another to offer varying degrees of site and building detail. Our standard plans provide general details, such as site boundaries, building levels, floor plans, landscaping, parking striping, and more. The advanced plans incorporate site irrigation, FF&E, lighting, mechanical, plumbing, as well as reflected ceiling plans. Our “gold standard” professional level includes everything in the standard and advanced plans, while also adding building and site utilities, telecom, security and fire life safety. Clients can also add customized Common Plans, including tenant improvement or specialized equipment plans. Depending on the level of detail selected, Common Plans can be up and running, improving efficiencies, within a matter of days.

For comments, questions or concerns, please contact Dennis Kaiser